Duncan S wrote:
On Mon, 05 Sep 2005 10:43:46 +0100, Derek Turner somewhat@odds
wrote:

Duncan S wrote:


Actually I was thinking of getting a small greenhouse ...

Whatever you do, don't do that: get as big a greenhouse as you
have
room for and can afford! :-)

heh heh,

like to Derek but then where would the wife sunbathe !

In the greenhouse, natch. (I've mentioned before that one of my
favourite views from the train was of a greenhouse, empty but for a
man in an armchair reading the paper.)

--
Mike.

In article , Duncan S
writes
On 5 Sep 2005 08:37:13 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:

In article ,
Duncan S wrote:

I never use any pesticides on my fruit and veg ('organic' or
otherwise) so I guess I'll have to try the resistent variety next year

Bordeaux mixture is merely copper sulphate and lime (or is it sulphur?)
Whatever. It is essentially just natural and common chemicals.

Ho Hum, guess I'll have to go back to the rock hard tasteles muck they
sell in the supermarkets.

Thus ensuring that you maintain your pesticide intake ....

Fair point Nick and don't think I don't know it but as my crop is now
a smouldering pile of ash I don't have much chioce really, unless I
stop eating tomatos altogether which ranks with stopping drinking beer
in the 'undesirable life situation' catagory.

Try your local organic supplier? Expensive, but there's at least a
chance that they will be pesticide free and possibly better tasting.


--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

I agree with Nick-Bob has reacted far too strongly. I have grown solonacae
together in Cheshire and Devon. Blight used to arrive in Cheshire in the
first two weks in July-in Devon with large potato fields nearby it is even
earliemid to end of June with sensitive varieties of potato.
Modern farming practice with late potatoes is to burn off the tops with
sulphuric acid to prevent the blight spores penetrating down to the tubers.
Earlies (picked pre mid July it doesn't matter- you don't want to store the
potatoes.
Potato blight is endemic but even with sensitive potato varieties such as
King Edward can be prevented by a pre-emptive spray with Bordeaux mixture
before the first signs of damage appear .(Late June)
I have found tomatoes are more resistant, blight can devastate potatoes in a
few days, my experience is that tomatoes decline more slowly.
By all means clean up and burn-belt and braces- but plant tomatoes and
potatoes next year.
Regards
david T
"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"Nick Maclaren" wrote ...
after Bob Hobden Replied:

Blight!
Pull up and burn all affected plants/fruit, do not compost any part of
them,
and don't plant Toms or spuds in that spot for 5+ years. Infected fruit
will
rot.

Don't be ridiculous. Blight does not have resistant spores and does
not overwinter in the soil. The solution is to spray with Bordeaux
mixture next year and/or hope for different weather.


It will on any bit of plant material left behind, at least that's my
understanding, and how can you be certain to get it all.
I agree with the Bordeaux Mixture defensive spray though which I normally
do myself, and perhaps try "Ferline" next year too, it's Blight resistant
(and I've happily proved that to my own satisfaction by not using BM for
the last two years and none have got blight).
--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London

If you live in a potato growing area, however careful you are you cannot
avoid blight. The only way you can avoid 'chemicals' on potatoes is to stop
eating them or grow them well away from commercial sources.
If you're bothered about the copper in bordeaux mixture copper-stop using
copper and sterling silver currency and really clean up your own household
act.
The whole point of mixing copper sulphate with lime in the mixture is to
render the copper only slightly soluble so that it does not wash away.
P.S. (off topic) don't put tanalised fencing on your garden fire-copper is
bad there as it catalyses the formation of dioxin.
Regards
David T.
"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:


From Nick's comments it's obvious I'm a little old fashioned in my
knowledge
of this disease so it looks like you could grow in the same place next
year.
(I wouldn't recommend it if we were talking spuds with blight as I've
never
ever managed to find all the spud whilst digging them up.)

Yes, a bit of rotation is a good idea. But I really do mean that
90% of the problem with blight is the weather. I lost a lot of
potatoes to blight one year, had a lot of wildings and lost almost
none the next year. Yes, they were slightly more resistant varieties
(King Edward rather than Pink Fir Apple), and weren't precisely on
the same soil (i.e. 2x away).


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Hi Duncan,

I have been cutting all the affected growth from my plants and taking it down to the tip.

The rest of the crop remains on the plants still in my greenhouse. As soon as the toms are of a decent size I will remove them and ripen them off in the house.

I normally grow a variety of tomatoes, i.e. Roma, Super Roma, Appolo, Beefsteak, and a few others I can't remember the nams of. All but two of my greenhouse plants were affected, the ones outside were all O.K.

I recently asked for advice on sterisizing my greenhouse, in the autumn I will follow the advice given i.e. spray with Jeyes.

Regards

Drew

Last word from me. I have four pots of cherry tomatoes growing out of doors.
They've been reasonably fed and watered but it looks as if blight has at
last caught up with them.
I don't expect a large crop-they're more for decoration and the set trusses
will ripen up in the next week or so.
Regards
David T
"Duncan Lyall" wrote in message
...
Hi

I have been growing tomatos outside in the soil in my garden 20 miles
north of London in the UK for a number of years now.

I never grow them in the same place two years running although my
favorite bed, the one I used this year, hosts a crop every two years.

The bed faces West and is backed by a larch lap fence.

I fed at planting with pelleted chicken manure and then regularly with
Miracle Grow (last years batch).

This year, for the first time I grew potatos in the bed next door,
they have performed well and have shown no sign of blight (as far as I
can tell).

This year I have had an almost total crop failure.

Pictures here http://80.71.2.34:8815/tomatos/index.html show the
current state of the crop.

I will miss my home grown tomato soup this winter.

Can anyone tell me what has gone wrong ?

Many thanks

Duncan :-(