The Hack People Use To Save Tomato Plants From Rust Disease (But Should You?)

Have you heard about the hack that gardeners are using to control rust disease on tomato plants? If you don't know what rust on tomatoes looks like, it appears as small dark spots on the leaves that can quickly spread and cover the surface. Traditionally, you would control rust disease to a certain degree by using a fungicide as a preventative. But a more natural solution is to use a diluted mixture of hydrogen peroxide which will actually kill the fungus itself.

Although this "hack" is appearing across social media as a new miracle cure for rust disease, using hydrogen peroxide as a fungicide and bactericide is nothing new. It's actually been used for many years in household cleaning products such as bleaches and mold killers. But if you want to use hydrogen peroxide to support your tomato plants, you'll need to get the right formulation and dilute it even further with water.

Hydrogen peroxide is a naturally occurring chemical that's made up of two molecules of water and two molecules of oxygen. Its chemical compound name is H2O2. As you can see, this is very similar to the chemical compound of water which is H2O — two molecules of water with one molecule of oxygen. This means that hydrogen peroxide is easily soluble in water. Back in 2002, the Environmental Protection Agency approved the use of hydrogen peroxide for controlling microbial pests such as fungi and bacteria on crops such as vegetables and fruits.