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Blight!
Not on the allotment - all potatoes and tomatoes on my plot are still fine!
(although apparently everyone else's tomatoes have been blighted out already!) ... but in the greenhouse! :-( It's the plant nearest the door, touch wood it's not spreading as of yet. And it's a fruiting branch, too. Do I remove the whole plant now, whilst it's not spreading, or can I get away with just cutting away the affected branch? And how's best to dispose of? (presumably not in the compost or the food waste bin!) Dammit, only just getting my first tomatoes ripe, too! -- |
Blight!
wrote in message ... Not on the allotment - all potatoes and tomatoes on my plot are still fine! (although apparently everyone else's tomatoes have been blighted out already!) ... but in the greenhouse! :-( It's the plant nearest the door, touch wood it's not spreading as of yet. And it's a fruiting branch, too. Do I remove the whole plant now, whilst it's not spreading, or can I get away with just cutting away the affected branch? And how's best to dispose of? (presumably not in the compost or the food waste bin!) Dammit, only just getting my first tomatoes ripe, too! -- I use "Bordeaux mixture", it won't cure blight but it will prevent it if applied before the blight attacks. I've used it for two years now and seems to work. More about it here, http://www.capitalgardens.co.uk/bord...re-p-6427.html HTH Wally |
Blight!
Vicky wrote .
Not on the allotment - all potatoes and tomatoes on my plot are still fine! (although apparently everyone else's tomatoes have been blighted out already!) ... but in the greenhouse! :-( It's the plant nearest the door, touch wood it's not spreading as of yet. And it's a fruiting branch, too. Do I remove the whole plant now, whilst it's not spreading, or can I get away with just cutting away the affected branch? And how's best to dispose of? (presumably not in the compost or the food waste bin!) Dammit, only just getting my first tomatoes ripe, too! That's what always happens, it a miracle that the ones on your allotment haven't got it too. We gave up trying to grow any Toms that were not Blight Resistant some years ago so instead of varieties like Roma, cherry type etc we now only grow Ferline, Fantasio and Legend. And, we also spray with Bordeaux Mixture (copper sulphate and lime) to prevent Blight. Belt and braces I know but there is nothing worse than year after year watching Toms get nearly ripe and then losing them all, no crop whatsoever, a complete waste of all that time and effort. Regarding your present situation, you need to remove the infected plant totally and burn it or take it to your Council recycling plant and put it in the general waste NOT the green waste. Keep a good eye on the remaining plants and do not get water on them when you water to ensure the leaves stay dry, Blight needs damp leaves to infect. -- Regards Bob Hobden W.of London. UK |
Blight!
In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote: Regarding your present situation, you need to remove the infected plant totally and burn it or take it to your Council recycling plant and put it in the general waste NOT the green waste. Keep a good eye on the remaining plants and do not get water on them when you water to ensure the leaves stay dry, Blight needs damp leaves to infect. Er, no. That is almost wholly wrong. Firstly, as far as I know, all local authority recycling plants use high temperature composting, which will destroy much tougher organisms than blight, even if blight transmitted through dead material (which, in the UK, it does not). In fact, I believe that there are some regulations that require them to, because of pathogens that often occur in food and are harmless to humans. Secondly, blight does NOT need wet leaves to infect, but high humidity - not watering may have a secondary effect, but no more. Even if it did need wet leaves, almost all leaves that close to the ground are wet in the UK each morning, from the dew, and you can't stop that. Thirdly, removing blighted material is of marginal benefit, anyway, as it overwinters in a large number of common plants and weeds, and transfers by the wind. Yes, it's worth doing, but it won't make much difference; spraying with Bordeaux mixture at the right time will. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
Blight!
"Bob Hobden" wrote in message ... Regarding your present situation, you need to remove the infected plant totally and burn it or take it to your Council recycling plant and put it in the general waste NOT the green waste. Keep a good eye on the remaining plants and do not get water on them when you water to ensure the leaves stay dry, Blight needs damp leaves to infect. -- Regards Bob Hobden W.of London. UK Partly due to inexperience and indifference, I once grew tomatoes in my little greenhouse, and when they started to ripen I just couldn't be bothered to water them. I had a smashing crop and AFAIK no blight On another occasion, I had to leave my greenhouse for a few days, so inserted plastic pop bottles neck down full of water, one by each plant. The water slowly emptied into the soil ad watered the plants, but nothing on the leaves Ignorance is sometimes bliss :-) Bill |
Blight!
