How to fight late blight on tomatoes in a greenhouse using traditional methods: the best ways to treat and prevent the disease
If you notice signs of late blight on tomatoes, do not rush to use chemicals. We will tell you what to do if late blight appears on tomatoes, and how to fight it with folk remedies in a greenhouse.
In this article you will find affordable and recipes for solutions against late blight, tested by gardeners from personal experience.
Symptoms and causes of late blight in tomatoes
Late blight on tomatoes appears in the second half of summer, causing a disease called late blight. This is a fungal disease that affects nightshade crops.
The leaves, stem, and then the fruits become covered with brown spots. The inflorescences do not develop, dry out, and soon the entire plantation disappears.
Fungal spores live in the soil, in leaf debris, and on garden tools, infecting plants every year.
Among the reasons for the appearance of late blight are long-term cultivation of the crop in one place, proximity to other nightshades, excess humidity, damp weather, frequent fogs, heavy dew and too close planting of tomato bushes.
Folk remedies for combating late blight in a greenhouse
To obtain an environmentally friendly harvest, our grandmothers used folk remedies for late blight on tomatoes.
Hydrogen peroxide
Gardeners love this product for its qualities:
- enriches plants with oxygen;
- has disinfecting properties;
- increases seed germination;
- saturates the root system with air;
- has disinfecting properties.
Due to the content of hydrogen and oxygen molecules in peroxide, when it enters the soil, an oxidation process occurs. This reaction kills the pathogenic late blight spores.
Application of peroxide solution:
- Soil treatment. It is carried out in the spring five days before planting. Two liters of solution are poured into the prepared wells. Prepare in the following proportion: 6 liters of water – 100 mg of peroxide.
- Disinfection of seeds before planting with a 3% peroxide solution. The seeds are kept for 20 minutes, then dried.
- To stimulate the growth of seedlings after planting, spray with a solution every week: 2 liters of water - 4 tbsp. l. peroxide.
- Adult bushes with cracks are treated with a foliar and root method with a solution: 2 liters of water, two tbsp. l. drug.
Important. Hydrogen peroxide is diluted in warm water. Tomatoes are processed every week.
Salt
In the garden it is used as a prophylactic agent in the fight against late blight. After treatment with saline solution, plants are covered with a thin film, which prevents the spread of late blight fungi.
At the first sign of disease, remove damaged leaves and fruits. Then treat the bushes with a salt solution: 10 liters of water, a glass of salt.
Copper wire
A method that gardeners used back in the last century: piercing the tomato stem with copper wire. To do this, the wire is calcined and cut into pieces of 3 cm.
The stem is pierced at the base at a distance of 10 cm from the ground. The ends of the wire are lowered without twisting. The plant receives the required amount of copper, which makes the tomatoes more resistant to the disease.
Attention. Piercing is done when the tomato stem becomes dense.
Infusion of garlic with potassium permanganate
Garlic and potassium permanganate It is used in the garden as an antiseptic, which helps fight fungal diseases of tomatoes. At the same time, the tincture is an effective fertilizer, which, when released into the soil, stimulates the release of compounds that nourish the roots of plants. The tops are developing, the tomatoes look healthy and strong.
Properties of the solution:
- the product has a disinfecting effect;
- heals cracks in fruits;
- saturates the soil with oxygen molecules;
- destroys fungal spores.
Treatment begins before the first ovaries form, subsequent times are carried out every two weeks.
Preparation of the solution: a glass of chopped garlic is infused for a day in a bucket of water, then 2 g of potassium permanganate is added.
Yeast
Yeast solution - an excellent remedy for the control and prevention of late blight on tomatoes. The bacteria found in yeast have a detrimental effect on pathogenic fungi, saturating the plant with micro- and macroelements.
Preparation of a solution from dry yeast:
- dilute a packet of dry yeast in a liter of warm water, the temperature should not exceed 36 degrees;
- add 0.5 liters of old jam or half a glass of sugar;
- mix, pour into a large container and place in a warm place for six hours to ferment;
- dilute the fermented mixture in water up to 10 liters;
- We water a liter of fertilizer under the bush.
We carry out foliar and root feeding three times per season at intervals of two weeks.
Important! Yeast dressing is used only in fresh form.
Top dressing with fresh yeast is prepared in the same way as with dry yeast, but different proportions are used.
Ingredients:
- whey – 1 l;
- fresh yeast – 100 g;
- iodine – 15 drops;
- water – 9 l.
Attention. Iodine is added to the solution before spraying.
How to properly spray tomatoes in a greenhouse
The fight against late blight on tomatoes in a greenhouse using folk remedies requires knowledge of agricultural technology.
All fertilizers are applied only after watering in the evening.
In order not to harm the plants and get a harvest, you must follow the rules:
- Ventilate the greenhouse in the morning until eight o'clock.
- Remove and destroy diseased leaves and fruits.
- Spray the plants along with the stem and stalk.
- Maintain proportions when preparing the solution.
Preventive measures
Prevention of late blight on tomatoes in a greenhouse folk remedies are carried out immediately after planting seedlings.
Prevention methods:
- spray tomatoes with a 1% solution of potassium permanganate twice a season;
- remove old leaves and fallen fruits;
- do not allow the soil to dry out;
- observe the humidity regime in the greenhouse;
- keep the air temperature 22-24 degrees;
- ensure there is sufficient lighting;
- apply peat fertilizers;
- water only at the roots;
- remove the top layer of soil in autumn;
- plant seeds that are not infected with late blight.
Reviews from summer residents
Let's see what summer residents say about the fight against late blight.
Oleg: «My parents used only folk remedies to prevent late blight in tomatoes in the greenhouse. I adopted the following methods of struggle from them: saline solution, tincture of garlic with potassium permanganate. My favorite remedy is hydrogen peroxide; after treatment, the tomatoes grow quickly, the greens are bright, they actively bloom and bear fruit.”
Natalia: “I fight late blight in the greenhouse only with folk methods. At the beginning of the season, I cultivate the soil with a 1% solution of potassium permanganate. After planting the seedlings, I switch to hydrogen peroxide. I spray and water every two weeks. I make the solution in the following proportion: 2 tbsp. l. peroxide, liter of water. Twice a season I treat it with a solution of iodine and potassium permanganate, and try to water the entire bush.”
Fedor: “I decided to grow tomatoes for sale. I learned from a neighbor how to fight late blight on tomatoes in a greenhouse using traditional methods. He always has a harvest, the bushes are green. He advised using yeast feeding. Tomatoes are growing by leaps and bounds. I cultivate the soil in the greenhouse in spring and autumn with a light solution of potassium permanganate. To prevent late blight, I feed tomatoes with hydrogen peroxide at the root. I dilute a tablespoon of peroxide in a liter of warm water. I pour half a liter onto the bush.”
Conclusion
It is possible to defeat late blight on tomatoes in a greenhouse and grow an environmentally friendly product only with biological preparations. We always have them at hand or are sold in any pharmacy in the city. Using folk remedies in the correct proportions, we will not get poisoned, and our children will not have allergies.