Tomatoe Blight

[Catherine]

Just been up to my plot tonight to water the polytunnel. On Friday I moved 6 of my outdoor tomatoes halfway up the plot and today three have gone black and slimy mould. So I have put them into black plastic bags and my OH has taken them off the plot. I am not doing tomatoes again as I am really fed up with them. I took bush tomatoe plants out of the polytunnel and put them outside for more room and now I cant put them back in case they have blight.

I cant decide whether to leave the doors open or keep them shut because last year I kept them shut and still got blight, so this year I have left them open.

Our allotment is swimming with water this week as the plot next to us, we are on a slope is not attended yet and the water from that plot comes across the path and pours across our plot.

Totally fed up today. And its raining again. I think I'll get some ducks.

[Compo]

I have blight on my outdoor toms too, will be burning the lot but I understand the virus is airborne not waterborne, so next year it is blight free varieties outdoors and possibly in the greenhouse too.

CoMpO

[Catherine]

Hi Compo
Are there such a thing?

[Compo]

Hi Catherine

Am sure someone will correct me but there are disease resistant varieties available such as ferline (not sure of spelling though) so am going to do more research and post findings here. Have just checked and edited this post the ones I can find are

Ferline
Fantasia
and Legend

A bbc gardener's question time links says there are no blight resistant varieties.....so there is a contradiction, sure others will have a view....

Compo

CoMpO

[Granny]

I've certainly found Ferline to be 'resistant' but not 'proof'. Last year I picked off tomatoes as soon as they got the first sign of blight, similarly with the leaves, and they struggled on until the middle of September, giving a reasonable crop - possibly 1/2 to 2/3. All my other outdoor varieties just gave in immediately with no hope of saving anything.

Just a thought, could the Gardener's question time have been talking about blight 'proof' tomatoes?
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Granny

[Johnboy]

Hi Granny,
With regards to Ferline Tomatoes I think the terminology they use is "shows considerable resistance to blight" and although this is very true I do not think that they are billed as fully resistant.
Ferline is the nearest the breeders have got so far and I am sure that in the next few years there will be a truly blight resistant variety.
Might be GM though!
JB.

[Catherine]

Well today I went up to the plot and paddled up to check my outdoor toms that did not have blight on Sunday. Today Tuesday they do have blight the nice big beefy tomatoes called Marmand have got the b****y thing. Not growing outdoor tomatoes next year cant be bothered with all the hassel. My courgettes in the polytunnel are doing really well again. I have closed the doors tonight because one of the branches on the aubergine has broken off with the breeze that has been blowing through the tunnel today.
I hope that the plants in the tunnel don't get blight.

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Catherine, i too hope the tomatoes in your greenhouse escape the blight, it never seems quite as bad if you don't lose everything.

[chicken4]

[quote="Catherine"]Well today I went up to the plot and paddled up to check my outdoor toms that did not have blight on Sunday. Today Tuesday they do have blight the nice big beefy tomatoes called Marmand have got the b****y thing. Not growing outdoor tomatoes next year cant be bothered with all the hassel. My courgettes in the polytunnel are doing really well again. [quote]

Blight is now on my site in Bristol. I've checked all my Tomatoes in the PT and so far so good. I also now keep the doors shut but keep the blinds up so there is some air coming in. I'm a tad fed up with people just leaving their blight crops where they are and not pulling the plants up. Last week a chap two plots away showed me they had blight but yesturday the plants were still there.

[WestHamRon]

Well I have just spent 8 hours pulling out tomatos and chopping off unaffected (at the moment??) green toms - I have 100s now! Blight is such a demoralising thing we were so pleased with how our toms were doing this year and bam within a week blighted.

[Chantal]

Hi WHR

I did just that last year and despite washing the green tomatoes in Milton as soon as I got them home, they all went nasty within days. Is it possible to make something with them before this happens? Is it safe?

Still no blight here, but I'm spraying again this evening.

[WestHamRon]

I hope I can save some of mine the plants only had a touch of blight

I made green tom chutney yesterday with 'clean' looking toms (tastes lovely) I assume that even if they had the slightest bit of blight it wouldn't be harmful as the mix is cooked for so long...

Please someone tell me I am right

[Chantal]

If they're blighted they taste very nasty so if your chutney tastes OK you're probably all right, I hope.

[Catherine]

Yesterday I pulled up 11 tomatoe plants and bagged them all had blight. I also took one out of the pt which seemed to be looking like it might have blight though the leaves were just very brownish dusty faded leaves on one side I have probably spread whatever it is through the pt as when I moved the plant a dust like "spores" blew off the plant. Nothing else I can do as the whole plot is now just a quagmire and very difficult to get round. OUr lovely neat grass has changed to mud We are on a slope and the water from the plot above and to the side comes down ours. I have planted some potatoes for christmas lets see if they are successful. The tomatoes I picked off the Marmand plant on Wednesday which did not look like they had blight have gone black and nasty so that is that.

[Granny]

I found that Marmande was the first of my varieties to get blight in the past and have stopped growing them. But I grow Ferline outdoors and always get a good heavy crop which, as I said earlier, is very blight resistant. I wouldn't give up yet.

As regards blighted ones, last year I did various things:
a) cut off the blighted bits and froze the rest to make tomato soup, sauces, ratatouille etc. Ratatouille works very well with frozen courgettes and frozen tomatoes.
b) cut blighted bits off and made tomato sauces, bolognese sauce etc and froze them.
c) cut off blighted bits from green ones and froze the pieces and then cooked with them.
It all worked with no ill effects to the tomatoes or us and I felt all had not been lost.
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Granny