Early blight is one issue most gardeners will encounter at least once in their lives. There seems to be a lot of misinformation and mysticism when it comes to this particularly annoying disease. However, like many situations, a bit of preventative care goes a long way to avoiding brown spotted leaves.

Early blight is a fungus that is found often in many soils. Some people believe that this disease can carry over to plants the following year and avoid composting perfectly good organic material because of it. Some even go to lengths to burn these cuttings out of fear of the spread of the blight. However, both are entirely unnecessary. 

This fungus lives in essentially all types of soil. It has a life cycle like most fungus, and I assure you it isn't immortal. It will definitely burn in a pyre, but its cousins are still chilling under your plants regardless, perhaps in eulogy, and this won't keep them from creeping onto your plants later on. 

So, if they're in the soil, then how do they get onto my plants? Well, their preferred mode of transportation are water droplets that splash on the bare earth which propel them onto low-hanging leaves. Over time you will see leaves start to develop brown spots from below to the top of the plant. The most common victim in this scenario are tomato plants, however they can infect others too. Anything it touches can be contaminated, including pruning shears, so it's important when dealing with this problem to sterilize any equipment that comes in contact with the infected parts with alcohol.

From what I've witnessed, early blight is opportunistic and is likely to attack seedlings and younger plants. When it happens, you might not see the effects until weeks later, once the plant weakens. And, if it comes in physical contact with other plants, it can spread to them as well. Which makes this fungus particularly nasty.

Prevention is the greatest asset you have in keeping this disease at bay, but it is also no guarantee. Even the most seasoned gardener will encounter this problem, so don't feel shame or guilt if you see it. Thankfully, there are ways of dealing with early blight once you have it, which I will cover at the end of this article. 

Prevention Method #1 - Mulch

Whether you are nurturing your veggies outside in a bed or inside with a grow tent, the single best way to deal with many types of soil-borne issues is to mulch. And, this doesn't have to be difficult. Many types of mulch exist. If you have a forest near your home, harvest a few trash bags of well broken down leaves (provided you have permission to do so.) Straw, which is a favorite in the gardening community, is cheap and easy to use no matter the application. Heck, even cardboard slats are useful for this in a pinch. Of course, there are wood chips, but this could stymie the cultivation of soil nutrients as wood leaches nitrogen from the soil as it breaks down. 

I recommend applying mulch as soon as the plant has grown its first set of true leaves. Mulch provides a barrier between the plant and soil which will inhibit splashing and neutralize the most common route for early blight transportation. Besides that, mulch also insulates the roots from temperature changes, and keeps moisture from evaporating as quickly.

Prevention Method #2 - Water from Below

I know. Most of us don't have irrigation systems in place, especially for our seedlings. But ensuring that you are watering below the leaf-line of the plant will go a long way to keeping the spores from jumping onto them. Watering from below also requires that you don't splash the water while doing so. This can increase watering time, but it will also reduce the time and heartache it will take to correct early blight if it shows up. 

On the market today, there are small irrigation systems you can set up for inside watering. There are also inexpensive setups for outside as well. Some of these include soaker hoses or water pumps. The best ones let you select the right amount of water flow per plant along the chain. 

Once outside, however, the only control you'll have over splashing water will be with these systems. Nothing stops mother nature. If the ground is bare and there is a particularly heavy rain where droplets could land on lower hanging leaves, you might wind up with early blight, anyway. That is why I suggest a combination of all methods listed here. 

Prevention Method #3 - Pruning

Pruning can be a tough subject to grasp because different vegetation have different needs. However, when it comes to early blight, there is only one method: pruning back low-hanging leaves. By this I mean any leaf that is within a few inches of the ground. You want to ensure that the plant has enough leaves to survive, though, so be judicious when your plant is in its early stages of growth. 

Plants need good airflow to avoid many types of mold and fungus problems. I suggest learning your plant's particular needs and prune as it grows. For example, the paprika peppers I've grown needs room to breathe or they will suffer from a kind of edema. In their case, it is best to have each plant at least a foot apart from the other. In a tomato's case, prune away suckers and make sure there is plenty of airflow. Wind doesn't just help keep the stem strengthen, it also keeps the leaves arid enough to discourage molds and fungus.

Combating Early Blight

Let's say you've done everything you can, and you still wind up with early blight. What now? Pesticides are a scorched earth approach to gardening and generally cause more harm than good. There is an inexpensive way to combat the fungus: 1 tsp of baking soda mixed in a quart of water. Test the solution on a part of the plant to make sure that it can tolerate that strength. You may have to adjust the ratio depending on what your plant can handle. My paprika peppers didn't like this mixture and so I had to dilute it slightly. 

If you have a large area to cover, it might be worth your while to get a pump sprayer that is typically used for liquid fertilizer. If not, then an inexpensive choice would be the quart sized bottles you can get from almost any store. Spray the solution on both the top and bottom of the leaves. Then, let it stand for a week. See if there are any changes in the infection. 

Another popular choice is neem oil. It seems like all creatures under the sun hate this concoction, including humans, so be careful when mixing or using this organic mixture. Neem oil, once diluted to a reasonable strength (you can buy it pre-mixed in stores), coat the top and bottoms of all the leaves. 

This won't guarantee that the blight won't spread, but it will at least slow it down for a bit. 

Have you experienced early blight before? If so, what methods did you use to prevent or keep it at bay? Leave your solutions to this common any annoying problem in the comment section below. 

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