All summer residents are well aware of such a common disease as late blight. Especially often this infection affects tomatoes and potatoes. Phytophthora spores can be carried in huge quantities by wind and rain. How to properly care for plants to avoid crop loss?
Phytophthora spores on a tomato appear most often if it is grown in the immediate vicinity of potatoes or for several years in the same place. These two mistakes are often made by beginning gardeners. It should be remembered that tomatoes on the same bed can be grown only with a frequency of 4-5 years. You can not cultivate them during this time and after other nightshade, as well, of course, potatoes.
Another important rule that must be observed to prevent the occurrence of late blight on a tomato is the obligatory digging of the soil in the beds after the end of the growing season and the destruction of tops by burning. In addition, in the spring it is necessary to properly prepare the seeds for sowing. They must be soaked without fail in a one percent solution of potassium permanganate for half an hour. Sowing is carried out after drying to a loose state.
In order to avoid the appearance of late blight on a tomato, it is necessary to pay special attention to the age of seedlings. It is best to transfer it to the ground about 60 days after germination. It will also be good to use early and mid-ripening varieties for cultivation. The fact is that late blight affects tomatoes in the second half of summer.
Therefore, early varieties have time to ripen faster than infection occurs.
The fight against late blight also consists in proper care throughout the growing season. Firstly, one should not allow too thick thickening of tomatoes. Secondly, you need to monitor the weeds. They deprive plants of some nutrients, often cover them from the sun, and therefore create favorable conditions for the development of late blight. Particular attention should also be paid to the balance of fertilizing.
The appearance of late blight on a tomato can be caused by the introduction of too many fertilizers containing nitrogen, for example, manure. Therefore, when feeding tomatoes, it is imperative to follow the rules of agricultural technology provided for in this case. If we talk about mullein, then it should not be in the soil more than 2 kg per square meter.
This applies only to poor soils. On chernozems, this figure needs to be halved. This disease also begins to develop very rapidly in wet weather.
What to do if phytophthora on tomatoes still appeared? Firstly, the frequency of watering should be reduced. The soil on the beds should not dry out very much, but there should also be no stagnation of water. Watering in sunny weather should be carried out once a week, but plentiful (with moisture to a depth of about 20 cm). In the raw - stop altogether.
In addition, it is worth processing tomatoes with specially designed preparations for this. It can be copper chloroxide or Bordeaux liquid. In some cases, a solution of sodium chloride helps (1 tbsp. / 10l). Sometimes iodine is also used (1 bottle / 10 l). Another way is spraying a solution of garlic infusion. It is best to use his broken arrows for this purpose. In any case, before using the treatment solution, it is necessary to carefully examine the plants and cut off all infected leaves and branches.