Hosts of Early Blight
A host is any plant in which a pathogen can survive on and then go on to produce inoculum.
In addition to the tomato, there are several other hosts of early blight from which infections can occur.
Of the economically important crops potato, eggplant, cabbage and cauliflower (both Brassica oleracea) can be hosts and sources of inoculum. Cabbage and cauliflower are considered only to be ocassional hosts.
The following plants can be hosts of Early Blight:
- Solanum aviculare
- Solanum carolinensis - horse nettle
- Solanum gigantum
- Solanum melongena - eggplant
- Solanum nigrum - black nightshade
- Solanum nigrum guinennse - garden wonderberry
- Solanum rostratum - buffalo burr
- Solanum tuberosum - potato
- Solanum warscewiczii
- Hyocyamus niger - black henbane
- Lycopersicon esculentum - tomato
- Nicandra physaloides - apple of Peru
A few other non-Solanaceous plants have been shown in culture to act as hosts in culture but probably will not do so in a garden setting. They are:
Brassica oleracea - cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli
Cucumis sativus -cucumber
Zinnia elegans - zinnia flowers
Try, as best as you can, to remove all these plants from your surrounding garden area when doing fall clean-up to reduce the source of inoculum next season.
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