Tomato blight...

ginnyknit

I have now lost 30 tomato plants to blight in a couple of days - sadly I didnt know anything about it but I guess my learning curve just peaked! Have studied it online so I wil know next year!:o

jamanda

Sorry. It's awful isn't it. We lost our full crops last year and the year before. Last chance this year and so far OK.

GreenFly_2

I lost all my plants too, apparently there is a blight tolerant variety available called Ferline that I am going to try next year after a good clean out of the greenhouse.

It's sole destroying but also a challenge.

I do still have a couple of gardeners delight that have blight but are not too bad so I may try and keep the seed to see if I have a better chance next year by building in a tolerance to the blight I have. I'm not sure if this has any chance of success but if it works hopefully I will have cherry toms and main toms (Ferline) next season.

Better luck next year :mad:
GreenFly

mrbadexample

I'm not losing plants, but I am losing a lot of fruit through some sort of powdery mildew, I think. Greenhouse ventilation at maximum, but it's not enough. The plants outside are completely unaffected.

Zazen999

i have lost outdoor toms to blight for 2 years on the trot so don't have any outside now...well, that was the plan.

This year i had too many for the greenhouse so have had them in the courtyard and they have given me loads of red toms already. Got about 15 out there.....they've done better than the greenhouse ones so far.

It's the wind that whips blight around, so if they are sheltered then it tends to stay away....I've got my fingers crossed for a few more weeks, and then if I get it i'll pick all the toms off and let them ripen indoors.

Farway

I tried Ferline a year or so back, it succumbed to blight in the end

Just had a Blightwatch warning for my area, so off to spray once I have picked my ripe toms for dinner

KatsMeow1980

Just sprayed all our outdoor ones with bordeux mix given the weather we've been having. Escaped in previous year but it has been about in our area so taking no chances...

mrbadexample

What's Bordeaux mix?

Zazen999

Copper Sulphate and Hydrated Lime. Used as a spray to stave off blight. it stops the blight spores sticking to the plant...apparently.

GreenFly_2

mrbadexample wrote: »

What's Bordeaux mix?

Bordeaux mix is a fungicide made up from copper sulphate, hydrated lime and water.

You can buy it or make it by mixing equal quantities of copper sulphate (bluestone) and hydrated lime and water (every 1lb of mix you need 10 gallons of water).

You can also use Burgundy mixture which is made from washing soda instead of lime.

emiff6

It's a mixture of copper sulphate and hydrated lime. Invented in Bordeaux in the 19th century, it was sprayed on vines near the roads to stop people eating the fruit, (it tastes very bitter) but then it was noticed that sprayed vines didn't get the mildew that unsprayed vines got, and a fungicide was born! Copper sulphate is very poisonous, and takes a long time to break down in the soil, so if you keep using it , it will build up and and eventually poison all your earthworms. It's not good for bees either. It can leach out into watercourses too.