Topic: Tomato Blight

[GrillMonkey]

My toms have blight. :(

Can I save the fruit? The green tomatoes look fine and the blight is only on the stems and leaves.

Thanks in advance,

[Jayb]

Blight, not nice.

You can try picking all the fully grown fruit and seeing if they ripen, but if you already have widespread damage to the leaves and stems, it is likely the fruit although they look healthy now, have already been infected and will soon show signs of rotting. It might be worth making a pan full of green tomato chutney as soon as possible.

[GrillMonkey]

Thanks Jayb

That's not good. :( Green tomato chutney was on my to do list for the weekend.

[BarriedaleNick]

Depending on the severity and magnitude then a good soaking with Bordeaux mixture may hold the blight at bay.  I didn't think my plants would produce anything as they got blight very early but I have been harvesting a decent crop over the last few weeks.  BM can really slow down the progress of blight but it may be too late - worth a crack maybe..

[Digeroo]

The green ones might look ok but in my experience they will get worse before they ripen.  You might try picking them and washing in salty water and leaving in a dish with a banana.  But do not hold your breathe.

[small]

What a shame, it's so disappointing after all the hard work. I'm interested in the salty water theory, do let us know if it works - I've found in the past that once blight appears anywhere on the plant, then the fruit is 'carrying' it and will rot before it ripens. I've got a wonderful crop on my outdoor toms, all green as yet, and had a blight warning yesterday. Watching them like a hawk!

[squeezyjohn]

More Bordeaux mixture duly sprayed on mine!

But as soon as I put it on - then the rain comes and washes it off again!  I'm not sure there will be tomatoes this year.

[Digeroo]

I cannot seem to buy Bordeaux mix is there a problem about it.

[squeezyjohn]

I stocked up last year after hearing that it could be banned ... i have seen it in some places this year I think ... but few and far between.

[squeezyjohn]

A quick search shows it's definitely available online still.

[Amazingrotavator(Derby)]

I was a naughty boy and stocked up with Dithane 945 before it went off the market. Won't last forever though.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Make lots of green tomato chutney.

[BAK]

Bayer Fruit and Vegetable Disease Control is a copper-based fungicide which can be used to battle tomato blight.

[Ellen K]

You can still buy dithane on Amazon, 300g for £17 incl P&P, which will last a very long time.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Whelehan-Dithane-945-300g-Large/dp/B003M4VA8M/ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A228PEQ4K5ZMPO

[Jayb]

I believe Dithane 945 licence was withdrawn for 'home gardeners' use, although it is still available for profession use only http://msdssearch.dow.com/PublishedLiteratureDAS/dh_0886/0901b80380886d7d.pdf?filepath=/uk/pdfs/noreg/011-01463.pdf&fromPage=GetDoc

A Dithane 945 replacement has been introduced, Fruit & Vegetable Disease Control, although as it contains Copper oxychloride many may not want to use it on their soil.

[BarriedaleNick]

As I mentioned elsewhere I got a nasty case of blight early this year.  Thought it would be a complete wipe out but I gave them a good soaking with BM anyway.
Took home over 10 lbs of toms yesterday with plenty more to come.  I have lost a lot of the crop but so happy not to have failed completely and it goes to show it is worth persevering sometimes.

[antipodes]

As I was having a good tomato period this year, I have been scrupulous about them. I took off a lot of foliage regularly, made sure that air could circulate around the feet of the plants. Tied them up as best I could even though they are bushy. I treated the plants twice with Bordeaux mixture before fruiting, then I treated them again when the fruit was just forming.
I have come back from two weeks away and my site has been hit by blight thanks to a wet August. Lots of my neighbours have had to rip out their plants. However my plants seem largely untouched. I picked about 5 kilos of tomatoes. I found one stem that was looking a little brown so I pulled that out, cut back again, removed any foliage that was looking yellowish or was not totally green, clipped off the tops of some plants that were looking tired. Probably against recommendation, I then soaked the plants again in Bor. Mix. Soon see if that works, there are still a couple of kilos of fruit on the plants, if I can just nurse them through another two weeks, they will be able to ripen.
So yes I think you can stave off blight at least temporarily.