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When Black Fungus
Disease Attacks Your Tomato Plants
Black Fungus Disease
March 2nd, 2007
Question: ?How do you deal with black fungus
disease? It seems this nasty disease keeps on killing my
tomatoes?
Answer:
My grand-father grew tomatoes in Poland, where black fungus was
just
as much of a problem as it is for you. Often, farmers could lose
entire
crops to the disease if they made a mistake.
The way he dealt with this problem was by applying some
pretty
serious measures to keep everything sterile the whole time. Some
of
which I talk about in my little e-Book on tomatoes.
(Keep in mind, these measures help protect your tomatoes from many
diseases, not just black fungus? if you practice this you?ll have
healthier plants)
1. They would used to STEAM the earth before using it.
This was
done by pumping scolding hot steam into the green-house and
into the
earth through pipes to kill all bacterial life.
2. Then, the earth would sit for 2-3 weeks so that new
life could
begin to grow in it, hopefully, with any disease killed off
by this
time.
3. Then they would apply the fertilizer and let it sit
with the
earth for a week to let it de-acidify and allow even more
micro life
to form in the earth for the tomatoes.
4. Only then, did they plant the tomato seedlings into
the earth.
Now, that?s just the first part of the process -
afterwards,
everything was kept as sterile as possible. For instance,
no
children, animals were allowed in the greenhouse, no shoes were
worn
in the green-house. There was constant ventillation of the
greenhouse
to keep the air from being stale
Also, instead of growing the tomatoes on wooden sticks or poles,
he
used sterilized string or fishing string. Wood tends to
absorb
moisture, rot, and quickly create disease.
you would be amazed just how these variables change the
probability
of your tomatoes catching disease :)
5. Keep in mind, the most important part here is
tomato pruning, I
disagree with your friends who say it would take 10
years for it to go
away, you can still grow tomatoes without the
disease.
The biggest reason your tomatos catch the ?plegue? is because
they
are poorly ventillated, and/or grown outdoors. In these areas
where
the plegue is rampant, its the best idea to grow them in
a
green-house.
If the tomatoes are properly pruned, the tomatoes will
breathe
1,000% more freely, and therefor, you reduce the risk of them
getting
the disease dramatically. If they are not pruned, old air
gets
trapped underneath and around the ?bushy?, plant, the air
goes
?stale?, and your tomatoes grow slowly? as the temperature drops
at
night, this air turns to moisture around the tomato stem? and
now
you have a big wet plant with stale musty air around it, the water
and
air drips/moves down the stem to the very bottom, where now there
is a
perfect environment for a disease to spread it?s wings and thrive
:) =
Moist, Wet, Warm(protected from the sun by the giant canopy
of
un-pruned leaves during the day)
That?s my two cents on it :) hope it helps! My grandfather
grew
tomatoes year after year in a place where lots of people lost
their
plants to the black fungus, but to date, he didn?t lose a
single
tomato to the disease in his green-houses.
Kacper Postawski is that author of ?Organic Tomato
Magic? (http://www.joyfultomato.com)
an eBook that Reveals The Most Over-Looked Secret That Grows
Mouth-Watering Organic Tomatoes In Half The Time, With Less Effort, And
Doubles Your Harvest...
Other Tomato Gardening Articles:
Tomato
Gardening Quesitions and Answers
Growing
Tomatoes In Hot Weather
Growing
Tomatoes In Colder Climates
The BEST Tomato Soupe
Recipe On the Planet!
When
Black Fungus Disease Attacks Your Tomato Plants
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