Tomatoes

[Phil Russell]

Re copper fungicide, Bordeaux mixture. It certainly used to be sold by garden centres for potato and tomato blight control but I admit I have not looked for it for a couple of years. It can be used on tomatoes but you should remember to wash the tomatoes before eating them. It is a contact fungicide that will not get into the tomato flesh. I would be surprised if it is not available.
Late blight will only affect potatoes and tomatoes and, if you are unlucky, sweet peppers. It does not infect other garden / allotment plants. The best thing to do with infected foliage is to 'bin it' in your green bin or burn it. As noted above, the fungus can survive over winter in infected potato tubers; it is very rare for it to survive alone in soil. So good crop hygiene is a must for effective control. It is wind borne but needs quite high humidity and cool temperatures to survive otherwise the spores dry out. Similarly it needs a moist leaf surface to germinate on. Hence removing excess foliage on the tomato plants creates free air flow which can reduce infection.
Cheers, Phil

 

[mikej460]

Blight has been very bad here in the Midlands this year. Our potatoes have been infected which weren't last year and our greenhouse tomatoes have been hit as well. The blight spores are spread by wind and rain. The only mehtod I've ever found effective is to cut the haulms off potatoes and the infected leaves, stems and fruit from tomatoes. This only slightly delays the spread mind you.

 

[Bottingswood]

Any tomato experts on here?

I have removed this truss tonight, having done a similar one at the weekend. The odd brown patch on the stem, and (literally) the odd yellow leaf which I snipped off.

Any ideas?

Marcos, on checking you pic (as so many have affirmed) it looks like blight. My wife has all of her plants infected and on checking tinterweb there is a suggestion that it can be saved, even late blight, by a mixture of baking soda and vegetable oil mixed in water (don’t shoot the messenger on the oil and water thing). Seemingly the alkaline mixture is not a think the fungus spores like and it neutralise it. We have certainly tried it, nothing to report to date as it was only applied Monday.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Green tomato chutney is good for blight. Pick the lot while you can.

 

[marcros]

Green tomato chutney is good for blight. Pick the lot while you can.

Probably most tempted by this option to be honest.

 

[AlanY]

The best thing to do with infected foliage is to 'bin it' in your green bin...

I think the contents of our green bin ends up as commercial compost. Does the composting process destroy the fungus or does this just risk spreading the stuff further?

 

[Tris]

Commercial composting is a hot method that will kill pathogens such as these. You might want to wash the bin out well afterwards though

 

[ey_tony]

I've grown tomatoes in my suitably set up potting shed for the past few seasons and outdoors as usual this season and once again the indoor plants have all done really well with a good crop of Sungold and other tom varieties but the few outdoor plants I've grown of the same varieties have fared rather badly once again.

I've never had much luck with outdoor grown tomatoes and they've always ended up suffering from blight so from now on it's indoors only for me. I'm by no means an expert, but I'd say your plant shows to be suffering from blight which is exactly what my outdoor plants have suffered.
They can be looking to be thriving one day and the next the fruit and stems are turning brown. Mine were well watered and fed regularly just like those that I've grown in my potting shed but there's no sign of any blight on the indoor plants.

For a trial this year I also grew three plants of the 'Tumbling Tom' variety in a large single hanging basket outdoors and they did rather well too and produced a good crop but those plants are also showing signs of the onset of blight too with the tomatoes left on the trusses turning brown so that's another outdoor tomato plant which has not completed its cycle before succumbing to blight.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I gave up trying to grow them outdoors years ago.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

Bordeau Mix blocks the ingress of the blight spores into the plant, but only where it is sprayed, obviously. The spores float about in the atmosphere and are everywhere, and as the plant grows new leaves you need to keep spraying. You have to be pretty religious about spraying every 5 days, or after every rain. It's beyond tedious, which is why I never have any grapes on my vines - same problem, same solution, and I never get to spray often enough. Luckily our tomatoes don't suffer nearly as much as grapes do, so the solution is to plant lots, and lose a few. I've got something like 50 toms on the go at the moment, planted in stages from March through to July.

