I have lost all my tomatoes to blight in the last week - has anyone else???? Really gutted as it's the first year i have had a decent crop - i was looking forward to tomato soup every day for the next year lol!!! I have put the plants in the compost but i'm going to take them out today and burn them.
Gutted in South London! :'(
All my outside ones have gone, I now have 5 jars of green tomato ketchup.
Even my 'Ferline' did no better than the others.
I have even spotted a few blighted toms in my greenhouse which is a first for me, hopefully I have got these out before if spread.
Yes I've had blight in my greenhouse - first time I've had a greenhouse too - thought I would at least get some tomatoes this year.
I may not grow them any more - too dispririting
2006 was the last year we managed to grow tomatoes in the garden without blight wiping out the whole lot!
OK so far in the greenhouse.. but with rain now forecast for tomorrow, all digits are crossed.
We have had the conversation... and no more tomatoes outside the greenhouse ...
Touch wood - I'm still okay, but masses of tomatoes still not even beginning to turn colour. Anyone in the south west got blight? I'm in Torbay.
Tricia
Sorry to hear that you guys have lost out on a big crop.
I had what i thought was blight about amonth ago- dark wetly rotting patches with lots of spores- but thinking about it and looking at the tomatoes with didnt get the characterisitc black tiny dots Im now thinking that maybe i just have a strain of mildew.
When i cut out all the effected leaves it gave me enough time to get the toms to ripening and so have had a great crop after all - 15 kilners of roast toms already-
Its been a wet old august I should think that both blight and mildew have got a pretty strong grasp by now.
Good luck all
x sunloving
We took the precaution of planting our toms in 3 separate beds. One has fallen to blight, so that's a couple of dozen plants gone. The other two are just starting to ripen, but we're keeping a very watchful eye on them.
I think it was 2008 that we last got a real glut of tomatoes. Wet summers have played havoc in the last couple of years. It's a bit dispiriting!
Hi
I have only just joined the forum today,and its with cruddy news that our plot....corrections all the plots at our allotment have been devistated with blight.
This is our 1st proper season,having grown all the different varieties of tommy from seed so it hurts all the more
as not only have the outdoor ones suffered but the greenhouse and cloche have also the dreaded black
death creeping all over the stems,foliage and fruit.
we picked about 10 lbs of green fruit and I have washed and pickled half of it so far as I read that you can safely
consume the fruits provided the blight wasnt showing.(famous last words)
we disposed of all the tommies that were showing signs............
(http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t22/skatenchips/mumsbirthday010.jpg)
yet we have had these romas in the windowsill for a few days and yet the blight is still resident in the fruit
itself,I have removed these ones and can only hope the remainder colour up without the desease.
(http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t22/skatenchips/mumsbirthday011.jpg)
sorry to read about your losses as well.
Gazza1960
PS,I have only read about making green chutney,but if anybody can advise on a different
way of using the green toms we,d appreciate it or maybe direct me to the best forum section
for any other recipes.
Sorry to hear that so many have lost much of their tomatoes this year again. It seems that blight is so much worse now than it was 20 years ago.
Here in Northants we have a number of suspicious looking leaves and blight proper cannot be far off. I have taken off all ripe tomatoes and those on the turn, as well as most full sized ones. All these are expected to ripen quite fast on a windowsill, probably faster than outdoors at the moment.
I have also been pruning lower leaves and any leaves that obstruct a good airflow. The plants don't need much foliage cover anymore, certainly not below the trusses of fruit that have been harvested.
I find that slight leaf blight is still ok, but a warning sign. As soon as I see the first sign of stem blight, I strip the lot. If I am quick, practically all fruit will still be ok and ripen indoors over a time. Any delay and ok looking tomatoes can rot with blight within a few days after harvest.
Green tomatoes will ripen and those that were fully grown will be tasty too. Any little ones will also change colour and these are perfectly ok for cooking, even if they are not as delicious as a sun ripened tomatoes.
You can encourage green tomatoes to go red by putting in a bag with a banana or apple or just putting them in the same bowl - something about the gases they give off.
I had a lot that were ripe but spotted by blight. I just cut off the affected parts. Ate them with no problems. But i find the green ones rot before they ripen, so I gave up trying.
