Kitchen Garden Forum

Yesterday I posted the picture repeated here showing two patches of blight infection.




Today I returned to the plot to carry out any amputation surgery that I could that might slow the blight process down.

However a day is a long time in the world of blight, lots can happen.
It was too late for amputation, euthanasia was now the only answer.

All cordon plants had to be completely removed & destroyed.

This leaves us relying upon the Tumbling Tom which fortunately up to now have not been affected.
We also have some Tumbler as well as Tumbling Tom growing in the garden at home.

Given that all the tomatoes plants were a struggle to get to germinate in the first place this year it is galling that we have now lost them. At least we did get quite a bit of fruit off them.

Tumbling Tom on plot

Pa Snip, that must be so awful, to bring the plants to maturity and see them all destroyed by something you can't do anything about! My commiserations!

Awe Pa! What a shame - that was quick progress indeed!

I'm dreading going down to the plot on Sunday as expecting much of the same as have had 2 warnings. I lost all mine last year to early blight, except for the self sown & will be particularly gutted if this is a repeat performance year. But like you will still still have some thanks to the self sown who just shrug it off even though show some signs of attack!

Pa, I, m gutted for you. To get so close to harvest and lose your crop is devastating. We're not wo very far away from you. I checked mine again today. There is a little more blight on my Ferlines but it hasn,t moved as devastating fast as yours , perhaps because not many people seem to grow tomatoes round here.
I picked most of my Ferlines today. I'Ll probably pick the rest of the crop of other varieties from the unaffected plants tomorrow.
if I dig up the unaffected plants and stick the roots in buckets of water in my garage do you think this will protect them and keep them growing and the remainder of the tomatoes ripening? Or am I wasting my time?

Shame Pa, everything was doing so well, I hope the others give you a good crop by way of a bit of compensation. I lost most of my tatties to the blight, luckily my tommies look ok in the green house.

Like a lot of people on here I've been growing tomatoes for over 45 years up to last year I had never had blight up to five years ago I had never heard of it ,now it seems it's epidemic proportions it's everywhere ,what has changed to cause this ,there are now far more varieties of tomatoes than ever before could it be something that's been caused by cross pollinating different tomatoes to come up with a new variety

I have been wondering if tomato plants become more susceptible to blight if they have been stressed as seedlings. Lots of people were saying germination was slow & difficult this year. Yet we had done nothing different to previous years

My cordon tomatoes on the plot got wiped out very quickly once affected yet there is a volunteer potato which was growing up in the middle of them with stems & leaves almost intertwined, there is no sign of blight on that potato.
Odd isn't it.

robo
The apparent spread of this disease is possibly not helped by the fact people do not completely remove from the ground, and destroy off site, affected plants soon enough.

I need to get my enthusiasm back, meanwhile until it reappears, I'm off to do my steam locomotive pictures bit again this morning.
Snag is subject to where I decide to locate myself it could be all over in 30 seconds.

Now where have I heard that before (rhetorical)

What a shame.

Poor Pa, have bloke huggy.

That sucks Pa snip. Sorry the dreaded blight found your tommies

Pa, I,ve just joined you in the extermination brigade. I inspected my cordons again this morning. A few which were completely clear yesterday were showing small patches of blight in the stem. I,ve picked ALL the tomatoes now (about 30 - 40 lbs lbs I estimate) and have just completed the heartbreaking chore of pulling up all my plants and chopping them up into bin bags for disposal.

I'm hoping some of the tomatoes can be saved. I am mightily hacked off !! A large consoling glass of vino will doubtless be on the menu this evening!

Primrose

You have my utmost sympathy. Swift isn't it. I picked some that didn't look as if they had got hit yet, usually I find that those that are half ripe manage to survive, its the green ones that still fall foul of going black & rotten even if picked.

I'm not too upset about it, it just mirrors life after all.

Been out, got my steam loco footage in the Berkshire countryside so the plots not even on my mind.


Thanks to all others who have left messages.

Pa Snip wrote:robo
The apparent spread of this disease is possibly not helped by the fact people do not completely remove from the ground, and destroy off site, affected plants soon enough.

I:lol: (rhetorical)

This is probably not helped by the fact that some allotment sites do not permit bonfires so it's difficult to eliminate really contagious infectious materials. I think this rule ought to be modified, if only to allow for the destruction of infectious material like blight infected haulms , mares tails, etc. What are people supposed to do with it? A little more realism would be welcome and would help prevent the spread of infectious spores.

Yes Pa, you're right. It's not the end of the world. I was just thinking how bad the panic must have been, by comparison, during the terrible Irish Potato famine when whole families depended on their crops for survival. I've actually had a really good crop from my tumbling plants and some generous picking from the earlier cordon varieties. Its just that at this time of year I can indulge, without guilt, in some extravagant fresh and cooked tomato based dishes that I wouldn't be able to do at other times of the year when one has to rely on commercially purchased crops.


I,d love a scientific explanation of how quickly the disease spreads into the fruit. You're right that semi ripe one seem to have a better chance of surviving. I wonder if there,s something in their metabolism at that point which tends to ward off the disease. I wonder whether long term exposure to the sun has anything to do with it.

I think its probably going to be a bad year for blightwith constant changes of rain, sun and humidity. I wish the scientists would crack the mystery. For heavens sake, they can get to the moon. It shouldn't be that difficult. Perhaps not enough money is thrown at it.