So how do I treat them now that I'm clearing out the garden for the fall? Is the bamboo going to be infected? The soil surrounding the bed? The plants nearby? I don't know if I've created a major problem by not ridding the garden of the tomatoes the moment it appeared. I gather that the spores are airborne, so does that mean they're all over the garden by now anyway? I will handle the dead tomato plants themselves with gloves, bag and throw them out rather than compost them. But need I be concerned about adjacent plants, the bamboo, etc?

Thank you.

The only solution for a soil persistent pathogen is to mulch to prevent soil splash (for pathogens that don't infect via roots) and not planting susceptible plants in the same area for a number of years in the case of soil persistent pathogens that do infect via roots.

In your case we don't have a positive ID of the pathogen so it's impossible to say what measures you have to go to in order to prevent a recurrence of the disease next year.

I would say there is a good likelihood your plants were infected with a non soil persistent, windborn pathogen and you have nothing to worry about next year unless there are similar conditions resulting in another airborne infection.

If you want to be extra safe I would add organic matter to the area to hopefully provide some competition, if not feed upon the pathogens in the soil (assuming they are in the soil) and then plant something else there for a few years.

In the case of your bamboo supports it's not likely any pathogen would survive a zone 5 winter on them, but you can certainly wipe them down with a bleach water solution before reuse to make certain.

There have been a large number of topics like this one over in the tomato forum this year as it has been a really bad year for tomato diseases in many areas. You may find some of those posts of benefit.

I originally assumed it was late blight b/c I'd heard a warning in early June, that it was starting to attack tomatoes in the Hudson Valley area. When, about a month later, the weather continued to be wet and cool, and my tomatoes started looking funky, I figured it was the late blight. My plants didn't look exactly like the pictures I'd seen of blight, but then I wasn't watching very closely.

There is a lot of evidence that suggests that if you have a good, healthy soil and turn in, or compost, disease infected plant material the Soil Food Web will develop immunities to the disease and you will not have a problem with it.

It's great that the soil food web becomes immune to plant diseases, but I am not worried about their immune system. It's the plant's immune system I am concerned about ;)

Still, I am curious about this 'lots of evidence' thing. Would you please provide a link to just one sciencey type study showing this phenomenon of intentionally introducing diseased plants to the soil so the next year's crop won't get the disease?

Lather, rinse, repeat.

This is not helpful to the OP. Some blights overwinter. The OP wants to know what to do. Without knowing the pathogen, we cannot help. Even knowing the pathogen, the standard yawn-inducing reply from some quarters will not help.

Dan

We had a wet, cool spring and early summer in Idaho. My tomatoes were late. Many got shoveled into the compost pile (two or three wheelbarrows full) after the frost.

I plan to use hoop-houses to get the tomatoes and peppers back on schedule next year.

Whenever people suggest not planting a crop in the same spot two years in a row, I always wonder how far from the original bed is necessary. My garden is 45'x45': too small to make rotation effective? Neverthe less, I rotate the garden's 4 quadrants in a four year pattern. Don't know if it makes a difference or not. I assume airborne pathogens will find anything in this small an area.

I really feel for that farmer. It's so hard having your livelihood be dependent on the weather. You're lucky your tomatoes weren't afflicted. I didn't get a single one -- I never had that happen before.

But many folk have had blights this year due to the moisture and the best soils didn't stop it. My BIL's garden got it and he has tremendous soil. Tremendous. His soil may be better than mine. I had him prune up the lvs from the ground and that seemed to help slow it down a bit.

Dan

Some people will misinterpret what is writen many times.

I just asked you if you could provide a link to

a lot of evidence that suggests that if you have a good, healthy soil and turn in, or compost, disease infected plant material the Soil Food Web will develop immunities to the disease and you will not have a problem with it.

"Some people will misinterpret what is writen many times"

and

"There is nothing in what I wrote that would imply that plants growing in a good, healthy soil would not get a plant disease, but that a good, healthy soil will LESSEN that possibility"

kimmsr Apr 08, 2008

"People with good, healthy soils need not concern themselves with those that caution about plant diseases because they won't have them."

