Tomato loss: a support thread

[NSB]

My affected tomatoes were plum, cherry and moneymaker

[Headfry]

Welcome Dotty Chick (and Mum, by association) !
Gardeners delight first to go
Money maker - next
Marmande, in GH are fine but just starting to loose outdoors ones

If we had blight this year, will we get it next year?????

[Cutecumber]

It all depends on the weather conditions, Headfry.

You can be lucky... and you can be unlucky.

I had blight a few years ago, then none for a few years.

Don't let one bad year put you off.

[moggssue]

I have now lost all my tomatoes. For weeks the italian mini plum (cherry really) and Big Boy held their own and gave me a few tasty toms while the rest stayed green and struggled bravely but succummed. Last weekend I gave up on the rest as well, the fruits going mushy and mouldy before ripening. Very sad. I'm concerned about growing any next year in case the spores are still around, should I leave it for a year to be on the safe side?

[Dotty Chick]

Morning folk's
Started early this morning, up at 6am... chicken trouble.
Anyway, saw that you Headfry likes to make wine.Any particular sort? Mum in Law makes Elderflower and Elderberry wine all the time. One of my favourite quotes from her (as you all seem to like quotes) is;
"Must make some more wine, down to my last 48 gallon!"
She has made thousands of bottles over the years as she used to make it professionally, now she makes it for friends and for herself.
Hope you all have had a good day or just about to start a good day
Dotty

[Headfry]

Hi Dotty Chick, Sorry you have hen problems, I love chickens too!
I would love a good Elderflower recipe, Mine has gone wrong....I was my first attempt at elderflower. It reminds me of my lovely Aunt Pat, she made gallons of wine. Its stopped working but is still very sweet, someone said put a handful of raisins in, I did...still nothing but has a darker colour now
I would just love to be able to make this wine! Can Mummy in law offer any help. tips, etc.
We made some fab grape our very first attempt at wine making, It came third in village produce show. It tastes like real wine! ??? dead chuffed.
Are chicks all ok?

[mandyballantyne]

Hi,

Can I join in some self pity too please. Lost all 18 tomato plants outdoors and down to my last 2 in the greenhouse, they have blight but also a few toms that might rippen so I am holding on a few more days.......

Potatoes also had blight but still got a reasonable harvest, with more in for Christmas. Keeping a very close eye on them.

Sorry to all who have lost and better luck/weather next year. I have just registered with www.blightwatch.co.uk and it look like another smith period on the way for me

Mandy

[leona]

i brought blight back from my allotment and spread it into my greenhouse in the front garden. i can only think it must have been me that brought it! i cut the affected parts off at first but then i used bordeaux mixture because the plants in the greenhouse were started in january and it would have been awful to lose them completely after all that time! none of the varieties in there were any more affected than others. they are rose de bearne, some italian beefstake, snow white cherry and tiny tim cherry. i also had a plant in there called matt's wild which is completely blight resistant. they are tiny cherrys but the plant is a bit all over the place and has taken over the back of the greenhouse. il post a pic later.
the blight then spread to the outisde plants and the most affected is sungold. red alert is ok and also harelquin (which is yummy by the way!).
eventually it got to the back garden and my back up gardeners delight plants. i sprayed them too and they seem ok now. i had potted up some side shoots from rose de bearne and snow white and they are in the back garden greenhouse seeminly free from blight.
i wouldnt ever spray usually but im glad i did, have had loads of toms and its been very worth while.

[jondanie]

Leona,
Well done on saving your tomato crop. Your story makes interesting reading for the simple fact that you actually took some remedial action and actually sprayed! A common theme from many threads I've read here this summer (not criticizing anyone), is peoples resistance to spraying their potatoes or tomatoes. They sit and wait for the blight to come and take their crop. I'm as much a fan of organic growing as anyone, but for some crops where not taken action to prevent disease (blight in particular) can or often results in a total crop loss, then I think some sort of spraying program is justified. Your use of Bordeaux Mix is commendable, as it's still regarded as "organic"

I'm sorry that so many people have lost their crops this year. It was an exceptional summer for blight, but don't lose heart, it's like what the poker players say, "you win some, you lose some" Dust yourself down in readiness for next year.

[SueA]

Blight, blackspot powdery mildew, slugs, snails, vine weevils, lily beetles, had the lot this year! I lost the 'Tomazing' & 'Moneymaker' toms which I had outdoors but have managed to get a plant of each & a 'Tigerella' past the blight by holding a few plants back in the mini greenhouse. I have a plant of 'tumbler' which I thought had escaped but it now has a 'blob' on the stem which looks ominous for the little green toms on the stem! Just hope some of them mange to produce fruit & ripen before the frosts.

[SunnyD]

I decided to trash my Moneymakers last week as they'd been behaving oddly for a while, producing spotty tomatoes (?). I couldn't decide if it was blight or not, as there were no big brown splodges, but as only a few tomatoes looked like they'd be edible once they'd ripened I decided to bin them in case they trashed my Gardeners Delight, which were behaving beautifully.

Typically, within a day or two one of my Gardeners Delight plants has now definitely got blight as the stem has a large brown area
I'm just waiting for the others to succumb now!

[Charlie Farley]

I had some moneymaker plants (bought from garden centre). Sadly ended up in the bin last week as the blight set in .
Never grown toms before- so little disheartening
Had two red toms and 20 green ones sat sadly on the windowsill. Humm thinkin tiny batch of green tom chutney??
ah well, better luck next year??

[veggiewomble]

It was my first year growing tomatoes. I grew Moneymaker and Sungold and the Moneymaker was the worse afflicted one. I grew them in containers on my balcony, and from 'early blight' and a few affected spots on leaves, it grew into full-blown blight. I have piled up more than 60+ tomatoes in various stages of ripening, all rotted due to blight!

So its all very disheartening.

I wonder - can I grow toms again in the same soil/containers next year, or has the disease gone into the soil? Does it mean I have to change all the soil?? Seeing that this is possibly very messy on a balcony, perhaps I have to grow some other vegetables in the container next year and give the toms a skip.

vw

[Cutecumber]

Blight is not a disease of the soil, as such - the spores live in infected plant material. In theory, blight is more likely to come in on the air than from the soil in which the plants grow, but, if any seeds have been left they could be a source of reinfection.

In any case, it is not wise to keep using the same soil or compost for the same crops - you will build up disease over time.

You could re-use the soil for another crop, potentially, but it would need refreshing with some extra nutrients.

[Winged one]

Maybe try some other crops in your tubs on the balcony and hang a hanging basket to put some tumbler toms in fresh compost - trying to think vertically for lack of ground space for you. That way you could have peas and/oor beans up a tepee of bamboo canes, courgettes, lettuces, carrots, even potatoes if the tubs are big enough, as well as your tomatoes over your head.....OK, maybe potatoes, if blight had hit, mightn't be the best next year, but could be ok the year after. There are lots of veg that grow in containers though...