Blight on tomatoes

[Jeannine]

I have read somewhere recently a discussion about tomatoes and blight was briefly mentioned. I thought it might be a good idea to explain for the newbies what  late blight is.

Fungus which affects tomatoes and potatoes particularly in coastal regions or damp areas.Blight  infects tomato plants whose leaves and stems are moist for over 48 hours.The moisture can be rain,dew high humiditycondensation or watering.You can erect a shelter. It  does help.It must be well ventilated and give you good access, it does not need to be a greenhouse.Late Blight strikes in the rains of late summer so try to choose  bush varieties which ripen early.

It does overwinter in debris from potatoes and tomatoes,Rotation helps, but covering the crop to avoid the excess moisture is a good habit to get into.

There are some varieties that are said to be blight resistant,this resistance usually only delays things for about three weeks and then they will succumb. To my knowledge and please correct me if I am wrong there is no variety that is  totaly protected from it.

Hope this helps someone, and I expect there will be more advice out there than I have mentioned.
to add to my start

Some earlies to consider

Oregon Spring
Sub Arctic Maxie
Legend
Siletz
Santiam
Tumbler
Bush Celebrity
Early Cascade
Early Girl
Early PickFirst Ladt
Manitoba
Sugar baby
Stupice
Grushovka
Siberian
Stupice
There of course many more and posters here will have their favourites,mine are Early Girl, Legend and Sugar Baby


XX Jeannine

[Jeannine]

[Robert_Brenchley]

Stupice succumbed as fast as anything else on my plot last year.

[Jeannine]

I,me not personally keen  on that one XX Jeannine

[Jitterbug]

I have a packet of Fantasio that say they are blight resistant, which I was thinking of putting on the lottie near the asparagus bed as I have heard from gardners at my lottie that the tomatoes always get blight.

I am therefore going to keep all my other tomatoe babies at home under my beady eye.

Jitterbug

[Doris_Pinks]

Ferline has been consistantly good for me over the past few years.
DP

[theothermarg]

we have a lot of blight on our allotments, it,s queer some plots get it no matter
what they try to prevent it other just merriley plant any thing and get away with it
i tried pink fir apple 1 year oh the smell when they were dug up horrible yet yards away they are grown every year so i play safe early and 2nd early potatoes with heulms cut down by mid july and my tomatoes safe at home mostley in the greenhouse  (they can get it there as well)
marg :(

[sweet-pea]

I think the trick is too make sure you keep a close eye on things.  I've had blight for the past couple of years.  Last year I spotted it earlier enough on the potatoes to get them lifted before it got down into the tubers.  I wasn't so lucky with my tomatoes though, I left them a little too long and lost most of them, although the previous year I spotted it earlier enough.  I also signed up for updates from  Blightwatch (http://www.blightwatch.co.uk/content/bw-home.asp?username=kle1@york.ac.uk&password=potato ) which alerts me about high risk periods in my area so that I can monitor crops. (someone on A4a recommended it, but can't remember who).

SP x

[machman5]

I managed to avoid blight last year even though some of the other plots got it.  I have previously succumbed to it along with all the others (well not ME personally, obviously, but the toms!). 

The thing I did differently to the other lottie holders was my 'drought experiment'.  I planted all my plants two feet apart, rows 2 1/2 feet apart and very deep, up to the first true leaves.  I only watered each plant once, when planting out and then nothing, all summer apart from feeding half a litre of tom feed a week per plant via a sunken upturned bottle with the bottom cut off and I kept a dry mulch going by hoing regularly. 

This lets the soil develop a hard crust with dry dust on top.  I also took the bottom leaves off the plants nice and early to avoid splash back if it did rain.

Just for the record, as well as no blight, I got a record crop, much less splitting and no plants falling over.  The roots went down about 12"!

Hope some of this might help, Donna ;)