beat the blight?

[paul.saxon@hotmail.com]

Cheers Paulottie, i've sent an email to administrator so should get it sorted. Is there a way i can get an alert when someone replies to a post or posts??

[Paulottie]

Yes, you look in thread tools at the top and select 'subscribe to this thread'

[Flummery]

Blight is usually a bummer in warm wet years (last year for example!) but most years it's not a problem. Please, new growers, be ready for it but don't assume every little crinkle in your tom leaves is blight. I didn't get it last year. Toms in greenhouse, spuds outdoors but no problem. It's a new year, it will bring its own problems, but I'm not going to go looking for them!

[roitelet]

For the last 3 years Iv'e tried, Bordeaux mixture and Plastic covers and always lost the Toms. This year I have resolved NO TOMATOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cutecumber]

Even if blight arrives you may still get a crop. I got it last year like most people and careful removal of affected leaves and plants worked to halt the spread. I lost some fruit which is always disappointing but the crop was reasonable overall.

It is much harder to keep checking if your plants are on allotment that you can't regularly visit, however. Mine are in the garden and I can get to them morning and evening. I also know what the first signs of blight look like.

For growing outdoor and organically I can only advise having several different varieties and spreading the plants around in different places if you are able. Try starting your plants off sooner rather than later and look for small bush types and early maturing varieties.

[mcsee]

I think by the time you get a visual diagnosis on your plants that it is Blight, the plant is infected almost to the untreatable stage. I believe the best treatment to be a Copper based fungicide.

It's very disappointing when you see just what it does to your plants.

[ClayGarden]

As someone whose first tomato year is this year this thread terrifies me

[Eyren]

I had absolutely no problem with blight the first two years I grew tomatoes, even with a farm growing potatoes only a few hundred yards away - but last year I lost all my home-grown tomato plants and all but one shop-bought one to what I assume was blight. I guess it was the constant wet weather last year that was to blame, so let's just keep our fingers crossed that this year is better

I also have Tumbling Tom in hanging baskets in my conservatory, where they should stay reasonably safe from the wind and rain that help spread blight - but I'm still persevering with outdoor toms (Ferline and Sub Arctic Plenty) because I don't have much cat-free space indoors

[SarzWix]

I've grown tomato plants for about 5 years now, and last year was the first year I've ever had blight. Last year was also the first year I had my allotment! This year I'm keeping some at home, see if that makes a difference? As Cutecumber says, at least I can keep a closer eye on them then!

[Cutecumber]

As someone whose first tomato year is this year this thread terrifies me

For goodness sake try not to worry about something that may never happen.

Are you growing for commercial purposes? I guess not. A failed "hobby" crop is disappointing but really not the end of the world. You just take it on the chin and try again next year.

People grow tomatoes outdoors in the UK successfully every year even when there is blight around.

[ClayGarden]

For goodness sake try not to worry about something that may never happen.

Are you growing for commercial purposes? I guess not. A failed "hobby" crop is disappointing but really not the end of the world. You just take it on the chin and try again next year.

People grow tomatoes outdoors in the UK successfully every year even when there is blight around.

But i might starve with out tomato and basil soup

[Cutecumber]

Then you might have to go to the supermarket and buy some

[ClayGarden]

Then you might have to go to the supermarket and buy some

Noooooooooo

[queen of the cobs]

For goodness sake try not to worry about something that may never happen.

Are you growing for commercial purposes? I guess not. A failed "hobby" crop is disappointing but really not the end of the world. You just take it on the chin and try again next year.

People grow tomatoes outdoors in the UK successfully every year even when there is blight around.

I know you're right, but apparently there's been blight on the allotment for the last 4 years and no-one's had any luck. One of the old chaps very helpfully told me this last year, after we'd been chatting for an hour as I planted out all my tomatoes - he could have told me before I started!

It was a real shame as I lost all my plants (4 different varieties, about 15 plants) and the only toms I got were from the couple of plants I had in the greenhouse.

maybe I will try and bodge something together from clear plastic.

[Headfry]

what IS blight ? we tomato and potato growers all know (only to well) about blight. but I want to know how is 'works' and what it really is?