Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: barbarella on August 04, 2009, 11:56
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Help - last Friday we moved our 3 growbags of tomatoes into our new greenhouse and I was just removing the lower leaves on the plants when I splotted what looks like blight on one of the plants. I have found a website which says that outdoor plants already infected will get worse when you move them inside because of the humidity. I have photographed one of the leaves - can anyone definitely identify it as blight? If so, I will move the growbag back outside as soon as it stops raining (sigh!). All the other plants look healthy and this particular growbag was in a different part of the garden before so is there a reasonable chance they will be okay?
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I think that is blight.
I would immediately spray all the plants very thoroughly with dithane. There is a good chance that will save them, but you must do it straight away.
Gillie
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Thanks Gillie, I'm off to Homebase right now :)
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There will be too much dithane in a sachet for a few tomato plants. I use one quarter of a sachet at a time.
Gillie
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There are nine plants in growbags and several more in pots.
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Homebase no longer stock Dithane but I managed to get some in a local shop. It's not going to easy measuring out a quarter of a sachet, but as you say I won't need 2.25 litres of the spray. I could also spray the roses as some of them are showing signs of blackspot, but at the moment it is tipping with rain with no sign of a let-up. The packet says use immediately - does 'within 24 hours' count as immediate I wonder?
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I tip the contents of a sachet onto a sheet of paper, scrape the powder into a heap and then 'cut' the heap into quarters using an old knife. I push the contents into the four corners of the sheet of paper, then cut the sheet into four and fold up three of the little heaps into neat packets to use later.
I understand that drug dealers 'cut' drugs in a similar method. However I learned to do it packing wild flower seeds from a botanical expedition.
I use Dithane as soon as I have mixed it up.
Cheers,
Gillie
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Thanks so much Gillie - that is really helpful to me, and I am sure lots of others :)
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I have just been out to spray them and I have found a few more plants affected including the ones still outdoors, so I don't think moving them indoors has made any difference as they must have already been affected. Like Wellingtons' post (Blight in the Greenhouse) I will have another look at them tomorrow and remove most of the foliage and hope for the best. There is lots of good sized fruit but all green - I wonder if I cut some trusses now would they ripen indoors?
I lost my tomatoes to blight last year but thought it was just bad luck and the weather was great this year until July. I have grown tomatoes outdoors in the past with no problem until last year. Maybe it would be more sensible to spray in future years at the first sign of damp weather. Is that what most people do?
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I have about 50 tomato plants down the plot and nearly all seem really badly affected, not sure when I can get any Dithane as I'm working during the day. Gutted. >:(
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Dithane doesn't cure blight, it only stops it spreading so it won't be much good once it has got a hold. I removed a lot of the leaves from my plants today - not sure if that will kill them anyway but what can you do >:(
I noticed some people in other posts managed to get Dithane for about £4 for six sachets. I paid £8.25 in the local shop - crooks! Then I found it online from Wilkinsons at £3.99! Actually I just searched it on Amazon and found you can still get Bordeaux Mixture by Vitax from a company called Heritage Home and Garden for £3.75. I thought this was no longer available - does anyone know about this?
I have just registered on a website called www.blightwatch.co.uk where you can see if it is in your area (bit late for us ;)) . Apparently it is all about Smith periods when the temperature and humidity are above a certain level. It might be too late this year but next year I am going to keep an eye on weather conditions and spray as a precaution.
I don't think I will bother spraying my potatoes though as there are too many. I will just use blight resistant varieties and if they get affected, just cut off the haulms and leave it for a week or so before lifting the spuds.
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Bordeaux Mixture is being phased out and will become illegal within the EU within a few years. I suspect it is more harmful to the environment than Dithane and possibly less effective.
I have registered for Blightwatch too, but you have to remember that the microclimate within a greenhouse will be more 'Smithy' than in a potato field. I know 'the books' say that blight is rare in greenhouses, but I don't know where the evidence for that comes from.
I lost all my tomatoes to blight a few years back. Now I spray!
Gillie
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you have to remember that the microclimate within a greenhouse will be more 'Smithy' than in a potato field. I know 'the books' say that blight is rare in greenhouses, but I don't know where the evidence for that comes from.
Yes, I agree. You have a catch 22 situation with a greenhouse. If you keep doors closed the humudity will increase (and the temp will go sky high) but if you open them the spores will get in anyway!
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I'd save the money and not use Dithane.
Dithane is a preventative, once blight is on the plant the only real thing to do is get rid.
You may get away with removing infected foliage but Dithane wont stop it spreading on the plant.
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Are some varieties worse at getting blight than others?
A few days ago all my outdoor Roma toms went down, I removed them and the other vareties in the same row seemed OK. I sprayed these with bordeaux and other than the odd leaf, they seem (so far) to be resisting. A plot nearby has also lost all their plum toms, but others growing other varieties seem so far to have escaped.
Charlie
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Can I have a rant please? >:(
I have been biting my tongue all morning and I have to say something or I will explode - and I know you lot will sympathise! Please? Might not be entirely fair but !!!!*!@@*!
My next door neighbour on the allotments does things as his dad did when he was a boy - and since he is 65 plus - we are taking about the allotment practises of many decades ago. And they are an Irish family, therefore he assumes dad was the all-time potato expert. Got the picture?
Last year we all got blight in June - toms, pots, the lot. Okay, it was a lousy year and these things happen. Most cleared up, had bonfires with the haulms and tomato plants and tried not to spread the spores. Not him. He left the haulms on the surface of the plot until he dug them in for the winter. Surprise! Who goes down with blight this year? Yup. Who does he blame? The people who grow tomatoes on their allotments - they bring the blight in. Tomatoes shouldnt be allowed on allotments ... my dad never had this problem and they never allowed tomatoes ....
And whose crops are also suffering? Yup - his neighbours - particularly the one downwind of him. Me. Growing tomatoes and potatoes .... Spraying against the odds. And almost inevitably going to lose the lot.
PS what has he done with the haulms this year/ Exactly the same as last .... :(
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You have my sincere sympathy. I have recently been elected onto the committee of local allotment society and I think I will suggest to the chairman that members look out for signs of blight on their own and other plots and speak to people affected to make sure they know about the correct disposal of affected plants and plot hygiene generally. Obviously that wouldn't work with your guy, but lots of people might be unaware, particularly newbies.
I have been on a learning curve myself since I made the original post and am very grateful for the advice received. I am now registered on www.blightwatch.co.uk and they have a very useful .pdf file on their website which includes clear photos of affected plants and potatoes.