Tomatoes are my favorite summer treat but they do not come without some problems. The good thing about tomato diseases is they are rarely fatal.

Good garden sanitation and rotation of crops will help somewhat. Garden sanitation means cleaning up old garden debris. Rotation is the practice of not growing related plants in the same location as last year. Crops like potatoes, peppers or egg plants should not have grown where tomatoes will go this year because they are in the same solonaceous family. There should be a three year rotation between these crops.

The next thing one can do is purchase disease resistant varieties. Look on the tag and note if that plant is disease resistant such as VF resistant. These symbols stand for verticillium and fusarium wilt resistant. The tag informs the gardener if the plant is resistant to what disease. So look for disease resistant plants to reduce problems.

Early Blight is a common Southern Illinois problem. This fungus can come in on transplants so check plants for dark spots with concentric rings with some surrounding tissue turned yellow. This disease can be prevented from further movement up the plant with copper or sulfur sprays.

Another disease common here is Septoria Leaf Spot. The symptoms of this disease is white papery patches on the leaves develop tiny dark specks somewhat inside them. Copper also helps keep this disease in check. Another option for control of both diseases is to use a fungicide.

Blossom End Rot is a physiological disorder of the tomato fruit. The bottom side of the fruit will develop a dark brown to black sunken area. Mulching and consistent watering helps this problem. Shallow cultivation will also help so avoid deep tillage around plants. The problem comes from the plants lack of ability to take up calcium. The fruit here must be discarded. The good thing is it usually only affects the first fruit.

So get out there practice good sanitation, rotation, consistent watering, shallow cultivation, application of mulches, choose disease resistant plants and apply sprays when needed. The reward is worth the extra effort. Pass me the tomatoes please.