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Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: cudsey on August 16, 2019, 18:46:44
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I have not had blight before on my greenhouse tomatoes and not sure what blight looks like but lots of the leaves are going brown and sort of powdery the tomatoes are still ripening so I am not sure what to do I would be grateful for any guidance
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Can you post a photo please Cudsey?
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Blight can progress very quickly.
I fear that if you do have blight, the plants will deteriorate quite rapidly.
If, in a couple of weeks, spread is slow and you are still wondering more likely something else.
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Pescador I do cut off the brown leaves each morning I will take a photo but not sure how to post it but will give it a go will keep a close eye on them Beersmith and and see if they get any worse
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Sounds like you are doing the right thing by removing leaves in the morning. If it is Late Blight, keep removing any leaves that show any sign of infection, if you can twice a day to prevent further spread of spores. This can help a lot in keeping the infection at bay. Also keep an eye out for patches of infection on stems and fruit, these will need to be removed too if infected. Try to keep the tomato plant leaves dry and if possible reduce humidity. Good luck with them.
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These Photos might help;
(http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Content/T/Tomato-Blight/Tomato%20Blight%20(2).JPG)
(http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Content/T/Tomato-Blight/Tomato%20Blight%20(3).JPG)
(http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Content/T/Tomato-Blight/Tomato%20Blight%20(1).jpg)
(http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Content/T/Tomato-Blight/Tomato%20Blight%20(4).JPG)
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Thank you for the advice Jayb and Tee Gee the leaves did look like that but not quite as bad but the actual fruit are still ripening and not damaged in any way I am wondering if the greenhouse was over crowded this year and not enough air was getting through it does seem a bit better now I have cut some of the leaves off will just continue snipping any brown leaves off and see what happens many thanks
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This time of year I leave the greenhouse doors open all the time to prevent blight. :wave:
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A strong possibility is gray mold, Botrytis cinerea, especially if plants are crowded in a greenhouse where humidity is high. I have not had gray mold kill plants the way late blight does, so you may still be able to have ripe tomatoes. As others have noted, good hygiene and air circulation are essential.
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I have heard that this year there is a lot of "early blight" about - possibly because there's less of the much more damaging and infectious "late blight" or "true blight" - maybe last summer dried out a lot of the sinks of infection?
Cheers.
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Bcday gray mould sounds a good description of the problem it does seem to have improved over the last couple of days as no brown leaves this morning I suppose there was too much in there and removing quite a few leaves seems to have solved the problem (hopefully) a lesson learned dont overfill the greenhouse Thanks for all the comments and advice
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Just a follow up on my original post but it appears to be gray mould which in a way was a relief as it was not blight have snipped quite a lot of leaves off and the tomatoes are all ripening well Thanks for all the comments
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This time of year I leave the greenhouse doors open all the time to prevent blight. :wave:
Galina, I ask this as I recognise your experience, but is it not the case that blight spores are said to travel through atmospheric uplift and rainfall, to develop as a fungus through damp with humid conditions and are therefore less prone to develop in sheltered (ie greenhouse ) conditions. The large opening of a doorway certainly allows air movement in from the outside (but potentially infected?) Do you compensate by heavy pruning of lower leafstems and minimal density of planting?
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I leave mine open as well, even if I have blight on the plot itself... it reduces the humidity in the greenhouse, and the poltyunnel, which seems to be the decisive factor for the spread of blight spores.
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This time of year I leave the greenhouse doors open all the time to prevent blight. :wave:
Galina, I ask this as I recognise your experience, but is it not the case that blight spores are said to travel through atmospheric uplift and rainfall, to develop as a fungus through damp with humid conditions and are therefore less prone to develop in sheltered (ie greenhouse ) conditions. The large opening of a doorway certainly allows air movement in from the outside (but potentially infected?) Do you compensate by heavy pruning of lower leafstems and minimal density of planting?
Yes blight spores do certainly travel on the air and land on the plants with the greenhouse doors wide open, but this is only one part of the problem. As long as they do not get activated by prolonged bouts of moisture, they remain harmless. It is the humidity for a length of time that causes the activation of blight spores.
This is why I have come to the conclusion that blight spores are everywhere, whatever we do. We get them on our clothes on the breeze as we walk onto the plot and we bring them into the greenhouse when we open the door, or when the autovents open, the breeze will blow them in. However keeping the plants dry stops the second half of the problem, the activation of those blight spores.
Even having plants under the eves of a shed or house or the side of a carport helps. Cutting off old and yellowed leaves helps getting more of a breeze to the rest of the plant and that means drier plants, but I must admit I am not the most diligent person here either.
So no compensation with pruning to any extent, but compensation with keeping things dry. And never watering the plants, just the soil and preventing splashing onto the plants. :wave:
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I think I caused the problem as there was too many plants in the greenhouse as 12 tomato plants 4 cucumbers 4 peppers also 2 melon also I started feeding them too early causing them to develop lots of leaves so I think all that rain we had gave too much humidity but have thinned out a lot of leaves moved the melons and peppers out and leaving the door open there is plenty of air circulating so will be more careful next year