In article , wrote:
wrote: Thirdly, removing blighted material is of marginal benefit, anyway, as it overwinters in a large number of common plants and weeds, and transfers by the wind. Yes, it's worth doing, but it won't make much difference; spraying with Bordeaux mixture at the right time will. That's not a problem in this case, cos it's a growbag. Just have to remember not to throw it on the ground, and not to grow potatoes in that one over winter! Don't worry about it - as I said, in the UK, blight overwinters only in living plant material. Bordeaux mixture may not be 'organic', but is just copper, which is a required nutrient anyway. Unless you go absolutely bananas with it, there won't be enough accumulation to make any difference. More effective treatments that used to be used include benomyl, and that should be kept a long way from all women between 6 and 60. It's now banned for domestic use. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
Blight!
Bob Hobden wrote:
That's what always happens, it a miracle that the ones on your allotment haven't got it too. We gave up trying to grow any Toms that were not Blight Resistant some years ago so instead of varieties like Roma, cherry type etc we now only grow Ferline, Fantasio and Legend. Last year I tried Ferline, but this year I went to the packet and it was empty. I /think/ the allotment ones this year are Shirley, but I could be wrong. There were also some "I haven't potted these in the greenhouse yet, let's just plant them" varieties. And, we also spray with Bordeaux Mixture (copper sulphate and lime) to prevent Blight. Belt and Just asked Nick, and he says it's difficult to get hold of now, and it's very not organic. braces I know but there is nothing worse than year after year watching Toms get nearly ripe and then losing them all, no crop whatsoever, a complete waste of all that time and effort. Tbh, I don't /normally/ have a problem with it, but I also don't normally put tomatoes on the allotment. I just thought it was a good way of getting rid of the last tomato plants that didn't sell in the summer. Regarding your present situation, you need to remove the infected plant totally and burn it or take it to your Council recycling plant and put it in the general waste NOT the green waste. Keep a good eye on the remaining plants and do not get water on them when you water to ensure the leaves stay dry, Blight needs damp leaves to infect. A-ha! Nick says it's his fault, cos he's been using the sprayer hose and spraying the leaves. Lesson learnt! |
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In article , wrote:
And, we also spray with Bordeaux Mixture (copper sulphate and lime) to prevent Blight. Belt and Just asked Nick, and he says it's difficult to get hold of now, and it's very not organic. I forgot to post this. Try Tuckers - I can strongly recommend them. http://tuckers-seeds.com/ Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
Blight!
In article , wrote:
Don't worry about it - as I said, in the UK, blight overwinters only in living plant material. But if I throw it onto the ground, surely it will then overwinter in any leftover bits of plant, such as tomato seeds that may grow, or existing potato plants that tend to hang around in the flower beds. They will probably have been exposed, anyway. But I wasn't saying that it is a good idea to leave it on the ground - it isn't - but it isn't worth making a fuss over. My real point was that, if it has not got down to the tubers, removing all the plant material and waiting a while would mean that you could replant with one of the Solanaceae for the winter, with only a small chance of it carrying over via the growbag. If it has got down to them, you need to remove EVERY tuber, no matter how small, so it's not worth it - but that doesn't usually happen if it is caught early. The point is that you have no guarantees, anyway, so taking extreme efforts to avoid a relatively unlikely problem isn't justified. But I know that that attitude is rare among non-statisticians :-( In fact ... surely if it's a fungal disease, it will happily hang around in dead bits of leaf, etc, and will resurface from that? I'm not sure i follow why it wouldn't. Because the UK forms don't produce resistant spores. Fungi have more lifestyles than you would believe possible and, anyway, it's not a fungus :-) Bordeaux mixture may not be 'organic', but is just copper, which is a required nutrient anyway. Unless you go absolutely bananas with it, there won't be enough accumulation to make any difference. Is it available to buy? Nick was under the impression it was one of the limited or removed availability products. (My Nick, not you :-) Nah. You will rarely find it in 'garden centres' because the manufacturers of expensive and ecologically nasty toxins want you to buy their stuff instead. Try Tuckers. More effective treatments that used to be used include benomyl, and that should be kept a long way from all women between 6 and 60. Blimey, that's a bit ... kind of specific, but also non-specific, if that makes sense! What does it do? Some kind of hormonal imbalance mutatey thing? Nothing so harmless :-( It's teratogenic, and apparently can cause babies to be born without eyes. I am unlikely to be affected, being too old for child-bearing and, er, male. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
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Blight!
