Allotments 4 All

Finally it has hit - at the moment only one side of the garden.  Wind direction?

Orange Belarus and Nectar worst hit, but have taken down all except Shirley and Sungold  - so far the latter looks almost unaffected

Don't think you can guarantee to prevent blight - if it's out there and the weather conditions are right (or wrong as the case may be) then it'll get you in the end. Next year I will

1. definitely keep a VERY close eye on them, pick off any dodgy looking leaves the moment they appear and take them home to put in the bin, and spray obsessively with bordeaux mixture.
2. hopefully grow more blight-resistant types, as long as they still have a good flavour that is. Marmande has proved quite blight-prone this year so will be trying a different beefsteak type.
3. maybe (in my dreams) get a polytunnel and grow them in there.
4. pray. 
5. try not to take it personally and make a lot of green tomato chutney when it does happen. 

Seeing loads of lovely tomato plants blighted this year has been deeply depressing. My very experienced allotment friends tell me that the only way to prevent blight on tomatoes, which seems to be endemic on our allotment site, is to spray with Dithane in July. An organic alternative is bordeaux mixture but that doesn't work. So the sad conclusion for organic gardeners seems to be "don't grow outdoor tomatoes".

I started spraying my outdoor toms with Bordeaux Mix a week after planting out and I'm still blight free and harvesting ripe toms, despite the presence of blught elsewhere on the site.  It works for me.

Quote from: ceres on September 14, 2008, 19:36:28
I started spraying my outdoor toms with Bordeaux Mix a week after planting out and I'm still blight free and harvesting ripe toms, despite the presence of blught elsewhere on the site.  It works for me.

Thanks.  I'll give it a try, despite what my friends say..

It might be the only option left as I believe Mancozeb (which is the active ingredient in Dithane) is on the same list of so-called endocrine-disrupting substances as glyphosate that the EU is considering banning.