Is this blight ?

[Marb67]

Well, I have the best Tigerella toms ever this year in size but sadly nowhere near ripe. I have posted about leaf curl already but now I am seeing dark spots on the leaves. Surely it can't be blight as I have sprayed with Epsom salts about 3 weeks ago. I have cut off the leaves and put them in the garden waste bin to be safe. I will also spray again with Epsom salts. But if they go down with blight it would just about finish me off with yet again a poor growing season

[roitelet]

Sorry to say Marb it does look like it. I would chop off all the affected leaves and hope for the best. I even have it on the tomatoes in the tunnel for the first time in 10 years. Really bad blight Year this year.

[Marb67]

Well surely they shouldn't have got it because I sprayed with Epsom salts. Will give them another plast with added cinnamon oil as it is anti fungal.

[ameno]

That is unmistakably blight.

Well surely they shouldn't have got it because I sprayed with Epsom salts. Will give them another plast with added cinnamon oil as it is anti fungal.

...What?

Since when did epsom salts provide any protection against fungus? Much less blight, which is incredibly aggressive.
Nothing available legally in the UK anymore can give anything more than minor protection against blight. And nothing at all can kill blight once it is established on a plant, not even the fungicides which farmers use against blight. All fungicides for blight are preventative, not curative. They help stop the plant catching blight in the first place, but will not cure an infected plant.

Once your plants have blight, that's it. It's a death sentence. No amount of epsom salts or cinnamon oil or whatever other snake oil you choose to believe in will help them.

[Marb67]

That is unmistakably blight.
Once your plants have blight, that's it. It's a death sentence. No amount of epsom salts or cinnamon oil or whatever other snake oil you choose to believe in will help them.

Sorry, I have seen gardening vlogs/programs in the past where they get a mild form of blight and just cut off infected leaves. Epsom salts strengthen the plans outer layer and make them more hardy (as does Asprin) I have had mild blight in the past but it didn't kill the plant like you so woefully predict.

[ameno]

Sorry, I have seen gardening vlogs/programs in the past where they get a mild form of blight and just cut off infected leaves. Epsom salts strengthen the plans outer layer and make them more hardy (as does Asprin) I have had mild blight in the past but it didn't kill the plant like you so woefully predict.

Then it wasn't blight (early blight, a completely different and far less harmful disease, and certain nutrient deficiencies look similar) or it was a blight resistant variety of tomato.
In a non-resistant variety, once infection has taken root it cannot be eradicated. Removing leaves will help to slow its advance, maybe long enough to get a few ripe tomatoes, but it will not stop it. You will be removing leaves every couple of days, until eventually the entire plant is defoliated, by which time the stems will probably be infected, too.

As for epsom salts and aspirin increasing resistance, that's all they (might) do: increase resistance. They categorically do not grant immunity, nor can they kill the actual blight fungus.

This is a very bad year for blight. Even my blight resistant varieties are having infected leaves removed a couple times a week. Non-resistant varieties sadly don't stand a chance.

[Marb67]

Looking at them this morning there are no other signs of blight. In the past I have had dark blight patches on stems but again, it din’t inhibit fruit production of kill the plant. I don’t believe I have blight resistant gardeners delight and Tigerella unless they haven’t stated it on the seed packets. I will continue with at least spraying with the very powerful, anti fungal cinnamon oil.

[goosander]

I for one are glad of all the help i can get. Thank you Ameno for all your help.
Bob.

[Marb67]

Well, there are a little dark spots with honey, cinnamon powder and essential oil which should be a very powerful concoction, especially the honey as it will seal in the spores and stop them spreading. Just cut off a few more affected leaves today, all plants around them are fine. Cutting off leaves helps concentrate the fruits to ripen.