soil and tomato blight

I've suffered Tomato Blight and lost about half my crop. I normally use the gro-bag compost in the garden. Would the compost be contaminated and is it unwise to use it or put it on my compost heap?

Doug says that the blight does overwinter in the soil. If you have a very hot compost, you might be fine but if this were my garden, I'd be removing this soil from my garden just to make sure

Having said that, just because a problem overwinters is no guarantee it is going to be a problem in future years. It also takes the right environmental conditions for something like this to occur.

But removing a potential source is a good idea in any case.

Here's an article on tomato blight control

Comments for
soil and tomato blight

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Late Blight prevention
by: Anonymous

Copper spray is technically OK for organic growers in the U.S., but it's nasty stuff to deal with and if you have children, you probably don't want a build-up of copper in your soil from using it. It doesn't even prevent Late Blight, it just slows it down. It does nothing for plants once they've gotten LB, though, so you have to start spraying after you plant out and keep it up all summer.

tomatoe blight
by: Bobbi

My father has tomatoe blight and I need to have a list of do's and don'ts in preventing this.

soil - and tomato blight
by: Doug

You don't have to remove the soil - I'm not sure where you got that idea (removing the old plants is recommended).

Chemical sprays? I don't recommend those kinds of things on my site given I'm an organic gardener. There are a variety of organic "sprays" employing different forms of B.T. It depends on where you're writing from (different areas have different regulations). And the single best advice is to grow the plant properly as per info on the tomato section (under vegetables) because then you'll have the right spacing, watering systems etc. And oh yeah, we can only hope the weather (cool and wet) changes.

The best advice re sprays is to find out from your local extension agent if you're in the U.S. or provincial ag office if you're in Canada. They won't have many organic recommendations but they will have the chemical ones (copper and sulfur based)

Neem cake is not usually found in North America at the retail level. You can find Neem sprays but this isn't the same concentration. I don't know if this works or not - haven't read anything about it

Removing Soil
by: Kathleen

How much of the soil should be removed when affected with late blight. How deep and how far past where the tomato crop grew? Thanks

Tomato Blight
by: John Davidson

Thanks again. This seems very complicated and I've no idea where to get "Neem Cake". Is there not a comercially available product that will do the job?

Organically Controlling Pests and Diseases
by: Raman

The Following 3 main Components mixed in proportion indicated will bring in effective control of pests and diseases particularly produce crops.
Take Neem Cake (10 to 15 gms)+Garlic(1part)+Green Chilli(1 Part).1 part means in equal proportions. Make a nice paste and mix it in 1 litre of Water. Dilution should be 1:5. The above procedure will bring in effective total control and future problems. Hope this tip will help.

Tomato Blight
by: Johndavidson

Thank you for your advice. I wondered if there is anything that can be done to prevent this occurring in future years - such as a chemical spray that will not effect the crop

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Doug Green