Tomato Blight

[Spuddle]

I've just lost my entire tomato crop (grown outside) to blight which seems to be particularly bad this year down here in the south west.
I've cleared the ground and thrown everything on the bonfire but do I need to do anything else to the soil to prevent it sitting there waiting to attack again next year?
I do rotate crops so maybe this will be enough?
Any advice gratefully received!!

[red]

if you feel the ground is particularly soiled.. i spose you could scrape a layer back and dispose of it... but rotation should be enough.

also look out for volunteer plants.. pull em as soon as they appear next year

sympathies.. blight is horrid. fairly sure i have it in my greenhouse... just waiting for it to take hold....

[Spuddle]

Thanks Red. I shall hope that rotation will do the trick.
Re your own possible attack, my neighbour has saved quite a lot of his crop by spraying with Bordeaux Mixture but he caught his early. If yours isn't too far gone, maybe it would stop yours.

[Spuddle]

Thanks SusieGee. It's interesting that someone managed to ripen the green tomatoes successfully. I thought that they would only be good for cooking. I saved all the green ones that looked okay and am going to make chutney with them but I may try ripening a few as well and see what happens.

[red]

Thanks Red. I shall hope that rotation will do the trick.
Re your own possible attack, my neighbour has saved quite a lot of his crop by spraying with Bordeaux Mixture but he caught his early. If yours isn't too far gone, maybe it would stop yours.

ah thanks for that - bordeaux mix is sposed to halt the blight, but i prefer not to use it. so far just cutting off manky looking leaves etc... but have been ill last few days so goodness knows whats going on out there now :)

[red]

Thanks SusieGee. It's interesting that someone managed to ripen the green tomatoes successfully. I thought that they would only be good for cooking. I saved all the green ones that looked okay and am going to make chutney with them but I may try ripening a few as well and see what happens.

year before last we got blight big time on the toms. picked all of them green and they ripened on the kitchen table. but also that was the year we invented a great curried green tomato chutney... so every blight ridden tomato plant has a silver lined chutney or something...

[Spuddle]

ah thanks for that - bordeaux mix is sposed to halt the blight, but i prefer not to use it. so far just cutting off manky looking leaves etc... but have been ill last few days so goodness knows whats going on out there now :)

I'd be interested to know why you don't like using Bordeaux Mix? Is there something nasty in it? Or do you just try not to use any sprays at all?
I try not to use anything but if it's a choice between saving my tomato crop and losing the lot again, I think I will be spraying next year.

[red]

ah thanks for that - bordeaux mix is sposed to halt the blight, but i prefer not to use it. so far just cutting off manky looking leaves etc... but have been ill last few days so goodness knows whats going on out there now :)

I'd be interested to know why you don't like using Bordeaux Mix? Is there something nasty in it? Or do you just try not to use any sprays at all?
I try not to use anything but if it's a choice between saving my tomato crop and losing the lot again, I think I will be spraying next year.

bordeaux mix is sposed to be not that bad, copper being the active ingredient.. although there are now some reports of build ups of it in some areas etc. my reasoning is to try and avoid using anything on the veg patch - if i resort to chems... kinda feel i might as well buy them. Also copper is bad for sheep, and we keep sheep - so rather than having to think.. 'oh should i let the sheep into the now empty veg patch.. i did put some compost down.. and it might be here...' i can not stress about it

[Millymollymandy]

Mine that have been sprayed are in pots sitting on a concrete path against the house wall (had to be careful not to spray the house blue!) so I don't have to worry about it in the soil - and the rootball/compost that is in the pots will be going to the tip like all blighted material!

[Durgan]

I've just lost my entire tomato crop (grown outside) to blight which seems to be particularly bad this year down here in the south west.
I've cleared the ground and thrown everything on the bonfire but do I need to do anything else to the soil to prevent it sitting there waiting to attack again next year?
I do rotate crops so maybe this will be enough?
Any advice gratefully received!!

I had potato and tomato blight this year. Same disease. Phytophthora infestans or similar.
My potatoes only had about ten new individual tubers attacked. This amongst about 70 plants or about 200 pounds of potatoes.

My thirty tomato plants were completely destroyed. I had 15 different heirloom varieties. These were pulled about the 25 of
August.

For some control, the infected tubers and vegetation was sent to the tip or dump. I rototilled the area extensively, and am hoping the sun will do it marvelous healing. Next year potatoes or tomatoes will not be grown in the affected area.

The Summer was cold and wet. This blight has never been in our area before.
As all gardeners I hope next year is better.

[Spuddle]

I've been asking around about varieties of tomato that people grow.
The one variety that seems to have come out as having the best resistance to blight is Gardeners Delight. Yes - I know it's ordinary and boring compared with some of the more unusual kinds. Also, growing in pots near the house rather than in the ground in exposed veg plots seems to make a difference.
So, next year I shall be growing Gardeners Delight in pots next to the house. I shall have my supply of Bordeau Mix ready just in case. And I shall be keeping my fingers tightly crossed and hoping to be a very delighted gardener!!.

[Durgan]

I've been asking around about varieties of tomato that people grow.
The one variety that seems to have come out as having the best resistance to blight is Gardeners Delight. Yes - I know it's ordinary and boring compared with some of the more unusual kinds. Also, growing in pots near the house rather than in the ground in exposed veg plots seems to make a difference.
So, next year I shall be growing Gardeners Delight in pots next to the house. I shall have my supply of Bordeau Mix ready just in case. And I shall be keeping my fingers tightly crossed and hoping to be a very delighted gardener!!.

Most of the cherry size tomatoes were not overly infected by the blight. I grow cherry carbon and the plant has no infectiion, but it was also not near the main area of the affected plants.

[Millymollymandy]

I've found GD succumb to blight just like any others.

[Spuddle]

Gee, thanks MMM!!!
Here was me thinking I might have cracked it!

I grow cherry carbon and the plant has no infectiion

Haven't heard of cherry carbon, Durgan, but might try to find it.

Actually, considering that the weather here on Exmoor last winter was more like Canada than France, I wonder if that has anything to do with why cherries caught blight in France but not in Canada?

[Durgan]

Gee, thanks MMM!!!
Here was me thinking I might have cracked it!

I grow cherry carbon and the plant has no infectiion

Haven't heard of cherry carbon, Durgan, but might try to find it.

Actually, considering that the weather here on Exmoor last winter was more like Canada than France, I wonder if that has anything to do with why cherries caught blight in France but not in Canada?

Sorry about the nomenclature. It is called Black Cherry, even my partner likes it.
Black Cherry Tomato

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?LZLEW 26 August 2009 Black Cherry Tomato
Most of the cherry type tomatoes have been grown over the years, and this Black Cherry Tomato is the best. The fruit is dark, very tasty, and the fruit is a good size, skin is thin. Everybody in my vicinity likes them. There are two plants in the garden, and fruit growth is prolific more than enough for a family. The fruit is dark colored if fully ripe.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?XIZFD Black Cherry Tomato, Indeterminate
More information