Blight!

[Canny Grower]

Yesterday my tomatoes were growing beautifully. I've been harvesting more and more ripe ones each day and they've been lovely. Today I found the dreaded brown patches on curling leaves, spreading to the stems of one plant.

I've removed that plant from the greenhouse, saved the larger tomatoes from it and disposed of it in the garden waste bin. I've also removed most of the leaves from the other plants but without much hope. I fully expect to have to destroy all the plants.

The plants are in large pots and I would normally tip them into the compost heap at the end of the season. What do I do this year? Will the soil and roots be infected and, if so, how do I dispose of them?

[northepaul]

By far the best thing to do with blight, is burn them. You dont want to catch it again next year, or spread it to others.
Sorry to hear that, I lost my entire potato crop to blight this year too....(sigh)

Lets hope next year brings good things, eh?

[Florence Fennel]

Sorry to hear that CG. Monty Don had blight sweep through his greenhouse (Gardener's World last Friday). He took all the leaves from the plants in the hope of saving them, but it didn't work. Fingers crossed it works for you.

[kathyd]

I thought TwoSheds said blight only survived on living plant material, therefore it was OK to compost them? Or have I got that completely back to front....

[Bren In Pots]

I feel your pain, yesterday I had to remove my outdoor toms the stems had gone black overnight I'm hoping it hasn't spread to those in my GH.

[jacob]

The blight here has been terrible this year, knocked out my tomatoes and potatoes in no time.

In the greenhouse something starts to get them in the greenhouse too. Looks blight like -- grey/black splodges on the leaves, but could be botrytis. Anyway, I usually find that a daily trawl through removing any dodgy looking bits keeps them going into October at least.

[Potstubsdustbins]

As said blight can only survive on living plant material so your OK to compost.

Colin

[Dusty Rhodes]

Don't throw blighted tomatoes(fruit) in the compost bin.

Read this fact sheet about blight for more info:

Tomato blight factsheet

[Bigmallly]

As this is my first experience of tomato blight, am I right in thinking that I can take off any healthy looking fruits to ripen, compost the foliage but discard any infected fruits?.........or do I play safe & discard everything including the healthy looking fruits.

[kathyd]

Hi BM. As far as I know you can keep any healthy fruits to ripen, and chuck the rest out. The jury seems to be out on whether to compost the foliage or not... I'm probably going to compost all my infected foliage and fruits because people have been saying the virus only survives on living stuff, although someone somewhere posted a link to suggest this isn't a good idea so I'll probably regret it next year .

[veggiechicken]

Try this BigM Tomato blight factsheet
Essentially, pick any decent looking toms and use them up quickly. Cut off any blighted bits as they'll taste awful. Don't try to ripen them as they'll turn to mush.
Have you tried Fried Green Tomatoes? Fried Green Tomatoes Recipe | MyRecipes.com

[Bigmallly]

Cheers VC, after reading the fact sheet I removed the healthy fruit & got rid of everything else. I don't want to risk infecting the compost for the sake of a few branches. Will keep an eye on the ripening process but thanks for the heads up.

[veggiechicken]

Actually, you should thank Dusty as he posted the same fact sheet but I didn't realise until afterwards!

[Dusty Rhodes]

Actually, you should thank Dusty as he posted the same fact sheet but I didn't realise until afterwards!

Great minds think alike

[veggiechicken]

If your mind is anything like mine, Dusty, you should join the Nutters Club! http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...s%27+club.html