This year is truly not a tomato year. At the beginning of the year the plants were too cold, then they suffered from the constant rain, and now the leaves turn brown much earlier than normal.
Blight is giving a lot of gardeners a hard time right now and making their hearts bleed.
Plants that you have painstakingly raised now end up in the trash. For weeks you nurtured and cared for them. You covered them in cold weather, fertilized them and took care of them.
And then? Then came the big rain. You caught the worst of all tomato diseases: late blight.
Brown spots on the leaves are the first signs. Not long, then the stems and fruits are also affected. The plants die because they are carried off by the fungus.
But what happens to the fruit on the perennials? Can you eat blight tomatoes? Or do you have to dispose of them too? Do they ripen?
Study: watering tomatoes with salt water brings many benefits!
Are blight tomatoes edible?
Can tomatoes with blight be eaten? About this there are many opinions. The desire for it I can well understand. At least to harvest the healthy fruits still quickly and let them ripen. That would be a good idea. Or?
Sometimes the tomato fruits still look very good, despite blight. At first glance, they look quite normal - just green. Can you still use fruit from infested plants and let them ripen?
Is it enough to cut out the brown spots? It should be possible for soup and sauce, right?
Questions upon questions. But the answer is short and painful: No. You should not eat blight tomatoes. Not even the green ones.
You can tell if it's actually the fungus by looking at it:
- Stems and leaves are full of brown spots (yellowish at first)
- a dirty-white fungal lawn appears on the underside of the leaves
- the leaves turn brown and black. They die off.
- The stems get large brown spots that spread rapidly.
- Tomatoes are full of brownish and glassy spots that feel hard to the touch when pressed.
Why you should not eat tomatoes with late blight
Late blight is caused by the fungus Phytophthora infestans. This fungus can produce toxins (mycotoxins). They are heat stable and they can be carcinogenic.
There are many reasons not to eat tomatoes that show signs of blight, and it even affects the watery inside of the tomato.
It does not help to cut out the brown spots. Since the inside of the tomato is very liquid, the fungus spreads all over the fruit. The spores have already infected the entire plant even before you can tell.
Your tomato fruit has no signs of blight. Only the leaves and stems are affected? Even then, you must assume that the fungus has already spread and can be found everywhere. The toxins are very likely already in each fruit.
In short, it is not recommended to eat tomatoes that have been exposed to late blight.
That blight tomatoes are not edible, you now know. If you now have the idea to dispose of the affected plants with your chickens: not a good idea! Fruits from infected plants should never be fed to animals.
You should dispose of the plants in the organic waste garbage can. The compost heap is not the right place, here the fungus will get ready for next year and attack your new plants.
Treat tomato plants with baking soda
If you act early enough, you can dry up the fungus and save the plant. There is a good trick for this: as soon as the first signs of late blight become visible, treat it with a mixture of Baking soda* and water.
In the article you can find out exactly how this works and what you have to pay attention to: "How baking soda helps with blight on tomatoes"..
My conclusion
You should not eat blight tomatoes. The fungus contains toxins that are classified as carcinogenic in humans. Try to prevent it next year by building a shelter for tomatoes and protecting them from rain. The fungus likes it damp and warm and then spreads particularly quickly.
Keep the leaves of the plants dry and the fungus has few chances. All the best to you and here's to a better tomato harvest next year!
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