DOOMED I tell you, they are all DOOMED

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robo
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I would like a scientific reason why blight is running rampant at present when a few years ago it was never even considered a problem , I am wondering whether it's man made just to sell more seeds ,but I do realize a few years ago every thing in the garden and plots that had been pulled up was burnt it was a regular sight to see a fire in someone's garden as they raked all the weeds and grass cuttings towards it ,it usually had a couple of the old timber seeds trays on it to keep it burning these days we reuse everything and compost anything that is green we are not allowed fires on our allotment but are supposed to take all the weeds and trash home with us spreading diseases as we go
Westi
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Interesting twist thanks to robo - is it too many varieties which weaken the genetic structure or is it as Primrose says that the infected plants aren't taken away & burnt? I put all my infected potato foliage in black sacks to rot down & will hide the slush in the general waste. (Don't tell the council)! :)

But first thought was I would take it home to put in the garden waste, but then questioned will even their heated piles be hot enough to kill the spores? I wonder if others are just throwing it into the council waste and it isn't hot enough - that is then re-cycled into compost so the spores could be sitting in our compost just waiting for the right conditions. But then questioned this too as don't they have to be released into the air and rained down on the foliage?

I am confused by the whole blight cycle so have set myself a winter task to research more. How come copper spray slows it? How does any spray last long enough to stop it, the first wee bit of rain will wash it off then the plant should get hit from the following rain or are all the spores dropped in the first drizzle??

Questions! Questions!
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Pawty
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Hi,

You're not alone. I spent yesterday removing all of my plants at the allotment. I noticed it on one plant, a few days later all got it - in both parts of the allotment. It was brutal. It took hold so quickly. Luckily I have some supurbs and tigerilla in the back garden which are not affected.

So, moving forward, do I not try and grow them down the lotty again (i.e. Is the soil not full of it like onion rot), is there anything we can do to try and treat it or just go ahead and risk it?

Pawty
Westi
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Hi Pawty

I was prepared to see all my toms slushy & gone but they are away from the spuds & all OK! I've decided the back of the plot is the blight zone. Last year my toms were there & got destroyed, the year before my first earlies were near that patch & they went. Too many questions? Is it the hedge row behind the plot or the big tree (about 20+ foot) 2 plots down, that continues to drip?

I'm pretty sure they will succumb at some point with this weather but got some fruit at least.
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Primrose
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Pawty, I think you're obviously at higher risk growing tomatoes on an allotment because there are almost certainly bound to be other tomato growers too onnthere ,so a greater chance of spores spreading. Perhaps all you can do, but this means limiting your choice of varieties is to grow the tumbling varieties which in my experience generally crop earlier and for some strange reason (here at least) don,t seem to be so vulnerable to blight. Growing tumbling arieties there under low polythene tunnel cloches might give them an added degree of protection.

Possibly the other thing to do, if you get blight warnings and have developing fruit of any size is to remove a few trusses of fruit and stick the stalk ends in a big bowl of water at home. I had to try this recently when squirrels climbed down my tomato poles adjacent to the fence where they were growing and snapped some of the heavier trusses off. The tomatoes did all survive and ripen indoors. A wire sieve or rack will stop all the tomatoes drooping down into the water. This is only a solution on a small scale though

I suppose one could always get a really long wide sheet of clear polythene and completely drape it over all your cordon plants to,protect them. I don,t know whether that, or even thick horticultural fleece would protect them from the spores.
I,ve not seen any scientific evidence that the spores can remain potent in the earth over the winter months. Having said that, I did wash down my dismantled tomato poles with disinfectant before I stored them away but it was only only a supermarket Own Brand disinfectant which is all I had in the house so it probably might not have had any effect !

Sympathies to everybody who's been affected. Very dispiriting when you nurture your plants to cropping point and then have to destroy them all.
robo
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Pawty I had blight last year down the allotment I managed to save half my plants by spraying every few days with a mixture of things I had in the shed the main one was disinfectant I can't remember the rest over winter I soaked everything with jeyes fluid including the beds up to now this year I'm blight free
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