This article will help gardeners and famers to identify and deal with the late tomato blight disease, one of the most common diseases found in tomatoes. If gardeners and farmers are not able to identify the problem, then they will not be able to care for the plants. On the other hand, if they do know how to identify but do not know what actions need to be taken in order to safe their tomatoes, then the knowledge would also be useless.
The first thing to know is the cause as well as the color of the tomatoes infected with late tomato blight. The cause of the late blight or popular with blight is Phytophthora Infestants. This disease is popular because it had once become a tomato plague in Irish in 1800’s. At that time, no one knows how to treat the potato plants so they have to give up the harvest as well as the plants. Yes, when it was first discovered, it infested potato plant, but later on it also attack the tomato plant.
The Phytophthora Infestants is not a virus, or a fungus, nor it is a bacterium. It is on the other hand an organism that belongs to a group called protists or is more commonly known as fungi. They are also known by another name, water moulds. This name was given because they produce spores in the moist environment and thus cause infection. Late blight does not only occur in the exterior, but also infect the interior. Not only that, late blight can also infect the leaves as well as the stems. When you see black and brown blotches on the leaves and stems, then this would be the signs of late blights.
There are ways to control the late blight. Those actions include:
1. Growing plants in the sunny and dry area. When you see that there are early signs of late blight, then you can move the plants into an area which is drier or at least, you can replace the soil on the upper part.
2. Watering only the bottom part of the plants and not at the foliage area. This wetness can trigger humidity and late blight.
3. Using fertilizer to the minimum, when it is necessary only.
4. Growing tomatoes on raised beds or inside containers that are located off the ground.
5. Removing the tomato debris from the year before immediately.
6. Destroying any volunteer tomato plants.
