Compost and Tomato blight

[DizzyMum]

Hello,

A couple of my outdoor tomatoes in pots got blight this year (from the outdoor tomatoes not in pots).

I usually use the old tomato compost on some of my heavy clay vegetable beds. Can I still do this? Or can I put the old compost in the compost bin?

Any help and suggestions appreciated.

Em

[Penellype]

Either should be fine as long as you have removed the roots of the tomatoes. Blight needs living solanaceous plant material in order to survive. However I would play it safe and not put the compost where you intend to grow potatoes or tomatoes next year.

[Potstubsdustbins]

My first thought would be 'is it worth the risk'. I know it can only survive on living plant material but for the cost of a couple of bags of compost my answer would be no get rid.

[MarkPelican]

As Penellype says, blight needs living material to survive so it depends a bit on how hot your compost gets. Providing all the plant material composts, you should be fine. The only part of the tomato that is intended by nature to survive is the seeds and my understanding is that blight cannot survive on or in seed.

[piskieinboots]

Hum - I'm with Potstubsdustbins, I wouldn't risk it.

[Jungle Jane]

I had blight on some tomatoes last year,I got rid of the plants & planted onions & dahlias exactly where the blight was & it was all fine. Some plants don't get blight so it's ok for a pot of lettuce or something. There is a risk if two genotypes of blight meet A1 & A2,they can reproduce sexually recombining DNA resulting in the formation of oospores. There's information in this link,it says-
"oospores, unlike sporangia and zoospores can survive in the soil for several years in the absence of potatoes and if they germinate, give rise to new genotypes."
"In 2005,a new A2 genotype known as Blue 13 or 13_A2 was found in GB for the first time; this probably originated in Continental Europe. The occurrence of this genotype increased dramatically & by 2007 it was detected in 82% of GB outbreaks and was also found in Northern Ireland. This highly aggressive genotype dominated the GB blight population until 2010 and was also dominant in Northern Ireland in 2009-2010. In recent years,it's frequency has fluctuated and in GB another new genotype, 6_A1 or Pink 6 has been dominant in some years.
In recent years, although most UK P. infestans continues to belong to such clonal genotypes, an increasing occurance of miscellaneous types, particularly in Scotland suggests the possibility that the pathogen is sexually reproducing and that oospores are acting as inoculum. There are two reasons why this is a concern: 1) sexual reproduction can generate novel pathogen genotypes and 2) the resulting oospores may remain viable in the soil and lead to early outbreaks of the disease."
http://potatoes.ahdb.org.uk/sites/de...une%202016.pdf

On the ahdb website they have lists of genotype up to 2013,I don't know why it ended 2013,it looks like euroblight have control of it all now? So this links from ahdb showing the genotypes-
http://potatoes.ahdb.org.uk/sites/de...3%20season.pdf
Euroblight has a tiny bit of information regarding genotypes 2013-2016,just a map not as well detailed as ahdb.org.
Sampling sites and genotype maps

[alldigging]

Yes.
There should be no living plant material left for it to survive on if you rake it out.

[bramble]

Take the top inch or two of soil from the top of your planter and any dead or rotted foliage. I think it should be ok.