Tomato Blight Already??? Grrrr

kiwimama

At the end of last season my tom's got blight and the whole lot were affected in a few days, luckily I was able to rescue loads of fruit and they ripened on the window sill nicely.

I've been out to the greenhouse today and it looks like the Beefeater toms I brought have all got blight GRRRRR the fruit have all got nasty black spots. I have cut out the worst affected plant and trashed it as the 6 cherry tom plants all look fine so far.

Should I trash the other plants that shared the growbag or maybe just move it out of the greenhouse and maybe spray it with something and hope for the best?? TBH I would rather save the cherry tom plants than these Beefeaters even tho they are the only ones I actually paid money for, what a fricken waste of time, money and effort :mad:

kiwimama

*gentle nudge*

realfood

I think that it is unlikely to be blight this early and especially in a greenhouse. Are the black spots only on the fruit, especially at the ends? Could be blossom end rot, caused by erratic watering.

kiwimama

Ooooh the black spots are only on the fruit and on the bottoms, where the flower falls off... erractic watering could be an issue, we were away for a week and the neighbour only made it once to water and after over watering my seedlings I'm not sure how much is too much watering.

I'll google some ideas on how to deal with it and see if the pictures line up with what my plants are doing, thank you!

westy85

kiwimama wrote: »

At the end of last season my tom's got blight and the whole lot were affected in a few days, luckily I was able to rescue loads of fruit and they ripened on the window sill nicely.

I've been out to the greenhouse today and it looks like the Beefeater toms I brought have all got blight GRRRRR the fruit have all got nasty black spots. I have cut out the worst affected plant and trashed it as the 6 cherry tom plants all look fine so far.

Should I trash the other plants that shared the growbag or maybe just move it out of the greenhouse and maybe spray it with something and hope for the best?? TBH I would rather save the cherry tom plants than these Beefeaters even tho they are the only ones I actually paid money for, what a fricken waste of time, money and effort :mad:

kiwimama this could be one of 2 problems - lack of water or pests.
If it's pests you should be able to see some and this can be solved by mixing water & washing up liquid in a spray bottle and spraying the leaves and stem of the plants (don't spray the soil/compost as it won't be great for it). However, from the sounds of it I'd guess (and it is a guess without seeing the plants) that it's a lack of water or nutrients in the soil.

Are you adding any kind of plant food to the water as in my experience a grow-bag can only really provide enough nutrients for 2-3 plants?

Karena_3

Help.
This is my first year growing tomatoes.
Some of my tomatoes are starting to ripen.The green ones look ok.However when they ripen the tomatoes have a black spot on the bottom the size of a small coin.
I do not know if this is due to eratic watering as in the post above or if it is blight.
We are going on holiday on Monday.I do not know whether to pick all of the tomatoes I have and freeze them green or whether to leave them and take the risk.
Also can I freeze them and then use them when we get back from holiday and if so how ?

Thanks,
Karen.

Lotus-eater

It's not blight, it's blossom end rot, caused by lack of calcium, either in the soil, or more usually by erratic watering, not allowing the plants to draw enough calcium up in the water.
You can leave them on and just cut out the bad bits, or take them off, up to you.

Karena_3

Thankyou.

That is good news.
Can I give them a supplement to help stop the other tomatoes going the same way or do I just need to be more dedicated to watering ?
Karen.

PollyFlinders_3

Blight normally affects the stems of the plant, as well as the fruit (which tends to take on a brownish tinge). It sounds like you both have blossom end rot, which is due to erratic watering. No hope for the affected fruit I'm afraid, but the rest of the crop might be OK. Make sure you water with the same amount of water every day, and use a decent tomato feed to fertilise the soil and give the rest of the fruit a fighting chance.

mcgrow

Karena wrote: »

Thankyou.

That is good news.
Can I give them a supplement to help stop the other tomatoes going the same way or do I just need to be more dedicated to watering ?
Karen.

It could be either, but it's more likely to be watering. When tomato plants are producing fruit, they normally need watering once or twice a day - although it depends on the size of the plant and its container. Certain varieties of tomatoes are also more prone to irregular watering problems, like blossom end rot and split skin. You can buy calcium feed from a garden centre if you really think the soil is poor.