Tomato blite --- any connection ?

[flossy]

  Yet another year stripping plants and saving my tomatoes from blite,  the thing is that

  this is my second year of growing toms,  the plants are doing fine and fruiting well -

   then I reduce the foliage near the base and amongst the bush.  My Plum tom leaves can

   grow at least a foot and reduce the air and light   ---  then, they get blite !

   Would like to here at what stage other folks  plants have developed it, does pruning

   weaken the plant and make it vunerable ?

   Have a huge tom further up the garden, gone wild it has and I havn't touched it and 

   its fine ?               

[thifasmom]

i have heard that pruning of leaves, pinching out tips can increase the chances of blight due to the plant having open wounds occurring regularly, I have read that its adviced not to do these things on wet days.

but then the blight spores also grow on wet leaves quicker, so  .

as a precaution i try not to do any pruning or pinching on wet damp days and like you i tend to remove lower leaves which may end up sitting on wet soil.

[flossy]

  Thanks thifasmom ,

   Will follow that advice next year   --   I aim to pick a ripe tomato at least once in

   my lifetime !       

[Garjan]

I grow my tomatoes outside as I don't have a greenhouse.
Previous years they always got blight. Despite the fact that I take as much foliage away as is sensible, especially the lower leaves.

Last year my lottie neighbour made a raincover for a row of my tomatoes as he hated seeing my plants going black every year. That row was the only one that survived and gave me a crop!

This year I built something with a sheet of plastic and some tubes that kept the plants from getting wet. It was open on one side and sometimes was totally wrecked by storms, but I only lost one variety to blight and have a seruous crop of tomatoes.

Preventing the plants from getting wet is the trick, I think. And then taking away all the lower leaves, the side shoots (when you are growing cordons) and as much leaves as possible without killing the plant.
Don't take them all of in one day, that will certainly stress the plant out.

It worked for me.
I now hope that it wasn't just a coincidence and that next year all my plants die because of this treatment.

[flossy]

  Thanks Garjan,    that sounds so promising a way to avoid blite.

  Was thinking that next year I would build a screen of fleece around the toms - don't

   what I thought it would do !         Feeling desperate I guese  --  any thing is worth trying

    and you and your lottie friend have shown there is some result from keeping the rain off

    the plants, a greenhouse could get very humid at times I would think !

    Feel a project coming on for next year !   great , thanks again,