tomato blight

[sunloving]

Sigh, i found blight on my first gh tomato today - black russian- and so begins the annual race between blight and ripening tomatoes.

Its three weeks later than last year which is a bonus but still it would be nice one year not to have it.

Hows everyone else doing?
x sunloving

[sunloving]

[antipodes]

I have been pruning very strictly this year (I do not like to strip the plants almost bare as some of my neighbours do!) but I have been removing any leaves that are vaguely yellowing, wilting, or showing any type of anomaly. So far so good. They are heaving with fruit, it just needs to ripen now... luckily today there is bright sun so maybe a few new ones ready tonight!

[manicscousers]

As all our water comes from water butts now,we're trying very hard not to get any on the plants, hopefully, thatll keep it away , they're alright so far  :)

[electric landlady]

Oh no!

So far so good but I'll be checking mine carefully tomorrow.

Usually my allotment neighbour's tomatoes get blight and she doesn't get rid of them, just leaves them there all black and dead, and mine go down with it shortly afterwards...however this year she isn't growing tomatoes so I'm hoping to escape it. Or at least not get it for a while yet.

I've been watering at ground level only, skulking about bent double so that the leaves don't get wet..we shall see!  ;D

[saddad]

Now we have rain... and warmth....  it is almost inevitable...  :'(

[Digeroo]

The blight might be late but so are the tomatoes.  They are now covered with flowers and a few fruit, but it will take a couple of weeks to ripen them up.  Did manage to pick eight lovely yellow ones yesterday.  Delish.

I also have some blight resistant types losetto and koralik which are dripping in flowers.  Very unruly plants.

[BarriedaleNick]

No blight warnings here in London recently - well I should say no Full Smith periods - humidity must be low.
Toms in the plastic greenhouse really rippened up with the last few days sun - the outdoor ones are OK - Sungold are as good as ever.
I fear for my San Marzinas though as they look very late - more green tomato chutney I think..

[sunloving]

Mine are heaving with tomatoes probably the best year yet, I've been watering at the roots and taking out the lower leaves and pruning out every leaf with spots.

My fingers are crossed but its a race , been having delicous roast tomatoes all week though reminds me that its really worth the hassle and black russians whilst being blight prone are gorgeous :)

x sunloving

[John85]

Digeroo
How is the taste of your blight resitant var.losetto and koralik ?

[Alex133]

Perhaps as they are comparatively small you could protect tomatoes from blight by throwing plastic sheeting over them when rain is forecast - after all you don't get blight in greenhouses (at least I never have). Thought about trying over potatoes but it's just too big an area and at least you can cut the tops off them and still get a crop whereas tomatoes are total disaster.

[Digeroo]

How is the taste of your blight resitant var.losetto and koralik

No idea yet, so far only green tomatoes hoping for some signs of red soon.  Growing as part of a trial with Red Alert and I added sungold to the bed to act as a taste comparison.

They are completely covered with flowers but the branches are spreading all over the place like some kind of mini triffids.   

[Poolcue]

My Koralik are OK but not a patch on Sungold.

[green lily]

Well here in N. Lincs we have full smith periods and it is chucking rain down every so often but not so bad as further north.My toms are quite close to the PFA spuds which I think will get a complete haircut tomorrow.....I'll save the few berries and hope they don't rot. I grew Lidls cherry tomatoes this year. Very vigorous and unruly plants spreading everywhere- meant to be 3 sorts but they all look the same. Will cut back most of the foliage but to date the only ones with red tomatoes are in the poly. 2 Sungold plants are doing their stuff outdoors but it hasn't been what I call a tomato year. No glut to dry this year :(  And I suspect I shall have to cull the lot before I go on holiday 1st Sept.
IMO dried home grown toms are worth every bit of trouble- delicious.

[Toadspawn]

Alex
Unfortunately you do get blight in the GH. For the last two years I have had blight in the GH. However, by picking off every infected leaf / fruit daily over a period of about three weeks as soon as infection was noticed I was still harvesting tomatoes at the end of October.
The GH was open day and night but presumably infection came in on rain through the roof vents because symptoms were more severe on plants under the vents.   
I am in SE Monmouthshire and so far this year no problems.

