[parttimer]

Could anyone suggest a good reliable tomato variety for growing outdoors, I heard a rumor today that potato disease's can spread to tomatoes? I live way down here in the south if that helps with selection.

Thanks

[Trillium]

The potato disease in question is the dreaded blight, which will also spread to tomatoes as both are part of the same family, deadly nightshade.

To my knowledge, there's no true blight free tomato, but any of the smaller varieties of tomatoes would quickly ripen in the UK climate rather than large fruited ones which take a number of months.

[Growster...]

Blight's a devastating disease, but the good news is that you probably won't get it every year.

We try to grow toms in four locations - greenhouse, west, south and east of the house, (we even tried north, because there's a sun trap in the early morning - not that fantastic actually), so that there's a fighting chance that you can keep some going, before spraying.

The BBC says this: -

Carry out repeated, preventative spraying the moment the first batch of tomatoes starts to set. Use fungicide containing mancozeb or copper. They don't provide 100 per cent protection, but an attack will be slowed down and you should get ripe tomatoes.

The RHS say this : -

"Tomatoes are generally very susceptible, but the varieties ‘Ferline’, ‘Legend’ and ‘Fantasio’ are claimed to show some resistance, but will eventually succumb in wet, warm weather. It is probably best not to rely on host resistance for blight control in tomatoes".

I'd always grow toms whatever the potential problem, we had eighty plants (four types) going last year, and none were blighted, so go for it, and good luck!

[DD.]

There is no need to go to external sites as there is a comprehensive thread in the FAQ's section of this very forum on blight recognition & avoidance:

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=56717.0

[nickmcmechan]

|'m going to give Tomatillos a try, not sure how they will fare this far north, but growing them for a bit of fun anyway. Will bring them on in my wee plastic greenhouse for as long as poss before planting out (prob end May, early June)

[m1ckz]

i grew moneymaker last year,had a great crop,its an old variety an seems very reliable,goon for green house as well

[DD.]

Flavour is very lacking, though compared to a lot of others.

[fatcat1955]

Don't think i would spray my tomatoes with copper.

[JayG]

It's a bit of a lottery with outdoor tomatoes and blight but you can improve your chances by growing a fast-maturing variety and making sure you don't create a micro-climate favourable to blight, which basically means good air circulation round your plants and watering at soil level so as to not wet the leaves.

Red Alert is a very early bush-type tomato which has done well for me in the past few years; ripe tomatoes from early July and even when blight struck one of the plants in late August I managed to get all the green toms off and ripened successfully indoors.

[Hobnails]

Last year  outside, I found St. Pierre gave a heavy crop of medium to large round fruits of good flavour.

Principe Borghese also did well giving a heavy crop of small, plum like fruits suitable for drying.

Tigerelle and Harbinger gave flavoursome but modest crops while the beefsteaks- Marmande and Coeur de Boeuf were a bit of a waste of time outside.

For a yellow tomato, Ryders Midday Sun  (heritage) did well.

No signs of blight on any of them

[Nige2Plots]

I have always done better with Tomatoes in pots outdoors than in the ground. I have no explanation for this
Garden Pearl in pots for me!

[mumofstig]

Last year  outside, I found St. Pierre gave a heavy crop of medium to large round fruits of good flavour.

Principe Borghese also did well giving a heavy crop of small, plum like fruits suitable for drying.

Tigerelle and Harbinger gave flavoursome but modest crops while the beefsteaks- Marmande and Coeur de Boeuf were a bit of a waste of time outside.

For a yellow tomato, Ryders Midday Sun  (heritage) did well.

No signs of blight on any of them

do you get much blight in France?

[mower man]

I have always grown Alicante in the greenhouse,  but this year
I intend to try some out the allotment

[Hobnails]

Last year  outside, I found St. Pierre gave a heavy crop of medium to large round fruits of good flavour.

Principe Borghese also did well giving a heavy crop of small, plum like fruits suitable for drying.

Tigerelle and Harbinger gave flavoursome but modest crops while the beefsteaks- Marmande and Coeur de Boeuf were a bit of a waste of time outside.

For a yellow tomato, Ryders Midday Sun  (heritage) did well.

No signs of blight on any of them

do you get much blight in France?

I've not been here long enough yet to give you a definitive answer Mum- over the last 3 seasons there has been blight on the spuds and toms during sticky late summers.
Strangely enough only a very few of  my Cara potatoes were affected last season.


edited to clarify quote

[Growster...]

Ooops - sorry DD; I'm still finding my way round all this site!

Mind you, a good search for a particular query I had recetly, brought me straight here, so I'm indepted to you and the team!