How To Get Rid Of Early Blight

You want to know how to control early blight in your garden or on your balcony?

Great! Stick with me since I will show you various simple ways how to get rid of early blight in a cheap but yet efficient manner.

Early Blight Overview

Short descriptionEarly blight is a fungal disease and quite common across various garden plants.
Scientific nameAlternaria solani.
LifespanMonths or even years if you don’t treat early blight properly.
What plants are vulnerable?Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, apples.
SymptomsDark spots on the leaves of your plants, curly leaves, leaves turn brown and fall off.
DistributionWorldwide.
Potential damageEarly blight is a serious plant disease and will greatly adversely affect the growth process of your plants. In severe cases, your plants may even decay.
Control optionsChemical & Biological.
Treatment difficultyIntermediate.

How to prevent & control Early Blight

Check all of your plants for early blight infestation

The first important thing to do when you see early blight on one of your plants is to also check all other plants since early blight can spread across your garden and you want to avoid this at all costs.

Remove contaminated plant material

After you have checked all of your plants for early blight, it is time to remove infested plant material since infested leaves will only be a burden for your plants and will it also make more likely that leaves and plants that are healthy right now would also be contaminated in the future.

Use vinegar to get rid of early blight

Now that you have removed contaminated plant material, you should treat infested plants with vinegar.

In fact, vinegar is a simple but yet effective substance to get rid of early blight and other fungal diseases and it is also pretty convenient since almost everyone of us has vinegar at home, even though it might mostly be used for cooking purposes.

Baking soda to mitigate early blight issues

Baking soda is another great substance to get rid of early blight in a cheap but still effective manner.

Just make a solution of baking soda and water and spray it onto the leaves of your plants on a regular basis.

You will see some results pretty soon and you should continue to treat your plants with this solution until you get fully rid of early blight.

Potassium bicarbonate can help to get rid of fungal diseases

Not that popular but still effective is the use of potassium bicarbonate to control early blight.

However, before using it, make sure that you read all the instructions carefully since too much of this substance can do more harm than good to your plants and may also decrease soil quality in the long run.

Treat your plants with horticultural soap to control early blight

Even though it is usually a little bit more expensive, horticultural soap is another great way to get rid of early blight quickly.

However, please note that this soap is often not fully organic and that it may have some negative impact on our environment and on the insects living in your garden right now.

Use neem oil to treat early blight

Neem oil is not only great to keep away several pests from your garden, but it can also help you control early blight since the fungus that is responsible for the development of early blight doesn’t like neem oil at all.

Consequently, just spray a solution of neem oil and water onto the leaves of your plants and wait a few days until you see the first positive effects.

Chemical fungicides as measure of last resort

If nothing else helps to get rid of early blight, you might also want to try chemical fungicides that will do the job quite effectively.

However, make sure to try organic methods first since these chemical substances are often pretty harmful to our environment and will also likely do some damage to your plants.

Good air circulation is crucial to prevent early blight

To prevent the development of early blight in the first place, make sure decent air circulation so that the fungus that causes early blight will not have a nice hotbed to develop.

In turn, early blight infestation will become much less likely.

Make sure that your plants have enough space

It is also important that you provide enough space to your plants so that air can circulate well and that your plants also get sufficient nutrients and sunlight so that they can grow well and will become more resistant to pests and plant diseases.

Don’t water your plants too often to keep away early blight

It is also crucial that the soil is not too moist.

Otherwise, early blight fungus will get a perfect hotbed to grow and things may get out of control.

Hence, make sure that you water your plants neither too much nor too little to keep away early blight as best as possible.

Make sure that water can run off properly

You should also make sure that water can run off properly and waterlogging will not become an issue.

Otherwise, the roots of your plants may start to rot and your plants will become more vulnerable to early blight and other plant diseases.

Mulch can assure constant water supply to prevent fungal diseases

Mulch can help you to balance the water supply in the soil.

In fact, it can be a great tool to assure constant water supply which is crucial for many plants to grow big and strong quickly so that they can deal with plant diseases on their own.

Prune your plants to avoid the spread of early blight in your garden

It is also helpful to prune your plants and to get rid of dry and rotten plant material to limit the possibilities for early blight to spread across your garden.

Clean your garden on a regular basis

Also make sure that you clean your garden on a regular basis so that foliage is removed on a regular basis and the fungus that causes early blight will not be able to infest your plants.

What’s left to say?

Now that you know several ways how to get rid of early blight on your plants, you may also want to have a look at my grower’s guides and my companion plant articles to get even more information on how to grow your plants at home in the best possible manner.

About the Author

My name is Andreas and I’m really passionate about our environment and also about growing plants. In fact, I have grown several different plants over many years. I love to see my plants grow and also always try new things to improve my overall conditions at home.

In my blog posts, I want to share my experiences with you so that you can become successful in growing various different plants and improving your home as well, even though you might still be a beginner right now.

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