wrote in message
oups.com...

.. many diseases of
tomato are caused by soil borne organisms splashing up onto the plants.
Mulch the plants to conserve moisture and prevent soil splashing up and
you will eliminate many causative factors. In addition water the ground
not the foliage.

This is the best reason of all for caging tomatoes, and not with the flimsy
stupid ones they sell in stores, but ones you build yourself, strong enough
to withstand rough weather and support plants whose weight is much greater
than it seems. Other than occasional cracking, and one tomato hornworm the
size of a Volkswagen, I haven't seen any tomato problems in 30 years.