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Re: Blight in Tory's rain-soaked PNW garden

I can certainly identify with your disappointment this season, Tory.  Here
in the East, until the last 10 days or so, it's been dry as the moon all
summer.  Pretty much everything was disappointing despite my almost daily
waterings in the raised beds.

I am no expert on blight but am sure you're on the right track with thinning
out the leaves of your toms to improve air circulation.

When I was editing for the Forest Service and working on a book that
discussed various fungal diseases, the scientists mentioned that in some
cases fungal spores splash UP onto leaves/stems from the soil surface during
a hard rain.  I wonder if you couldn't discourage that, routinely, by
putting Reemay or one of the water-permeable plastic mulch sheets on top of
your soil at the beginning of the gardening season and setting toms out into
holes you've dut in the material.  Nothing different from normal
installation patterns for people who use the stuff for its real purpose.

Anybody on the list have blight problems and already use the mulch sheets?

--Janet
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Janet Wintermute             jwintermute@ids2.idsonline.com

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