This copper wire trick has been touted for years. I have tried it with no success. The many years I lived in the colder climates were spent trying to solve the problem of blighted foliage on tomatoes. I achieved the best results with the following two methods which you may want to try next year.

1. For those with acreage, plow a section of land that has never been tilled before out on the back forty. Do not ammend the soil. Lay down landscape fabric or black pastic, do not mulch, plant tomatoes, allow them to grow on the ground and...allow the weeds to grow around the bed. Head high weeds are perfect! There are several factors at play with this approach. Till a new bed in a new location every year.

2. For those growing in limited space. Grow your own tomato plants from seed. The minute the first little sprouts appear, using a hand held mister that delivers a fine spray,
mist the seedlings with the Soap-Shield fungicidal soap sold by Gardens Alive. Repeat spray once a week until the plants have been set in the ground. Then spray the tomatoes with the same product once a week and/or after heavy rains. Apply this spray treatment mainly to the bottom third of the tomato plants.

These two approaches have given me the best results re blighted, unsightly tomato foliage.

Vgkg, I'm glad you posted your results, because I had meant to try your copper wire trick this year and just plain forgot. Thanks for doing the work for me :-)!

Well, vgkg, I tried this too this year. Actually my dh was the copper wirer. As a control he didn't wire one Pruden's Purple out of 5, all in same raised bed, same conditions.

Happy to report that I have no sign of blight this year. But also several other factors were involved: 1) much drier weather this year than last year's blight-favorable weather around here and 2) tomatoes are planted in the opposite end of the garden than last. It is hard for me to know if/where tomatoes were planted in previous years other than last as we just bought the place last year, it's our 2nd summer. There was evidence of cherry tomato volunteers last year though in same area of garden we planted tomatoes.

The Pruden's Purple that had no wire is smack in the middle of the plot with the others that are wired. No blight either, but it has some sort of virus or disease (or poss. fungus) that presents with yellowing on one side of stem, as in leaves yellowing on one side only. Then the whole stem slowly withers. Not terrible yet but it is near the end of the season so I am not worried about it. Whatever it is, it is not spreading to the other "wired" tomatoes nearby. Coincidence? BTW, if anyone knows a name for this disease I described please let me know. I think Carolyn Male named something but also went on to say it's not prevalent in my part of the country.

Hi Veilchen! thanks for the feedback! I'm not certain of the "disease" you have there. One of these days I'm gonna retire and fiqure them all out, ha! The pests are mostly easy for me but the diseases are sometimes very tough to nail down. Would have been interesting if that Prudens Purple in the middle was wired wouldn't it. I've never tried that variety myself (yet) but do read good things about it here. You must like it to have 5 plants?
Wishing you a late frost, vgkg

Well, now that things are winding down rapidly in the tomato patch I can say for certain that the copper wire does not appear to make any difference in the life span of the plants as compared to the non-wired plants. It does not seem to do any harm either so I'm ending future trails and chalking this up to an interesting experience. Blight and other disease levels were equally distributed among all plants involved in this experiment. The End, vgkg

Vgkg, world civilization thanks you for advancing the state of human scientific knowledge. Or at least, I do. I was going to try this last spring, but I forgot -- and now I won't have to!

Glad you liked it Alfie as I enjoyed doing it. I might add that I really don't have an overwhelming blight problem in my yard, so this copper wire method may be interesting to try out for folks who's plants always die early from blight related problems. Worth a try, vgkg

When I started gardening in western PA it was a whole new ball game from western KY. (almost no bugs to contend with).
There was however that blight slowly taking the life from my tomatoes from the bottom up. I had 48 plants, half Rutgers and half Super Steak. Along time resident stopped to chat, took a look at the tomatoes and said," If you dont grt some epsom salts around your tomatoes you are going to lose them ( he obviously never heard of the copper wire trick) I asked him how much and he said he used two treatments of 2 tablespoons per treatment. Does it work anywhere?? I don't know. I does work here.

Hi Charlie, Epson Salts contains no copper. Probably a good thing since at that level it might be toxic to plants. Epson is Magnesium Sulfate and many folks do swear that it helps their veggies, particularly peppers. I also use it at the rate of 1 teaspoon per planting hole. vgkg

Charlie

Epsom is for magnesium deficiency..

