It ’s true . I have what I am call “ too - late - blight ” — “ too late ” because it ’s too late for me to do anything about it , and frankly , it ’s mny own shift . Many are suffering from an irruption of previous Blight , or Phytophthora infestans again this year , and although the irruption is not as far-flung or other as the devastating irruption of 2008 , this one still had caught many gardeners by surprise .
I blame myself for this outbreak however , for as I ’ve admitted many times before – broadly speaking , I am a lazy gardener ( well , away from all of those other crazy garden projects such as chrysanthemum which might be getting more of my attention ) .
And so , my tomatoes hath suffered that trilogy of solanumatious pest – thy early blight , thy folio spot and now a devastating eruption of thy late blight – and all of the line , apparently ) . I ’ve learned my object lesson – even if an outbreak seems ineluctable , I should at least take precaution – if only to extend the season a few more weeks . Some plastic mulch and more resistant varieties might have help , as well as some constitutive fungicide and iron .
I did do a few matter correct , such as trellis my plant up high , space them properly aside , both in rows and in the bottom , but it ’s what I did n’t do which has engender me in trouble . Like most any bozo , I can cut away most anything I did or did n’t do , but the truth is that when it comes to Mother Nature , there are just some thing which one can not refuse . She always seems to acquire out . In my caseful ? My tomato bed is embarrassingly sad – ( i.e. “ dead ” ) . Not a complete failure , as I did seem to harvest many tomatoes , but the industrial plant are a distressing , pitiful model of what any love apple bed should never look like .
I know that I am not alone . Many gardeners in the Northeast as well as in spot around the country are experiencing outbreaks of Phytophthora infestans ( consort to the mapping on the website usablight.org , which does n’t yet show an outbreak where I hold up , but once I mail in my leave , it will vary ) . My Quaker and fellow garden bloggerMargaret Roachover onawaytogarden.comhas a terrific position and podcast about this very subject ( and a link to an interesting new app — which maybe I should invest in for next twelvemonth ) , you really all should go check it out .
I should confess that I did take some big risks this year with my tomato crop . First I tried some new varieties which were intended for greenhouse refinement and not for outdoor use . I am not sure , but this may entail that they were more susceptible to disease ( need to check on this – so if anyone eff , please notify ) , but most failed before the end of July , even though I had an impressive harvest of early yield . By former August , most of my plant life were taint to a point where even the remotion of affected leaves became too much to keep up with . All Bob Hope was lose . At least , I still had a beneficial yield set , and far too many tomatoes coming into the kitchen – a trouble every abode nurseryman should be get by with in August . The only trouble was , I knew that by early September , I would have no tomatoes at all .
My lean of tomato sins is long , no mulch at all ( really – none ) , no organic or even inorganic fungicide use , no craw rotary motion practiced , since I had decided to destroy some raised beds , I simply spread around old soil from some raised containers on top of exist tomato soil , ( I even had some ego - seed tomato from last season emerge , a very bad signaling ) and finally – no uprooting and combustion of plants once I saw the enjoin - tale signs of an outbreak .
I offer in my defense that I did add mealy plant food this twelvemonth , along with compost to the ‘ septic soil ’ , as well as Fe and lime tree , so hey—- never had blossom destruction putrefaction ! I also water my plants well enough . In the terminal , there was probably not much I could have done to avoid an irruption , and truth be told , it was n’t as regretful as the one from 2009 , so I credibly should not kick . We still had a rather epic year , albeit ahead of time , as my tomato motion picture instance . Who care if I did n’t have a undivided green leaf ? And as for my neighbour , I do n’t think that there is a undivided veg gardener within 3 miles of my house so hopefully , I have not spread my spores too far .
Next yr …
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