Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi All,

I fear I may be losing all of my outdoor toms...there are brown patches all over the stems, the leaves are drying up and dying and some of the fruits have also gone brown...

Is this blight?

If so, should I just bin them, get some plants from the garden centre (I won't have time to start any more form seed, I assume) and hope for a reasonable late crop?

Also, does this spread from plant to plant...for future reference?

Tomtom87, I am afraid it does sound rather like blight. Describes what happened to mine to a tee! You need to burn the affected foliage. If you have some plants which are not affected, wait a few days before introducing new ones to see if they get it too. Not sure if just keeping them separate is enough. Blight has been causing havoc this year - it came early because of all the wet weather. Not terribly sure about the spreading thing but mine all copped it in the end.

I had to give up my spuds and outdoor tomatoes but fortunately the toms in the greenhouse are okay, and luckily, I had stuck a couple of large sideshoots from the outdoor toms into a bucket of compost and they seem to be okay too so I am going to plant them up and put them outdoors shortly. Also going to plant some 'held back' seed spuds today if I have the energy. As you say they will be late, but at least there is a chance of a crop.

Good luck with your growing.

__________________
Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

So, will it simply spread throughout the plant? Removing the affected bits will not save the plant?

My greenhouse plants are OK too but the one pot I moved from outside to inside also has it so I hope it doesn't spread throught contact!

Does it come from the soil then? My greenhouse ones are in growbags and it is only the pots that are affected...

Why do I burn it?

Pigletwillie explains about blight in this thread

tomato blight?

Hope that helps.

I would suggest taking the infected one out of the greenhouse. I tried cutting leaves off my infected plants but gave up after a few days as I decided it was better to be rid of it and start afresh without worrying that there was any left around to re-infect. Burning is to be sure you are rid of any spores I think.

__________________
Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

Thx. I'll keep my fingers crossed for the indoor ones.

TomTom, blight is spread by rain drops, hence why those moved outside have suffered whilst those in the greenhouse have not.

It usually hits in late damp summers, but due to all the rain, its a potential problem for us all this year. Burn the infected ones, clean and disinfect all tools, pots etc. And leave your other in the greenhouse.

Next year, consider blight resistant varieties and plant them in a different place, or consider indoor varieties only.

If you're growing potatoes, watch them too as blight can spread from either to both (same family!).

As a general observation from these posts, if blight is spread by raindrops, are the spores in the rain? If so, would not watering the plants with rainwater spread the disease.

The spores can be spread on the wind - they're very small so you don't need much - or by rainsplash. So the spores aren't in the rain, they're in the ground but get splashed and blown about. They also need the right temperature and humidity conditions which this year has given us in spades!

Tomtom, I'd get the one that's affected out of the greenhouse right now or the ones in there will all get blight too. Outdoor toms are more likely to get blight as it is carried in the air & with everywhere being warm & damp this year the spores are thriving. Indoor toms are largely protected by the greenhouse. You can sometimes save a plant by picking off the first affected leaves you spot & spraying with either an organic or chemical spray, but usually it's best to just dispose of the whole plant especially if it's reached the stems as your have.
http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalo...roducts_id=517
This is a link to an organic catalogue product for blight but you have to be careful using it as it can affect beneficial insects,animals etc.

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Into every life a little rain must fall.

tomtom ,blight as others have said is disaster for toms/pots ,if you identify it very early you can treat it but it can spread in so many ways hence the good advce to clean everything and anything that comes into contact with blighted plants. i have just returned from a 3 day break to find all my spuds covered in blight,fortunately the tubers are ok but cutting and destroying the tops was an urgent job,all the best with your toms.