Prevent early blight from attacking tomatoes

Q: Is there anything I can do to my garden this spring to prevent my tomatoes from getting blight again this year?

A: That depends. If you're talking about the disastrous late blight organism that struck our gardens like lightning two seasons ago, the answer is no. The late blight fungus does not survive freezing temperatures unless it's in living tissue. The only living tissue that would survive the winter we are having would be an infected potato tuber underground (late blight strikes all members of the tomato family, including potatoes).

Because, for the most part, we did not have a late blight outbreak last summer, we do not expect to have an issue with it this coming season. This blight struck so fiercely two years ago due to infected plants being distributed through a national retailer and the wet, humid weather conditions that are ideal for spreading the spores and nurturing their development. Unless these two factors occur again, it's unlikely that late blight will be an issue in home gardens this coming season. Symptoms of late blight are black, greasy, irregularly shaped splotches on leaves, stems and eventually fruits.

If you are referring to early blight, then, yes, there may be some things you can do to prevent the organism from attacking your tomatoes this year. This fungal organism does indeed survive the winter both in the soil and on plant debris. So if your tomatoes had early blight last year, the spores are probably still in the garden and, unless you undertake some preventative measures, this year's plants will likely be infected as well.

Because early blight is usually transmitted by infected soil splashing up onto the plant's lower leaves, the symptoms of infection often occur on the lower leaves first (symptoms of late blight, on the other hand, will occur first toward the top of the plant because spores travel on the wind). Symptoms of early blight include yellowed lower foliage with circular lesions. Infected leaves eventually wilt, turn brown and crispy and fall off. Often the plant's production and yield is not effected by early blight and the plant will survive, despite looking a bit worse for the wear.

Here are a few things you can do this spring to keep early blight at bay:

• Rotate your crops. Plant tomatoes in a different spot in the garden each year.

• Pinch off infected leaves and dispose of them in the trash.

• Don't work in the garden when tomato foliage is wet. This will spread the spores.

• Choose resistant varieties

• Remove all diseased plant debris at the end of the season and burn it.

• Provide adequate air circulation by spacing plants 5 to 6 feet apart

• Mulch well with 2 or 3 inches of compost, leaf mold, straw or hay serves to keep fungal spores from splashing up onto the lower leaves when it rains.

• If necessary, apply the biological fungicide Serenade, to plants every seven to 10 days. Other safe, effective products include those based on potassium bicarbonate (brand names include: Green Cure, Garden-Ville, and Bi-Carb).