If you are lucky you have already enjoyed the first fresh, juicy tomato from your garden. If you are like me you also have some pretty sad looking leaves on those tomato plants. There are several diseases that can affect your tomato plants, but the good news is you can still get a good crop of tomatoes even if your plants don’t look so hot. Early and late blight can cause damage to both the leaves and fruit. Bacterial spot and speck are also common in the garden and can cause spots on the leaves and fruit.
What can you do now? Remove any diseased looking leaves from the plant. Make sure your plants have good air circulation by staking them to keep the plants upright and open. Also avoid overhead watering and water in the morning rather than late in the day. These diseases come from the wind, rain and soil and sometimes can’t be avoided. Healthy leaves can be treated with a fungicide like Bonide Liquid Copper Fungicide or Fung-onil. Be sure to follow the directions on the label and only spray on listed plants. Fungicides may be used as a preventative but will not help leaves that are already showing signs.
For more information, check out the photos and information on tomato diseases from the University of Minnesota.