Argh, tomatoe panic stations. Help please

[QuakerBear]

I've just had a look at my tomatoes at work, and one of them has got blight on the main part of the stem. What do I do? Is the plant doomed? Will it spread to the others?

Please help, I havn't got a clue what to do with blight.

[red]

weep

unless you have toms in a totally different part of the garden.. its prolly already too late.

if you do have some separate - then exercise biosecurity.. wash hands between handling.. different watering cans etc. even then... not looking good.

if the plants are next to each other... well you can slow things down by snipping off the infected parts... in the hope of some tomatoes getting far enough along before the lurgy spreads,.

I have pretty much lost all of my toms....

like i said.. weep....

[QuakerBear]

Thank you Red.

They were doing so well.

I shall have to console myself with some of the Co-Op's fair trade fruit and nut.

Does blight live in the soil and if so, will it be gone next year? Can plant toms in the same place next year?

[ina]

Does blight live in the soil and if so, will it be gone next year? Can plant toms in the same place next year?

Yes, no, and no.

Sorry, but blight is really nasty stuff.

[QuakerBear]

Will I ever be able to plant toms in the same area? Also what about other plants that are related to tomatos, like potatoes?

Thanks for your advice on this guys.

[Cheezy]

Will I ever be able to plant toms in the same area? Also what about other plants that are related to tomatos, like potatoes?

Thanks for your advice on this guys.

Here's what the RHS say's about blight. It is the same type as potato blight. And you should never grow toms and pots in the same area, or in consecutive years:


Potato blight is the main fungal disease of tomatoes causing brown, rapidly spreading lesions on leaves and stems, and patches of rot on the fruit. Spores are dispersed by wind and infection occurs in wet conditions. Crops under glass usually avoid the problem, but outdoor tomato plants should be sprayed with mancozeb (Dithane 945) or copper (Murphy Traditional Copper or Vitax Bordeaux Mixture) before symptoms occur. Spraying will not prevent infection, but may slow it and save the crop.

Resting spores produced in dead plant tissue can overwinter in the soil to initiate infections the following season. However, the risk from this source of the disease is small compared with infection arising from air-borne sporangia. Infected potato tubers left in the ground from the previous year, or dumped at the edge of vegetable plots, are important infection sources for the following year’s crops. Potatoes are usually infected before tomatoes.

The fungus can be seed borne, so do not save seed from infected fruit. Destroy infected plants - do not compost them. There is very little resistance in most cultivars, but 'Ferline', ‘Legend’ and ‘Fantasio’ are believed to be resistant.

I've got it on my out door toms, luckily my greenhouse ones so far have resisted (same varieties) I have sparyed this week with Bordeaux mix just incase, and Epsom salts to cure the magnesium deficiency (spotty yellow leaves)

[red]

there is mixed advice on tis.

it seems the spores of blight need a host.. so tubers of potatoes left in the ground are ideal.. and compost heaps might not rot down completely therefore there will still be a host. and dead plant material left in the soil can also act as a host.

according to RHS the risk of soil born infection is small compared to wind born

If you can rotate your crops and grow something not in the tomato/potato family in the same area.. then that will be better.. - and get rid of any plant material you remove.. either in the council recycle bin thingy or burn etc.

but if like the tomato blight I have in the greenhouse - you have no choice but to plant in the same area again, then its a matter of being very clean with everything.... remove all material etc.


thats the way I understand it anyway.

[ohareward]

Commercial tomato growers here fumigate the glass houses so that any lurgies are killed off. For small glass houses it is advised to replace the soil each year if you are planting the same crop each year.

Robin

[Millymollymandy]

That's why I avoided spuds and toms this year, having had both tom blight in 2005 and spud blight in 2006 in my veg patch (different plots). In 2005 there was no rain so I don't know where it came from. Eventually it spread to my pot grown tomatoes which were a long way away from the veg patch with the house in between, and all the time the weather was hot and sunny!

[Jandra]

When I had blight in my tomatoes outside as well as inside the poytunnel, I removed all but a few plants. I left those in the greenhouse which seemed least affected and snipped off all infected parts (not the main stem, even though it had a brown patch).

Now, a few weeks later, the plants are recovering well and the fruit has started to colour red. Victory! I've since heard that infected plants can indeed pull through if you give them plenty of airflow and if you're lucky in that the weather conditions become better. I'm glad I didn't uproot all plants.

So next year I'll give the individual plants much more space and snip off much more of the plants to prevent them becoming bushy (thus slowing the air flow around the plant). I've also removed the infected parts of the plants, but as I have an allotment and many tenants leave their potato green in a heap on site... All I can do is make sure my plants are as healthy as possible and for the weather to be fair. The spores of blight are ubiquitous in my allotment area; there's no avoiding that.

Last year we had a dry summer and I had a much better crop with the same variety. Oh wel...

Regards, Jandra

[Cheezy]

Went through my out door toms last night. I'd already sprayed with Bordeaux mix, but things were bad, and I didn't want any airbourne spores infecting my greenhouse.

All the toms we're fairly packed close together in my new vertical pot system. San Marzanto's look to be the worse effected (2 removed), closely followed by the bush roma (dug up 4 out of 5 plants, number 5 is effected though not as bad), two Golden Boy yellow beef toms removed, and my prized Sungold cherry tom. But right in amonst all these cases of blight, surrounded in fact is a Gardeners Delight cordon which seems to be untouched!. First time I've tried to grow them.Think i might switch next year.

[red]

ah good point - quakerbear... my reply did not include that you can halt the progress of blight, and protect unblighted plants by spraying with bordeaux mixture apparantly. its nt as bad as other sprays.. being copper.. something... but personally I don't use anything.. but that choice is yours.

[Millymollymandy]

Mine succumbed to blight in 2005! They aren't completely resistant. But I do hope yours pull through.

[Millymollymandy]

I wouldn't use bordeaux mix on toms if the toms had already formed. I really don't fancy eating blue tomatoes.

[QuakerBear]

Thanks for all your advice guys. I think most of them are dooooomed but I've moved a couple in pots away so we shall have to hope that they don't start to show any symptoms. We shall see.