Sorry to hear that so many crops have spoiled. I grew masses of plants this year, in several places on my 2 allotments. The outside plants did better than the greenhouse, and as soon as I heard the word blight I put loads of tomatoes in trays to finish ripening in the shed.
Blight arrived, and I took all tops off my potatoes (12 rows). Also took all leaves off all the tomatoes, which sometimes helps. I have still got tomatoes ripening outside, but some at home and more in the shed. Only a few have had blight so far, I just bury the affected plants in the compost heap (always have done).
I like the idea of the banana alex133,I will try that with the remaining Roma tommies I have that havnt turned blighty in the window sill.
Like your plot piccies Gypsy,Ill have to UL a few too..!!!!!!
Is that OK to just put your blight riden plants in the compost ?,I had read that burning was a method of disposal
but at the mo I have taken all ours bagged up to the dump...Im no expert Gypsy,so dont be offended im just
a newby this season looking for sensible ways to deal with disasters.... :'(
Gazza1960
I wouldnt compost blight ridden plants and haven't hears that burning them will spread the spores. Just get em off the plot!
Is there anyone still picking outdoor toms in the UK - most peeps dont even bother on my site any more.
I am doing OK but I do spray with copper sulphate maybe 2 or 3 times and I will always get blight in the end - I am just happy if I get through August before I get mullered..
"Is there anyone still picking outdoor toms in the UK "
It's one of the few advantages perhaps to growing in the garden, not an allotment - I grow Ailsa Craig outdoors to extend my season, have picked about 4lb today with loads to come - mind you, it has been a very dry season, only one Smith period all year, but I've been doing this for years and have only once had blight....
I have still got a few ripening on the allotment. ;D
I have always composted the plants. On our allotments many people leave the blighted plants and wonder why the potatoes are no good. My compost rotation is 4 years, I start one year, turn and add more the next, put marrows on top the next, and use it the following year. Don't know how many years the blight stays active but I always follow the same routine (cut off potato tops and tomato leaves and add to compost heap at first hint of blight).
I will have to take some more photos (after some serious weeding!).
i have always believed (had no blight)that's its OK to compost blight affected potato /tomato tops as blight spores does not live on dead tissue is that correct?
I thought the blight came from the new growth from potatoes left in the ground the previous year. (I dig them out as soon as I find them growing).
Also, when I cut off the potato tops it is before the blight takes hold (as soon as I see any sign of it). I strip the leaves off the tomato plants at the same stage, although the leaves look ok.
I think my compost heaps are left long enough for most things to die off (except clubroot). I also put perennial weeds on the compost heap, even bindweed will rot with enough household liquid activator...
Quote from: brown thumb on September 07, 2011, 14:34:14
i have always believed (had no blight)that's its OK to compost blight affected potato /tomato tops as blight spores does not live on dead tissue is that correct?
Melbourne12 posted this link on another thread..
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=217 "Infected material should be buried or burned rather than composted."
extract - its the last bit that worries me!
The blight pathogen is a microscopic, fungus-like organism whose sporangia (spore-bearing structures) easily break away from infected foliage and may be wind-blown for long distances. The actual infective spores are released from the sporangia into water and need to swim in a water film before settling on the plant surface and penetrating into leaf tissues; this is why the disease is so serious in wet summers. The pathogen then spreads rapidly, killing the cells. Under humid conditions, stalks bearing sporangia grow from freshly killed tissues and the disease can spread rapidly through the crop.
The pathogen overwinters in rotten potatoes left in the ground or by the sides of fields. However, the great majority of infections in gardens arise from wind-blown sporangia originating in other gardens, allotments and commercial crops. In the UK, outbreaks may occur from June onwards, usually earliest in the South West.
The fungus can also produce resting spores (oospores) in the plant tissues that can contaminate the soil. Little is known about their survival and their potential as a source of the disease. The investigations into oospores are continuing and more information may be available in a few years.
Thanks for re-postiing, I missed it first time round, an interesting read.
The last I hears, oospores had never been found in the UK. They can be produced under the right circumstances, but it's very much the exception. Gypsy is perfectly right about the normal way the disease overwinters. If people worrried about accidentals appearing in spring as much as they do about green tissue at this time of year, there's be less blight on our allotment sites.