Tomato blight or some other nasty? It was all going so well :(

[Russel Sprout]

Hi all

I've been babying and looking after my tomatoes since I first posted back in April. I've really been enjoying it and have a tonne of green tomatoes. The first ones are starting to turn now and I've been looking forward to the fruits of my labour.

A week or so ago I noticed some discoloured leaves and a lot of leaves were curling:








I was going to post then, but the leaf problem I've had before (and read a fair bit about) and assumed was nothing to worry about. The leaf discolouration was only on a few of my 25 odd plants, and even on those it was just a few of the bottom leaves.

Today, I fear things may have taken a more sinister turn






I've never experienced blight, but I fear that might be what’s up. Only a couple of toms are affected, but a lot of leaves are. Can anyone please confirm if it is blight and if not what it might be. Are they doomed or can anything be done?

Many thanks for any help and for all of the help along my tomato journey.

Cheers

Max

[Russel Sprout]

One more pic:

[Jungle Jane]

Yes it is blight,can you get rid of the affected plants carefully into a bag to stop the spores going all over the place. The leaf problem looks like magnesium deficiency not the cause of the blight that's an added problem,the plants look quite close together. Wash hands & tools so it doesn't spread to healthy plants,maybe don't touch the healthy plants it's a bit risky. The green unaffected fruits (probably the majority of them) can be used for green soup/chutney loads of recipes on here.

[Russel Sprout]

Thanks for the help. I'll get right to it with the blight. RE the magnesium deficiency, should I remove the leaves that show signs of that?

I've got some meths I can use for cleaning purposes and someone has recommended I can use that. Should I use it between each cut, or between each plant?

Ta

[Jungle Jane]

No don't remove the leaves of any showing signs of deficiency,Epsom salts mixed in water will help,I've got a couple of plants like it too,I keep meaning to give them some myself so I will now I clean the secateurs when I've finished cutting the blighted plants,I think I just used washing up liquid last year or held them over a flame to sterilise I can't remember. Its worse trying not to touch the healthy plants,I can't keep my hands off the side shoots when I'm out there,you have to ignore them for a bit.

[MarkPelican]

I think the latter pictures are definitely blight. Are you growing in a greenhouse or outdoors. In ether case personally I would remove the whole plant and use the green fruit for chutney. The problem is that if you're in a greenhouse, you are unlikely to get the plants out without spreading the spores around.

I've never had success with trying to limit blight.

I remember seeing an RHS article where the gardeners only went into the greenhouse first thing in the morning then shut it up to prevent blight spores going in on their clothes.

[Penellype]

Yes, it looks depressingly like blight. Unfortunately you are very unlikely to be able to prevent it from spreading. I can really only echo the comments of others that the green tomatoes can be used for chutney - I think that you will find that even if you pick them from the healthy looking plants and try to ripen them, most will turn brown before they turn red.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news . The weather has been ideal for blight recently, being warm(ish) and humid.

[Baldy]

Yup - last few pictures do look like blight on a couple of the fruit and the stems... bugger

[Russel Sprout]

Many thanks for the helpful replies.

@Mark - they are all being grown outdoors. Hoping to have a greenhouse next year

Apologies for being contrary, but I couldn't bring myself to pull up the whole plants and so I've just removed all affected leaves and will keep a very keen eye on them. The ones in the bed (x11) were by far the worse, and some of the plants have literally zero leaves left! Not sure if it's even leaving them in the bed like that? The main stem looks ok and has no black blotches, and the green toms look fine too.

I have another lot in pots (x14 or so) and I'm not sure if they have blight or not. Perhaps the odd leaf here and there but on the whole they look ok, and I can't be sure if the leaves that weren't perfect were blight ridden or just a bit brown and "off". I'm guessing it is likely just a matter of time though... We'll see.

With regards what to do with the green toms, it says in an article I've just read: "Wait for five days after picking unripe fruit to see if blackening develops on fruit from untreated or infected plants." Is that the case? And with the plants that have no leaves left, should I remove all of the green toms or is there a small chance they can still ripen? Sorry if that's a silly question, my biology ain't all that!!!

Ta

Max

[Baldy]

You've probably got nothing to lose by trying - but I've tried to ripen green toms from blighted plants and plants next to blighted plants that hadn't yet shown symtoms - probably got something like 10% that went red rther than brown...
Plants with no leaves are likely to be too knackered to add any bulk to the toms sitting on them - so I'd pick them and fingers crossed ripen them on windowsill

[veggiechicken]

Sorry Max
I would urge you to be ruthless if you want to save the unaffected (so far) plants.
Get rid of any diseased plants completely - now.
Any green toms need processing immediately - chutney or summat. Even them I've found they can have a distinctive, rather unpleasant taste.
Sad though it is, I'd bin the toms and the plants.

[Baldy]

^^ She's a very forthright chicken - but I concur - (that's twice since I joined this forum)

[Russel Sprout]

Thanks for the further replies

We're growing some spuds in sacks. I thought the foliage was just dying back normally as potatoes do, but now with all this talk of blight I'm wondering if I've been mistaken and they have it too... Could anyone take a look at the photos please and see if it is possible to tell?






Many thanks

Max

[bario1]

Hard to tell if that's blight or natural dieback - but either way, the plants are finished, so just get the spuds out asap in case it is blight!

[Baldy]

Its hard to tell - but there doesn't look like any brown marks on the stems... as said by bario you might as well get them out anyway as they won't be getting any bigger...