I HEARD THAT EXTRA CALCIUM, ENOUGH WATER REGULARLY APPLIED & GOOD BREEDS OF TOMATOES FOR THE LOCAL AREA WERE THE KEYS TO TOMATO SUCCESS. I NEVER HEARD OF THE COPPER,THOUGH...
SO,IN OREGON, I USED RESISTANT NW STRAINS OF TOMATOES, PUT ~2-3 TB OF CRUSHED EGGSHELLS IN BOTTOM OF PLANTING HOLE WATERED ONCE A WEEK DURING GROWING SEASON, PLUS AN EXTRA QUART POURED DOWN THE #2CAN W/OUT BOTTOMS,SUNK INTO THE GROUND NEAR EACH PLANT. NEAR THE END OF THE HARVEST SEASON, I WATCHED FOR YELLOWING OR BLACK SPOTTED BOTTOM LEAVES & REMOVED THEM DAILY, (WORKING THE WAY UP THE STEM). BY LABOR DAY, I STARTED TO PINCH OUT THE REMAINING FLOWERS & REMOVED ALL TINY TOMATOES (UNDER 1/2" DIAMETER). I STILL HAD ~2/3 OF THE LEAF COVER LEFT,ENOUGH TO RIPEN (UNDER PLASTIC WRAPS OVER THE CAGES)THE LAST MONTH OR SO OF FRUITS AHEAD OF LATE BLIGHT DISEASE OR FROSTS...GOOD GARDENING TO YOU, K.

Blast from the past.....

Well, since we moved to a new yard 2 years ago (and the heaviest rainy seasons ever since) I have experienced early blight on many of my tomato plants. At the old place it wasn't a real problem so now I'm tempted to repeat this copper wire experiment here at the new homestead to see if it does indeed make a difference...now watch 2005 be another drought year, ha.
As Arnie says...I'll be Bach....(as compared to Mozart? ;o)
vgkg

There are several types of blight.

The type that afflicts my soil is a Bacterial Canker.

Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis.

It enters the plant most often via wounds, so I don't prune any more. Any wound lets the bacteria in.

It then reproduces inside the plant, leaving bacterial poop all over the place and clogging up the plant's vascular system.

Thus the leaves die of thirst.

Bacterial cankers can be killed with solarization. Unfortunately that means shutting off a whole section of the garden under clear plastic for June and July.

Last year I learned how to make compost tea, and for a month kept making batches of it every three days and spraying the tomato plants with it.

Finally I got busy or lazy and quit spraying. And that was when the infection finally appeared.

It got into the root systems of those plants nearest last year's bed, which was horrendously infested with C.M.M.

Areas I'd solarized years ago are somewhat safer.

I may solarize the worst areas, or try planting Mexican Marigold there. Rumor has it that MM can kill off Verticulum Wilt in the soil.

And I'll keep up the spraying this year. Stronger plants can defend themselves better.

I read there's some testing being done to make an antidote to CMM.

A benign, non-lethal variety to inoculate the plants with that would out-compete the lethal variety.

There wouldn't be a big market for the antidote except that CMM attacks potatoes too.

Wounds aside I went ahead and inserted #18 size copper wire though 5 of my plants main stem nearest the soil level last week and all are doing fine so far. The wire goes completely through each stem and is pushed about 8-10" into the ground. The end though the stem is bent 90 degrees so it won't slip out. Not easy to hear the "cruch" sound when forcing it through....ahhh the price of research, LOL.
The 5 varieties :
SuperSteak
Brandywine, Sudduth
Kellogg's Breakfast
Cherokee Purple
German Striped

Will update progress reports as the season wears on. All ~30 plants are doing well right now and are beginning to bloom. No sign of pests nor disease as of today. vgkg

Here is a new twist on tomatos and copper wire.

You will need somekind of cage to try this.

The cage of course goes around your tomato plant to protect it from dogs, cats, ect. from stepping on young plants and then also act as a support to keep the plant of the ground.