More damaging for us is the Brazilian leaf miner (magnificently named Tuta Absoluta) which was, according to the conspiracy theorists, introduced across Europe and Africa to improve sales of insecticides. It certainly worked out for the pharmaceutical companies even if they didn't introduce it on purpose.

Here's what I have to contend with:

Any tomato from from a warm climate that doesn't have blemishes is dripping in poison, or grown in a hermetically sealed, sterile environment. I just hope that the UK is too cold for the beast to thrive - it's too cold for tomatoes, so probably too cold for the moth. Worth looking out for, though.

 

[Tris]

If you live in one of the wetter parts of the country blight is more likely to be a problem. Potato growers look out for a 'Smith period', 2 consecutive days where temps are above 10 Deg C and humidity at 90% or higher for at least 11 hours. If this is forecast they spray with fungicide.
There seems to be some merit in spraying your tomato plants with a solution of aspirin, according to an article by James Wong. Salicylic acid in aspirin mimics the plant hormone that primes the plant's immune response, making it less susceptible to blight and other problems. I can't vouch for this as I have been lucky enough to never have had tomatoes struck by blight.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

There are thousands upon thousands of tons of spuds grown in W. Cornwall - the humidity is often over 90%. It's 95% now. They must have endless supplies of fungicides.

 

[stuart little]

I think the contents of our green bin ends up as commercial compost. Does the composting process destroy the fungus or does this just risk spreading the stuff further?

Our green bins are for recycling! Don't think they'd appreciate a load of mushy tom plants!!

 

[Tris]

There are thousands upon thousands of tons of spuds grown in W. Cornwall - the humidity is often over 90%. It's 95% now. They must have endless supplies of fungicides.

Most commercial spuds are sprayed once a week. No wonder farmers say avoid the 3 Ps, pigs, potatoes and poultry.
I guess the Cornish growers have to take advantage of the earlier season.

 

[AlanY]

Our green bins are for recycling! Don't think they'd appreciate a load of mushy tom plants!!

Green bins are for compostable stuff, red bins are for recycling and black for household waste. We have special little plastic bags for small appliances (which can only be put out with the black bins) and blue bags for textiles (no idea when they go out). Drives me effing crazy, but it must reduce landfill. What happened to the good old days when everything just went in one bin, it was collected every week and shipped off to Africa to be buried there? Just joking, Jacob

 

[clogs]

worried now.....
didn't get around to installing the agri water supply to the cucumbers so just spray water over the toms to get em wet.....so everything get wet....
going to look for blight now.....
no sign of ur little pest TN......
must try harder next year.....mmmm
so far, cant eat em fast enough....can't give em away as everyone has to many....
might look into chutney.....trouble is u cant get strong Chedder here....lol.....
I grow the cuc's up a heavy weld mesh grid....same as u place in wet concrete...saves a lot of space.....they still grow bent tho....but seem happy.....hahaha....

 

[stuart little]

Green bins are for compostable stuff, red bins are for recycling and black for household waste. We have special little plastic bags for small appliances (which can only be put out with the black bins) and blue bags for textiles (no idea when they go out). Drives me effing crazy, but it must reduce landfill. What happened to the good old days when everything just went in one bin, it was collected every week and shipped off to Africa to be buried there? Just joking, Jacob

Must be confusing to folks relocating! In Germany (at least) plastic, glass, metal, & rubbish have to go in separate bins. Always wondered where everyone found the space for all of them!

 

[Spectric]

All I can say is that too many tomatoes these days, often from spain are just tastless and it is hard to get a decent tom.

 

[stuart little]

All I can say is that too many tomatoes these days, often from spain are just tastless and it is hard to get a decent tom.

And the skins are tough - I buy mine from Aldi, UK produced, very tasty. I've got a good crop of my own but they don't look as if they'll be ready by Christmas! Oh well looks like I'd better save jars for chutney - yummy!

 

[Spectric]

I've got a good crop of my own but they don't look as if they'll be ready by Christmas! Oh well looks like I'd better save jars for chutney - yummy!

Global warming will solve that problem in the near future, you will be growing oranges and Bannana's before you know it and the plastic Spanish nurseries will have melted.