This is early blight, right?

[pooklette]

For the last two years, some disease has been killing off all my plants before I can get any kind of harvest. It usually starts with spotting and yellowing of the lower leaves and stems. No matter what I do, it quickly moves its way up the plant and kills the whole thing. This photo from the University of Maryland shows exactly what my plants look like by the time August rolls around, except that the fruits also get black spots and rot on the plant before they even begin to ripen.



I thought I was finally in the clear this year because I haven't seen any spots yet. They usually show up within two weeks of transplant.

Here are some photos I took in my garden today (apologies for the quality...very old camera.) This is early blight, isn't it?





I'd say about 50% of the leaves on this plant have the black splotches in addition to the ones you see on the stem. These spots were not visible last weekend, although we've had an entire week of cool, damp weather.

I avoid watering from above. I have tried mulching around my plants, using copper dust and removing spotty leaves/branches to prevent it from spreading. Despite these efforts, my plants all die, their fruit liquified by August 1st.

So far, I only see the evil polka-dots on two plants. I'm hoping someone can tell me what disease I have here and give me some pointers on preventing each and every one of my plants from dying again this year.