As the late John Denver once sang, “What would life be without homegrown tomatoes? Only two things money can’t buy, that’s true love and homegrown tomatoes.” While we fully agree with the sentiment, tomatoes can be challenging to grow as they’re susceptible to blight. But, with the right tomato blight spray recipe, you can keep those pesky black and brown spots from appearing on your precious fruit.

To help you keep your tomatoes healthy all summer long, MasonJars.com recommends mixing four simple ingredients into a preventive solution. Beyond the tomato blight spray recipe, we’ve also included some helpful information on what blight actually is, how to prevent it, and more.

Tomato Blight Spray Recipe

This simple solution will help you prevent and treat blight.

Ingredients

Equipment

Directions

  1. Add baking soda, vegetable oil, water, and dish soap to a 32-oz. regular-mouth Mason jar.
  2. Screw on the Mason jar sprayer lid.
  3. Shake the solution carefully.
  4. Spray tomatoes every 7-10 days.
  5. Special note: Do not spray plants when it is 90 degrees or above outside, as this can damage the leaves.

What is Tomato Blight?

Blight is a fungal disease that affects tomatoes and potatoes. A telltale sign of blight is the emergence of dark spots on your tomatoes or plant leaves. There are three types of blight you want to be on the lookout for:

  1. Early blight: Caused by Alternaria solani or Alternaria tomatophila, early blight is challenging to deal with, but there’s still a chance you can save your tomato plant. Keep an eye out for brown spots on the leaves, stem, and fruit. Remove as much of the plant with those spots as possible.
  2. Late blight: Caused by the Phytophthora infestans fungus, late blight is manageable but not curable. It looks like powdery mildew on your plants and results in rotten spots on your fruit. If you see it, continue spraying the blight solution on your plants weekly to prevent further infection.
  3. Septoria leaf spot: Caused by the fungus Septoria lycopersici, this type of blight is least harmful to the plant and its fruit. Septoria leaf spots show up as little brown and black spots on the lower leaves of tomato plants. Prune the affected portions as soon as possible, and you will likely resolve the issue.

What Causes Blight?

Excess moisture is often the main culprit of tomato blight. Therefore, ample airflow and light are vital to preventing it. To keep your tomatoes healthy, we recommend:

  1. Watering at the base of the plant
  2. Watering in the morning to allow the plant an opportunity to dry throughout the day
  3. Leaving ample space between plants (18-24 inches)
  4. Plucking any leaves that show signs of disease
  5. Removing any infected plants
  6. Removing branches below the first flowers
  7. Spraying a tomato blight solution every 7-10 days

Tomatoes: America’s Favorite Garden Food

Tomatoes are often the cornerstone of any food garden. In fact, The National Gardening Association found that 86 percent of gardeners with food gardens plant tomatoes, making them the most popular fruit to plant.

Although they’re easy to grow, they’re a little more challenging to keep healthy all season long. To make sure blight doesn’t impact your plants, give them a regular spray down with this blight solution and see how your yield improves.

As with every post on MasonJars.com, we want to hear your thoughts. Drop us a comment below to let us know how you keep your tomato plants healthy if you have any questions or think we should add any recommendations to this article.