Causes and prevention of Tomato Blight Virus

(This was the very first page of The Garden Helper!)
Jean,from New Zealand, wrote to me and asked what I knew about TOMATO BLIGHT.

Causes of Tomato Blight

For those who are unfamiliar with blight...
Picture your tomato vines looking robust and full of fruit..Within 3 days, your vines AND fruit turn black and withered, THAT is tomato blight. Since I had the misfortune of being struck with blight two years ago I was currently researching the subject already. I checked my plant library, and only found vague response to the subject. The next step was to query the local farmers, where I received responses ranging from virus to dampness. No help there either.....I was told that I could never grow tomatoes in the same spot again, because the blight is a virus which stayed in the soil. Another farmer told me not to worry, that if I kept the plants reasonably dry,I would have no problem.

Preventing Blight

This year I decided to try again. I planted this years tomatoes in the opposite end of the garden,,,,about 100 feet from the previous site...... Well, farmer #1 was right. Halfway into the season, I lost all of my plants. So to answer Jeans question---If you are stricken with TOMATO BLIGHT, remove every last vine, leaf,fruit and root from your garden and BURN them! DO NOT use them for compost! I don't know how far from the original site you must move to, to be safe. Next year I will try putting them at the other end of my property, about 1000 feet away, and maybe I'll get lucky, but I'm not counting on it........
More about my fight with Tomato Blight