How To Cure Tomato Diseases

Some things that you will see on your tomato plants are normal. Leaves will turn brown, and sometimes roll. Brown leaves can be pruned, but green leaves that simply roll should be left alone. Over-pruning your plants will damage them. Plants need sufficient sunshine to grow, and it's the leaves that catch the sunshine. Don't be over-zealous in pruning the leaves.

Most tomato diseases are a direct result of your management of the garden: how you plant and space the tomatoes, how they are supported, how you water and fertilize. The next most common ailments for tomato plants are caused by insects, so a good gardener has to know how to manage insects without damaging the plants. Finally, there are tomato diseases like viruses and wilts that a gardener cannot do anything about.

It's important to know what these different conditions look like, so you will know if they are treatable, and how to treat them.

Tomato blight is the most common of the tomato diseases and can be recognized by brown or black rimmed "holes" on the stem or leaf. Blight is a mold, and can be carried on the wind, settle on your topsoil, and picked up on your shoes and tools. On a the fruit itself, the tomato causes a blackish-brown rot.

There are two types of blight: early and late. Early blight is worsened by warm weather and high humidity. Late blight occurs when the weather cools down, and is made worse if the weather is rainy or humid.

Your local Home and Garden shop will carry a variety of remedies for tomato blight, including Calcium chloride spray (salt water), copper fungicide
and carbendazim spray. Fertilizers high in potash and phosphates will help treat the topsoil if you think the problem may originate there.

Here are some tips on how to avoid tomato diseases such as blight:

1. Mulch the soil around the base of the plant so that any spores in the soil won't splash onto the plant when it is watered.

2. Water only at the base of the plant; don't water the leaves or tomatoes.

3. Water in the morning so that the plant has time to dry during the day.

4. Prune any diseased tomato shoots and leaves. If the plant is severely affected, remove the plant from the garden. Don't put a diseased plant into the compost pile, though; you will infect all the compost.

5. Clean your gardening tools after you use them so that any diseases that are in the soil won't be spread among crops.

6. When you plant, allow enough room for air circulation between the tomato plants.

In my first couple of years gardening, I thought that all I had to do was plant, water, and keep the bugs away. I didn't really understand the relationship between the soil, the sun, the plants, and all the things that nature could throw at a garden: blight, fungus, bugs, drought, to much sun, not enough sun, and a host of other things.

I had two choices: continue to learn one season at a time by trial and error, or get a book and "study up" on the subject. I've read several gardening books, but I never really grown great-tasting, juicy tomatoes until I read the story below about the Secrets of Growing Great Tomatoes. The info is free if you'd like to take the time to read it: