Kitchen Garden Forum

So far of course?

I pretty much given up trying to grow outdoor tomatoes, because of the number of crops I've lost to blight. However I was struck today by how many people down our allotment have good strong plants, covered in heavy crops of fruit.

As far as i could tell, none of them showed any sign of blight.
Have other people found this year better too, or have we just been very lucky so far in Bristol?

Evening Colin_M, we are blight free here so far.

Yep, tomatoes still ok here, too.

Interestingly,my tomatoes outdoors are doing better than the ones in my little greenhouse this year (Sungold).

I took no chances with the potatoes though - I lifted them all last week!

Both my potatoes and tomatoes are blight free and cropping well, no fungal / mildew problems either.

What a lucky lot you are

Blight as bad a usual here.

Just as an experiment I put four spare tomatoes outside in pots - all destroyed by blight. Tunnel tomatoes OK - various bits of blight and mould, but controlled by removing affected leaves and fruit. Potatoes planted early and all lifted by 23 July, when there were a few touches of foliage blight.

No blight here but like Coiln we've given up on outdoor tomatoes.

Potatoes are fine though - hoping it has a knock on effect to next year.

Hi Colin,
I have had blight on second early potatoes which were ready for lifting but at the first sign of blight all foliage removed and burnt. They have now been lifted and seem perfect. I have outdoor tomatoes (Harbinger) which are giving some wonderful tasty crops and seem totally unaffected. These plants were about 50ft away from the potatoes.
This is the first blight I have ever had on Potatoes. A couple of years ago when no potatoes were grow I got blight on the tomatoes and lost the lot.
A neighbour 1.5 miles away has lost all his tomatoes both outdoor and in his greenhouse, some 80 plants in all. He has never had blight before.
JB.

I have about 10 cherry and 7 "normal" tomatoes (can't remember the particular type) and there have been no problems at all. Haven't grown them for a couple of years and I think the especially cold winter we had may have helped kill off some of the pathogens???

weve had no tomatoe blight this year... uptil the last fortnight weve had no rain since may which may have something to do with it.... i havnt cut my lawn for about 2 months either

No blight on spuds or outdoor tomatoes(touch wood).I would suggest that along with the cold frosty winter,a rain free June and July helped.

For three years we have suffered with blight. The chap on the plot right next to us had blight on his potatoes but did not realise it, he thought that his potatoes were just dying back as they should. We have had blight on our spuds, in line with his, and in the polytunnel. Last weekend I ripped all the toms out of the pt (3 plants) they all had blight.

Next year I am going to have a year off. I am only going to plant things that dont need losts of care and attention. No tomatoes, no aubergine as ours this year just kept going foisty and droppng off.

For some reason my butternut squash and rotting on the plant. Does any one have this problem?

Sometimes I think stressed plants succomb to blight more easily, heritage varieties grown in good soil and mulched, seem stronger with lush leaves, better than those in pots and growbags, that dry out quickly.

Nature's Babe wrote:Sometimes I think stressed plants succomb to blight more easily, heritage varieties grown in good soil and mulched, seem stronger with lush leaves, better than those in pots and growbags, that dry out quickly.

This is at odds with the practice and experience of David Shaw, Director of Research at the Sárvári Trust (Sárpo potatoes). See the post in which he expresses the opposite view (in response to Soil Association's line).

viewtopic.php?p=80992#p80992

Hi Natures Babe,
I regret to say that your information is totally incorrect. Blight is more likely to hit a very healthy plant rather than a poorly growing stressed plant.
JB.

I've harvested every tomato from the allotment as we've now had three full Smith periods although no reported blight.

However, I have just found one tomato in the house batch that is blighted. I have another batch in the greenhouse and a third batch in my car! As I picked on different days I'm keeping them apart. Fingers crossed the rest are clean, but who knows