wrote in
: Not on the allotment - all potatoes and tomatoes on my plot are still fine! (although apparently everyone else's tomatoes have been blighted out already!) ... but in the greenhouse! :-( It's the plant nearest the door, touch wood it's not spreading as of yet. And it's a fruiting branch, too. Do I remove the whole plant now, whilst it's not spreading, or can I get away with just cutting away the affected branch? And how's best to dispose of? (presumably not in the compost or the food waste bin!) Dammit, only just getting my first tomatoes ripe, too! Are you sure it is blight? It might not be. You will most likely have more experience than me and know if it is or isn't blight. I have many problems this year with the tomatoes and most of it is neglect by me with other pressing issues. What I have done is take off the dodgy looking leaves/foliage and all sideshoots and give them a good dose of tomato plant food. Within 2 days they look like they ought to be in a show, foliage wise. I hope the fruiting follows suit. I know it's going to be a dodgy crop with the intermittent, or irregular care I have given them this year and many of them will split or get end rot. Baz |
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On Sat, 20 Aug 2011, Nick Maclaren wrote:
Thirdly, removing blighted material is of marginal benefit, anyway, as it overwinters in a large number of common plants and weeds, and transfers by the wind. Yes, it's worth doing, but it won't make much difference; spraying with Bordeaux mixture at the right time will. Humph! I've just suffered a total loss of my tomato crop as a result of two days very humid weather at the beginning of this week. At least, it took the humid weather to bring it out. First time I'd grown tomatoes for many years and someone gave me the plants otherwise I wouldn't have bothered. They came on beautifully and, a week ago they were looking fine. Then came the humid weather and within a day they were looking sick. Not being in the habit of growing tomatoes I didn't realise that a dose of Bordeaux mixture before the event would have helped, of which I have plenty (I buy a kilo at a time for regular treatment of my vines). I tried spraying as soon as the blight appeared but, as most of you would have told me, by then it was too late. At least with vines, if you spray *immediately* any sign of mildew is apparent, then you can just about get away with it. Not so with tomatoes/potatoes, it seems. Ironically I have had no sign whatsoever of vine mildew this year! David -- David Rance writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France |
Blight!
Vicky wrote .
Bob Hobden wrote: That's what always happens, it a miracle that the ones on your allotment haven't got it too. We gave up trying to grow any Toms that were not Blight Resistant some years ago so instead of varieties like Roma, cherry type etc we now only grow Ferline, Fantasio and Legend. Last year I tried Ferline, but this year I went to the packet and it was empty. I /think/ the allotment ones this year are Shirley, but I could be wrong. There were also some "I haven't potted these in the greenhouse yet, let's just plant them" varieties. And, we also spray with Bordeaux Mixture (copper sulphate and lime) to prevent Blight. Belt and Just asked Nick, and he says it's difficult to get hold of now, and it's very not organic. No, I've seen it in all the GCs I've visited lately, sold under the Vitax brand. It washes off the fruit. which is why I went and re-applied it yesterday. Organic? No idea but it used to be in an Organic Gardening catalogue I used to get. It's a powder, but whilst you can puff it on it's much better to use it in a sprayer, instructions on the plastic bottle (can be difficult to wet initially). If you can't find any it's probably because they have sold out. We buy it as a matter of course during the winter. -- Regards Bob Hobden W.of London. UK |
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