[Jeannine]

Actually blight can be worse in the greenhouse.. blight loves moist and warm so if your greenhouse is humid or has  any condensation the blight will take hold even faster then in the ground..if on the other hand you have great airflow and never get moisture on the plants you do stand a better chance.

There is blight all around me right now, I am in a greenhouse, actually the only real greenhouse on site, the others are just plastic covers, my plants are in Global buckets so they are watered through a pipe and never get ant moisture on the leaves at all. There are two open windows door is a stable door so the top is open too. I should feel safe but..

It is a good test, but there is so much around me I am very very nervous'..........................

XX Jeannine

[goodlife]

Jeannine..how's your blight resistant varieties holding on? Mine look really good..loads of flowers, healthy green colour and not a single leaf look 'tired'...plants are big and bushy.. too bushy.. ::) Only trouble is they don't seem to want to set the fruit >:(
We'll we've had a bit of rain now..blight season has started..so time will tell. I wanted to grow couple of plants of each resistant sort to 'test the water'..so I suppose any fruit would be bonus.
I just have to put note for myself for next year..'plant further apart next year'.. :-X Live and learn... ;D
I'll get photo later on to show my 'sea' tomato plants..not a crumble of soil to be seen.. :-X

[Digeroo]

'plant further apart next year'

I have to agree with this big time.  I have two each of Losetto and Koralik and the plants have a spread of a 1.5 metres plus.  They are not supposed to need much support but I have had to tied them up to prevent them smoothering other crops.  I think that the normal types are more efficient on space. 

Mine have so many flowers that I think it is putting too much energy into flower production and not enough into ripening fruit.  A plot neighbour has a miniture tomato which is tiny but is covered in fruit. 

But sun gold looking good as well at the moment.  But I am worried about tonight we have rain forecast this afternoon and then a very dry still night so they will remain damp all night. 

I suppose that with greenhouse growing it is important not to produce an artificial Smith Cycle by having damp humid conditions two days running.  Is it possible to minimuse humidity by keeping the soil well covered? 

[Alex133]

Re the blight in greenhouses - my glass one is quite old-fashioned and doesn't have any vents, just windows which I close when it rains. Also it's airy rather than humid. Tomato plants grown against house wall also don't tend to get blight. The one year I tried growing in open part of garden blight attacked plants very quickly. That's why I thought throwing plastic sheeting over might be worth trying.

[Jeannine]

Just as a thought which may help you all.

Blight is very tough here on the coast, we get the rains lot followed by hot days blight paradise you might say.

Growing tomatoes uncovered is asking for trouble  but few people have real greenhouses, I can't figure out why. On our gardens we are not allowed glass . The greenhouse I use as part of the garden system and I am "" the greenhouse supervisor""  posh title for the person who has chosen to raise transplants to share, so I get to use it how I like. This is why I am the only person with a greenhouse..anyway I digress..

It is suggested in our area that plants are covered, not totally under plasitic as that would not help.

Folks make an overhead tunnel by sticking rebar in the ground then putting plastic water pipe over and bending it over meet another rebar forming a hoop...they make a row of hoops along a bed then cover the hoop with plastic  but not right to the ground and the ends are left open . I would then cover the soil and plant through the covering, many folk don't do this and I think it is much needed, this prevents splash up of soil.

As far as I have seen I am the only person on site growing tomatoes in pots.

Goodlife, there are tons of the blight resistant toms around the gardens, I am waiting for info on that, but for me  oh eck.. after everyone had got their transplants and only mine were in the greenhouse I was sick for a week or so and left John to water...not enough, when I went back all my plants were toast. I managed to fine 6 that had a bit of green at the top otherwise they were leafless, they turned out to be 3 Sungolds and 3 Juliet, they bounced back and doing fine but I got not one blight resistant tom for myself. My dwarfs were fine as they were still at home. So I have to wait and see what other folks find out.

Oh and some people spray with copper well before the blight hits, most of the season actually.

XX Jeannine

[cornykev]

The Italians on our site spray with a bright blue copper spray, it almost glows in the dark, I would not eat any of them Tommies, even if I liked them, I went to the lottie today and old Sid told me his Tommies were wiped out with blight and John next to him picked all his green ones to ripen at home.
This is why I grow mine under cover at home.   ;D ;D ;D