Now, here is my new experiment - Use a piece of single stranded, uninsulated wire - several feet, yards, long. I,m using #12 wire.

Push one end of wire into soil at base of your cage . About 10 inches into soil, it needs to always be in moist ground so it it able to conduct a small current.

Then wrap the wire aroun the outside of the metal,steel, cage in a coil. I,m attaching it with insulated bread ties.

After several winds, I'm trying 12 , cut your copperwire and point about 12 inches straight up towards the heavens to act as an antenna.

Read somewhere this will deter tomato worms. Wouldn't that be a blessing! Will let you know more latter.

One neighbor says all I'm doing is making miniture lighting rods and I'll probably end up with green fried tomatos in the back yard :)

THE WEEKENDGARDNER USED 3 IN PC 16GA COPPER WIRE STUCK THROUGH THE STEM, ABOUT AN INCH FROM GROUND...BUT ONCE A WEEK SHE SAID TO SPRAY THE PLANTS WITH 3 PERCENT HYDROGEN PEROXIDE...SEEMS A LITTLE STRONG TO ME, BUT IT MIGHT WORK....I KNOW H2O2 DOES KILL MOST BAD FELLOWS, ACCORDING TO HOUSTON HOSPITAL...I MAY TRY THIS ON ONE OR TWO PLANTS...BUT I STILL LIKE TO CHANGE THE PH LEVEL WITH BAKING SODA OR APPLE CIDER VINGAR...HELPS KILL BLIGHT...ROY

THE WEEKENDGARDNER USED 3 IN PC 16GA COPPER WIRE STUCK THROUGH THE STEM, ABOUT AN INCH FROM GROUND...BUT ONCE A WEEK SHE SAID TO SPRAY THE PLANTS WITH 3 PERCENT HYDROGEN PEROXIDE...SEEMS A LITTLE STRONG TO ME, BUT IT MIGHT WORK....I KNOW H2O2 DOES KILL MOST BAD FELLOWS, ACCORDING TO HOUSTON HOSPITAL...I MAY TRY THIS ON ONE OR TWO PLANTS...BUT I STILL LIKE TO CHANGE THE PH LEVEL WITH BAKING SODA OR APPLE CIDER VINGAR...HELPS KILL BLIGHT...ROY

THE WEEKENDGARDNER USED 3 IN PC 16GA COPPER WIRE STUCK THROUGH THE STEM, ABOUT AN INCH FROM GROUND...BUT ONCE A WEEK SHE SAID TO SPRAY THE PLANTS WITH 3 PERCENT HYDROGEN PEROXIDE...SEEMS A LITTLE STRONG TO ME, BUT IT MIGHT WORK....I KNOW H2O2 DOES KILL MOST BAD FELLOWS, ACCORDING TO HOUSTON HOSPITAL...I MAY TRY THIS ON ONE OR TWO PLANTS...BUT I STILL LIKE TO CHANGE THE PH LEVEL WITH BAKING SODA OR APPLE CIDER VINGAR...HELPS KILL BLIGHT...ROY

I know it's been many years since your last post Vgkg, but if you happen to see this post I'd really appreciate if you can post your results from the second experiment? I'm having a lot of troubles with tomato blight this year. Thanks!

never did use copper wire experiment...but....SOMETHING NEW....seems to me after much reading....we as gardners can plant year around...fall, spring, and also summer for fall crop....think, volunteers come up all time....plant seeds in fall for spring crop, let nature be your greenhouse....google fall planting, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers etc....going to be fun planting garden year around....the indian...need to use heirloom seeds if possible...

i may be wrong but i think fall planted seeds will come up when they are suppose to come up, a lot stronger and therefore more disease resistent, because they will have a strong root system and will probably produce crop earlier....before a lot of pest....the indian

when using the copper wire for tomatoes, the h202 must be very important to prevent early blight...spray whole plant once a week...we'll see....a hand full of whole grain corn meal around plant when sitting out will fight blight....do not use cornmeal when planting seeds, apply after plant sprouts and begins to grow...the indian

Do not do this ever to any plant. They dont like it.

At least dont use twisted copper in circles around the plants, idk about anything else and will not be trying.