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!

--

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

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

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.

"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

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

wrote:
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.

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.

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.

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 :-)

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?

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

On 20/08/2011 13:35, wrote:
wrote:
..

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?

Benomyl is linked to Birth defects, babies being born without any eyes
to women who have had exposure to it.

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

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