Tomato Blight
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Fruit | 150 comments
We have blight. When we were rushing out yesterday evening I spotted it on three tomato plants. Large blackish brownish splodges and a generally wilty look. It is unmistakeable. We had it five years ago and it devastated our tomato crop within days.
At the time we were creating a website for an expert on plant diseases. The fee was to be paid in whisky. Danny must have negotiated this deal.
The expert arrived with a rather good bottle of Isla whisky under his arm. He was immediately shepherded out to examine the tomatoes.
“Its blight. Just like potato blight. They’re the same family.”
It was hard to discuss his website. We were mourning the loss of a summer plucking sun warmed fruit from the plant and a long winter savouring our intense tomato sauce base. A good harvest makes enough sauce to last us through the winter until June.
We lost our entire crop that year. Now I grow tomatoes in at least two places. The blight has affected the plants at the front on a sunny south west facing wall. Usually the warmth of the wall nurtures the plants but warm and extended wet weather conditions are perfect for the development of tomato blight. I have hoiked out the plants and am hoping the blight spores will not have spread onto the other 12 plants. The blight affected the weakest plants, the others all look strong and healthy. If the wet weather continues for much longer I am afraid that they all will succumb.
The remaining plants could be treated with Bordeaux Mixture which was developed in France to treat fungal disease in vines. A lot of people spray their potatoes with this potion to protect against blight. It is a copper and lime mixture that is not environmentally friendly, so I am loathe to use it on our tomato plants.
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Blight in the greenhouse tommymatoes..what despair after the most massive boasting to all and sundry about my wonderful crop.. but what should I do about disinfecting my greenhouse after removing plants and gro-bags?..please help if you can..also what about the tommys.. those that seem crummy have been disposed of..are the rest ok to use ?
From a very smallholder
My tomatoes have been hit by blight almost overnight. My wife said it must have been there for sometime but I am sure it wasn’t there on Saturday night and by Sunday middday the plants looked very sick, with the side fonds going brown/black and dropping off the main stems which are also brown/black. Last week was wet [Friday exceptionally so] but then it’s been wet most of May, June and July. Does blight usually take hold so quickly. Also as it’s been wet for two months, why wasn’t the blight manifested earlier?
I now remember that many of the potatoe plants nearby wilted a few weeks ago and then a week and a half ago the broad bean fonds close by turned brown/black and started dropping off the main stems, again almost overnight. The broad bean plants looked so brown/black that my wife thought it was rust. Certainly my hands were very stained as a result of cutting off the affected side fonds – I left the plants so as to be able to harvest the remainder of the broad beans that had already grown. Could the blight on the potatoes and broad beans be all part of the same problem?
Incidentally I haven’t taken up the potatoe plants, waiting to harvest the potatoes as I need them. Should I have at least cut off the blighted potatoe plants, whilst leaving the potoes themselves in the ground until I need them?
Hello Fiona- I grew several, mainly cherry, tomato varieties from seed this year, the shrubby patio plants outside are now blighted and gone, the cordons in the greenhouse seem ok so far…got carried away with the squashes this year after success last summer, 6 varieties, 20 plants in all and only three courgettes and three small marrows to show so for it- by this stage I should be knee deep in curcurbits, begging my neighbours to take them away and chutneying like a mad woman! I also got carried away with aubergines and tried 4 varieties this summer- not a single fruit to be seen and the peppers are pathetic too, haven’t dared let any of them out of the greenhouse,only 8 degrees here last night.I’m lifting my potatoes ( in old compost bags) early as they were very close to the tomatoes and I’d rather have them fewer, smaller and edible than a bag full of rot.But the french beans are fantastic! My mother, lives nearby, had a couple of commercially grown patio tomato plants and she’s throwing them out today as they have gone brown overnight, the air must be full of spores.
Hi Kate,
Poor you. It is so disheartening. All the tomato plants that I raised from seed are dead or peaky. We got blight so early in the season that we were able to replace early deaths with commercially grown plants. These are sturdy but they are not our own. Since then more have keeled over, they are all our plants grown from a large variety of seed. Perhaps the spores are in the greenhouse and/or propogator.
