![]() ![]() The question, “Are blight infected tomatoes edible?” cannot be answered by a simple yes or no. Crop rotation will also retard the spread of the disease. A timely application of fungicide may slow the disease long enough to get a tomato harvest. Weather is a major factor as to if tomatoes will get late blight. Late blight can also infect potato crops, so keep an eye on them as well. Preventing Tomato Fruit Affected by BlightĪt this time, there are no tomato varieties resistant to late blight. Don’t put the affected plant in the compost pile, as it will continue to spread infection. If the plant appears to be extensively affected with late blight, it should be removed and burned, if possible. In its earliest stages, late blight can be mistaken for other foliar diseases, such as Septoria leaf spot or early blight, but as the disease progresses there can be no mistaking it as late blight will decimate the tomato plant. Tomato fruit affected by blight starts as firm, irregular brown spots becoming larger, black, and leathery until the fruit eventually rots. A fuzzy growth containing the spores of the pathogen begins to appear on the underside of the blotches or stem lesions. Leaves have large brown/olive green/black blotches beginning at the margins. Tomato fruit affected by blight are first evidenced as brown to black lesions on the stem or petiole. They may afflict plants from spring to fall depending upon favorable weather conditions. Sometimes referred to as water molds, protists thrive in humid, moist environs, produce spores and spread when water is on the plant’s foliage. infestans is not a fungus nor is it a bacterium or a virus, but rather belongs to a class of organisms called protists. Late blight of tomatoes is the result of Phytophthora infestans and is notorious as the cause of the Irish potato famine during the 1800’s. Is there any help for late blight of tomato plants, and can you eat tomatoes affected with blight? What is Late Blight of Tomato Plants? Late blight of tomato plants kills off foliage and rots fruit at its most destructive. One common pathogen that affects Solanaceous plants like eggplant, nightshade, peppers, and tomatoes is called late blight and it’s on the rise. ![]()
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