Topic: frost has blackened my toms and spuds

[fat larry]

I'm not happy. As if I don't have enough to deal with re the church not wanting us to have our allotments, now the weather has had a go too.

I've moved my toms into the shed overnight, but does anyone know if my spuds are likely to recover. They look terrible – and they were gonna have their pictures taken tomorrow!!!

[Palustris]

Depends on how far into the soil the frost has penetrated. If it is just the tops then they will regrow, but your crop may well be late. Also now keep an eye out for blight, the damage gives an easy entry for the fungus.

[fat larry]

how do i stop blight? Should i cut them back to the ground? And what about my poor tomatoes? Are they done for... ???

[Palustris]

I would not touch the potatoes at all. For blight discussions do a Search on here and you will find a large volume of info.
With your tomato plants, by now you should have some indication as to the severity of the damage. If the stem and growing tip are not damaged then you may be lucky and they will recover. If not then I am afraid you will have to replace them.

[Moggle]

What toms were they Larry? If the news is bad I may have a plant or 2 I can spare to help a (local) gardener in need  :)

[philcooper]

FL,

On the spuds - don't panic. Blight shouldn't raise its ugly head for a month or 2 yet and by then your potato frost damage will be long gone. The few degrees of frost we had (I had -3) should only have scorched the tops - the ones that I covered with fleece (must get some more  :() and a very thin layer (½") of soil were OK.

If the toms were in a shed they maybe OK

On the bright side, you will have some good photos of frost damage to post  ;)

Phil