Blight on my tomatoes.

[StephenH]

I lost all but two of my 'Amish Paste' toms to blight this year, which was rather disappointing for my first year growing my own veg. So, I discovered last night on 'Gardener's World', did the Radio 1 D.J. Sarah Cox: she, like me, has been growing veg. for the first time this year; unlike me, she got filmed doing so. Then in today's 'Guardian Weekend' magazine, in the Gardening section, I read something along the lines of "...if your tomatoes escaped the blight which has been very widespread this year...", so apparantly it's not just me and Sarah. Has anyone else suffered? what about spuds - mine excaped, although blight is supposed to be more of a potato than a tomato disease,isn't it? it is, after all, called in full 'Potato Blight'. What varieties are blight-resistant? Next year, I'm planning to grow 'Tigerella', and/or 'Golden Sunrise', and/or 'Purple Ukraine'. Are they blight prone or resistant? Any other blight-avoiding tips, anyone? In particular, how long should I avoid growing toms in that bed for, to avoid getting it again from blight surviving in the soil?

[Incy]

Hi Stephen,
I lost all my toms to blight in 2007 and 2008. This year they are gradually succumbing but I have been getting a decent harvest from them first.
I planted them very early february this time and it seems to have helped as they matured earlier.
There is also a method used by Bob Flowerdew ( described in his book 'The no-work garden' where he leans his toms forwards towards their support and has clear plastic sheeting hanging over the top which allows the water to reach their roots but protects the leaves and stems.
I will be trying this method next year
As far as growing in the same bed, it is recommended to rotate your crops. I'm not an expert but I believe that a minimum of a 3 step rotation is recommended which would mean not growing tomatoes in that bed for at least 2 years.
I'm sure some more experienced grapes will be along soon to give more advice.
Good luck!

[Tomatoking]

Blight is airborne so can spread even from neighbouring gardens, the source is usually from potatoes which speads to tomatoes, even from unwashed hands when peeling contaminated potatoes. Even though I know this, I stupidly planted my potatoes too close to my new polytunnel this year and after a few weeks of wet weather my potatoes were full of blight which had spread to my tomatoes. I quickly removed and burnt all the potato stalks, then trimmed all the affected leaves off of the tomato plants, some had virtually no leaves left and I even totally removed some plants. I then sprayed with a Bordeaux mix and daily inspected my tomatoes removing any further infected leaves. You can even brush the mix on affected stems, if you have a bad infestation and want to save the plants; this sometimes stops the spread. Luckily, this held back the blight and I continued harvesting the crop. Next year, I think I will not bother with early spuds, if I do I will put them a lot further away and spray both crops with a preventitive spray from mid summer. There is no way to kill blight once you have it without killing the plant, so a good preventative spray should keep blight at bay.

[ann-the-nan]

Blight on my tomatoes.

I have been hit badly by blight. Well, not me personally - my toms. The only ones untouched are the ones undercover in my little plastic GHs. I started of with 25 plants and have the above (6) left. About 4 I put in the council bin. The rest I took the affected bits off then sprayed with bordeaux mix which seems to have arrested the progress of the blight. On the subject of watering, I have upturned water bottles in. Cut the base off them, "plant" them in upside down with the lid-less top buried into the compost. I water through the bottles. That means that the roots are getting all the water but the compost doesn't waste it - if you get my drift.

[StephenH]

Thanks for the advice. Next year, I'll get some Bordeaux mixture and may use it preventatively, not just curatively if the toms get blight. I'm gardening organically, and I know that the ideal is not to spray at all, certainly not unless disease is present, even with organic-approved sprays such as Bordeaux, but having had it once, I think preventative spraying may be a good idea.
Incy - yes, I'm rotating my crops, on a four-year rotation, so I wouldn't be growing toms in that bed again until 2013 anyway - I just wondered if the blight might still be present in the soil by then, and whether to juggle the rotation a bit so that they are not there for longer.