I think that loads of people have tomato blight this year, judging by the search terms that have led people to our site. “Tomato blight” is the most popular search term since July 1 2007.
Same as you, our courgettes and squash have a very poor set and are a bit mildewy. We are down to just 2 cucumber plants in the greenhouse, we always plant seven. These are clinging on but don’t look great.
Thanks for making a comment, much appreciated.
so relieved to hear it isn’t just me with tomato blight- all my outdoor plants have succumbed since the last downpour day on Friday, just one deluge too many.So dispiriting after all the months growing waiting for them to start to ripen.Marrows/courgettes and squashes all covered in mildew and very poor set of fruits due to vile weather keeping the bees at home. Just hopeless this year.
Hi Catrin,
I’ve spent the last hour surgically excising as much of the damaged tissue from the least affected plants as I could. I now have 5 plants left out of 24. I’m planning on wandering around a garden centre later to see what’s available. I realise there’s no cure, but my aim now is to forestall and delay long enough to harvest something!
The problem, as I’ve come to see it, with organic remedies is that organic doesn’t remedy. It seems more preventative. Chemicals can sometimes remedy. I suppose one can see correlates in human medicine in that regard.
I’ve decided, based on weather speculation that we might have a very balmy September, to carry out an experiment. I’m going to treat my 5 survivors to see how long I can keep them viable, and in the meantime I’m going to seed a few more plants and mature them in-doors and test how far along I can get into this promised mild September. I remember about 4 or 5 years ago we had an incredibly mild September and my crop that year was still yielding new growth right up until the start of October! I had a window sill full of half-grown, half-ripened tomatoes in mid-October.
This years lesson? All outdoor plants will have a removable canopy built over them and all greenhouse plants will be routinely treated against blight!
Hi Mike,
What a shame about your tomatoes. I think that the splashing effect from the spray probably contributed to the distribution of spores. Although a lot of the recent rain that we have had has been torrential and would cause the same splash effect.
Also our last mild winter would not have killed off the spores.
I do hope that some of your plants survive. I replaced a few of mine with commercially grown plants and these are doing fine. This makes me wonder if they have been treated with chemicals against blight. We try to be organic at the cottage.
Hi Catrin,
It is so disappointing when this happens. All that hard work gone to waste.
I don’t think that there is a solution but there may be someone out there who knows. What I am concentrating on now is giving my plants the best possible chance next summer. I am trying to find an organic way of treating the earth that is harbouring the spores (no success so far).
I would give the side shoots a chance. We might have a glorious September.
Just been checking your site to see if I could salvage the last few remaining tomato plants in the greenhouse! Came back from a hot dry Provence to find my outdoor tomatoes (21 plants in all scattered around the vegetable garden) devastated by blight. Spent the first day lifting them all into black bin bags practically in tears – veg gardening is a big thing in my life – and today I find it starting in the greenhouse. I might just cry after all.
I learnt from experience not to have too much in the greenghouse but I guess it is the weather conditions to blame? Has anyone got any organic remedies – loathe to try the Bordeaux mixture and anyway it is too late I gather. Is there nothing I can do?
I have a few pinched off sideshoot sprouting nicely in pots in a sheltered spot outside – is there any point planting these out or is it really too late for a crop later in the year?
Any tips/advice gratefully received. Thanks
Hi folks. I came across this blog entry whilst searching for more information on blight. Yes, I have it too! I also have two separate locations for growing the crop, but unfortunately both have succumbed and I think I may lose the whole lot! Both are grown in pots against a wall; a method which has not failed me in nearly ten years. Suffice to say that I’m becoming very morose at the thought of not harvesting a single tomato after so many years of relative success (even when there’s been disaster, I’ve usually been able to salvage most of the fruit).
I’m unwilling to accept defeat yet and will keep trying. One thing I have noted is that as well as the rain, I may have contributed to the splashing effect that distributes the spores by using a spray attachment on the hose! Even though it was aimed low and on low pressure, it must have contributed to the spread. I don’t normally water them that way, and I won’t be from now on.
Here’s hoping.
Cheers
Thanks very much, Lynn. I will try this.