People misinterpret because what you write changes many times, sometimes in the same post!

Lloyd

I trust you are not holding your breath.

Dan

I trust you are not holding your breath.

I have learned not to. I don't expect an actual answer(but wouldn't mind being pleasantly surprised), I simply ask the questions so anyone coming along later and reading that claim will be able to see that the person claiming their is 'a lot' of evidence won't respond when asked what that evidence is ;)

I often disagree with Kimmsr, but I don't think he is wrong here. Disease suppressive soils are a real phenomenon, supported by academic studies.
===================
"The 'Black Box' Approach. The phenomenon of disease suppressive soils has fascinated plant pathologists for decades. Observed in many locations around the world, suppressive soils are those in which a specific pathogen does not persist despite favorable environmental conditions, the pathogen establishes but doesn't cause disease, or disease occurs but diminishes with continuous monoculture of the same crop species. The phenomenon is believed to be biological in nature because fumigation or heat-sterilization of the soil eliminates the suppressive effect, and disease is severe if the pathogen is re-introduced." http://www.entomology.wisc.edu/mbcn/fea303.html
===========================
"Suppression of plant diseases by beneficial soil bacteria: signals and molecular mechanisms" http://www.unil.ch/dmf/page16860_en.html

Interactions between Pseudomonas fluorescens, phytopathogenic fungi, and crop plants. Soil-borne fungal pathogens attack plant roots and cause important damage to crop health. Environmental and public health concerns restrict the use of pesticides in soil to control these root diseases. The treatment of soil or planting material with certain strains of plant-beneficial, root-colonizing Pseudomonas spp. is a promising alternative to control root diseases. Control of root diseases by beneficial pseudomonads involves a blend of possible mechanisms that may complement each other. Direct antagonism against the pathogen by production of diffusible or volatile antibiotic compounds or by inactivation of virulence traits of the pathogen is considered to be a primary mechanism of biocontrol. Another important mechanism is the indirect inhibition of the pathogen by bacterial stimulation of defence responses in the plant host. In our work, we rely on the model bacterium P. fluorescens strain CHA0 which displays a remarkably broad spectrum of biocontrol activity against some of the major soil-borne plant pathogens on various mono- and dicotyledonous crop plants. Remarkably, strain CHA0 while colonizing only the roots can also provide plant protection against leaf pathogens by triggering systemic defense mechanisms.
=========================

"Antibiotic activities of Actinomycetes in soil ..."
http://mic.sgmjournals.org/cgi/reprint/15/2/372.pdf
========================
"Mycoparasitism of selected sclerotia-forming fungi by Sporidesmium sclerotivorum"
http://rparticle.web-p.cisti.nrc.ca/rparticle/AbstractTemplateServlet?calyLang=eng&journal=cjb&volume=76&year=1998&issue=3&msno=b98-019

Nothing that I read in them suggests it's wise to intentionally introduce disease organisms to the soil, but the information was relevant and interesting.

That is: these are soils with something deliberately introduced or promoted into them to fight a pathogen. I'm not arguing that at all. The assertion that having great soil promotes the Soil Food Web and plants will develop immunities to the disease is what I have issues with.

But back to the OP, isn't there something on this board where somone uses corn meal to suppress early blight?

Dan

But back to the OP, isn't there something on this board where somone uses corn meal to suppress early blight?

There are a couple folks I have encountered who have claimed corn meal has worked for them in suppressing or even eliminating various fungal pathogens.

The best explanation I have heard as to what may be happening is that the corn feeds wild strains of trichoderma fungi. These fungi are mycoparasitic and have been observed in controlled field conditions destroying rival fungi. There is a commercial product called root shield that contains a 'created' strain that is said to have the strengths of the wild strains and none of the weaknesses. They may also form symbiotic relationships with plant roots preventing soil pathogens from infecting the plant via the roots. It has even been claimed they can prevent root rot as the fungi responsible can't get to the roots.

Lots and lots of claims. I suspect there is something to the claims, but being a living organism it's not going to work the same for everyone under all conditions.