Firstly can I apologise for being rubbish at searching, but I'm still too upset ???
I went to the lottie this morning for the first time in 10 days as we'd been on holiday. My tomatoes and poatoes are destroyed, potato foliage has all disappeared and tomatoes are black. I'm assuming bligt and am quite devastated as I thought we would be safe now :-[ ???
I'm worried about what to do, is pulling it all up enough? or is the ground ruined? How long before it will be safe to use it for potatoes and tomatoes again?
Try this for a start?
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/smf/index.php/topic,24487.0.html
Thanks Tim. When I initially searched I was a bit overwhelmed! It seems I'm not alone :-[ with the evil blight.
I didn't spray this year (trying to be organic) but I think my emotions might take precedence over my principles in 2007 ;)
It's a horrible thing to have; it's happened to me twice. Just don't let it get you down.
My first year plotting at this site, I lost all of my toms, and I didn't know at the time you could get blight on toms, so I really didn't understand what was wiping them out so quickly. I try to be careful what I use on my fruits and veggies, and don't use pesticides, well, apart from a few slug pellets, but one thing I do use is Bordeaux mix - a spray in late spring, followed by another early summer, and then I use my common sense - if it is sticky and humid, or we have rain, I spray again. Glad to say, I am bringing home tomatos by the bucket full. I would rather do this than have my tomato crop wiped out by this dreadful airborn disease!
Keep your chin up - as devastating as it is, don't think of the down points, look back at the successes of this passing year.
I also lost my entire tomato crop two years running - I also didn't realise what was happening the first time it happened. This year I decided to only grow resistant varieties such as beefeater & another whose name escapes me & they did very well indeed - maybe the flavour wasn't quite as wonderful as some other varieties but at least I got a crop. I did also plant a few other varieties & had some blight but nothing like in previous years.
I only lost mine once.........and never will again >:(
So what's the secret MT? Bordeaux mixture? or something else? Mine have been splendid and green but are now blighted and brown. How can I prevent that?
Polytunnel, the only sure way
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y59/hmstrouncer/PICT0014.jpg)
You aren't immune under glass either... my Dad lost his tomatoes last year in his greenhouse.
I plant my tomatoes up-prevailing-wind from the potatoes if possible, as they seem to go down with it first, and then at least it's not blowing onto the spuds. I cut down my Pink Firs today, the foliage was still mostly there but I don't trust the conditions at the moment, I'd rather be safe than sorry. Digging will therefore be mid-October. The majority of my maincrops are Sarpo Mira which are still looking huge and green and won't be dug for weeks yet.
I did use Bordeaux mixture on the tomatoes at first sign last year: I think it stopped a lot of the toms getting very bad, but then I did a bit of reading on copper fungicides and it's not good. That and how long it took me to scrub the pale blue off my picked tomatoes! Didn't fancy eating it, as I grow my own so I don't eat such stuff. So I now grow double what I need, and hope to get enough off before it hits.
This week I've made 6lb into 2 litres of yellow passata and nearly 10lb of green San Marzanos into chutney. I've previously made 3 litres of passata (2 red, one yellow-orange (with leftover frozen Sungella from last year!), made ratatouille, eaten lots for lunch and made a heap of passata which just got eaten straightaway. So I don't think I've lost out, despite the two full carrier bagsful of rotten mouldy fruit I've thrown out, and about the same still on the plot. Have dumped all the potato haulms on top of the blighty tomato haulms as I figure that bed's got spores on it regardless. And I shall be covering it and having a nice bonfire once it's all nicely dry.
Actually there's about another 3lb in a mushroom box which look like they're ripening without getting too much of the blight: these will get frozen.
moonbells
It's worth signing up to www.blightwatch.co.uk for warnings of blight conditions in your area. That way you can either spray at the right time ( no point in spraying unnecessarily) or remove foliage. Since I started posting notices at our site whenever I get a warning from blightwatch, hardly anyone's been caught out.
QuoteYou aren't immune under glass either
I agree a decent sized polythene tunnel is far superior to a greenhouse for tomatoes any day!
Everyone that grows toms on our site (all outside apart from me) lost their crop around 3 or 4 weeks ago............. one person didn't, guess who? That's 2 years running now.
Bob Flowerdew doesn't even bother with a tunnel, he merely drapes a sheet of polythene over his tomato patch to combat blight, the secret is
don't get the foliage wet. I don't spray my toms with
anything(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y59/hmstrouncer/Allotment%20Stuff/PICT0002-1.jpg)
No blight here ;D
Warms your heart?
I haven't got a clue why, but I've not even had a sniff of blight. Had a couple of mouldy toms (on the gartenperles) and something (slugs ?) took a fancy to a couple that were too near the floor. I just hope my beginners luck lasts into next year.
I've had none either, so far, despite ideal conditions and several Smith periods recently. i do have a lot of brown rot on the apples though. Comntitions are ideal for any fungal disease, and I'm surrounded by neglected apple trees and rotting fruit.
I spoke too soon; the rain over the last three days has finally done it. The Charlotte, which were flowering happily, were a rotten mass when I arrived, and the toms were no better. I've cleared all the potato haulm, and composted it; since blight is a parasitic fungus which only lasts a couple of weeks with no live host, it won't survive the composting process. I haven't touched the toms yet. Namissa cooked the other day, so we've got food for days yet, but I'll do a big batch of chutney, and plan a load of curry with lots of green tomato in it.
I was told at the weekend of a method which apparently works for avoiding tomato blight. This (allegedly) involves pushing several pieces of copper wire through the stems at various points. I can see the thought processes involved, and I consider that the amount of copper is probably no more than we expose ourselves to using domestic copper water pipes.
I have access to essentially unlimited amounts of copper wire, so will consider this technique next year, perhaps doing some sort of controlled trial ...
What do others think?