[Growster...]

We have toms in various locations either here at home, or down at The Patch.

So far, we've lost eight tom plants from one single area of garden at home, but the others are still thriving.

Down on The Patch, I had to do a Doctor Kildare and just cut away every single sign of blight, and it took an hour on fourteen plants, so you can see, that the pretty nurses may well have been very upset by the time I'd finished (or maybe relieved)...

Hey-ho, it's a bad time for blight this year, but I reckon that swift action still stops the disease spreading. It's easier for me as a retired old person, than others who just cannot afford the time to get to the treasured plants in time.

Try lots of aspirin if you can - soluble for the toms, (not you), and also, if you dare, a dose of Bordeaux mixture won't go amiss...

You can still get a crop, but it takes a bit of a punch-up I'm afraid!

[Goneterseed]

Hmm, I wonder if this would work with potatoes as they are the same family?

Apparently it does.....................

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/trouble-in-the-vegetable-patch-break-out-the-aspirin-it-nips-pesky-blights-in-the-bud-9349916.html

[ARPoet]

I spray both tatties and toms with aspirin water every week and it does seem to work. I dont know why but have done it for a few years now.
2 soluble in a hand held sprayer works for me.

[Growster...]

Unbranded soluble aspirin are so cheap in supermarkets, it seems that those two you mention, ARP, are a definiute must for an evens chance of getting the crop safe.

Apparently, aspirin - a willow derivative - makes the pores on the plant tighten up (don't ask me how, I used to be a builder), and in doing so, resist the blight spores from getting to grips with the leaves and stems.

There's quite a lot of info around on the net. Another 'old' tale was to chop up a willow branch, and spread the pieces around the base of the tom plant. This apparently had the same effect.

[sunshineband]

It is a case of remembering to use these preventative measures right from the off!

Cutting out any diseased sections of tomatoes or potatoes does slow the course of any attack but I am always wary of spreading it from plant to plant on secateurs

[Aled]

That's worth knowing my potato's have been hammered by blight this year.
Cheers
Aled 

[snowdrops]

It is a case of remembering to use these preventative measures right from the off!

Cutting out any diseased sections of tomatoes or potatoes does slow the course of any attack but I am always wary of spreading it from plant to plant on secateurs

Well I'm still not sure if I've got blight on the greenhouse toms & competition potato in a bag,just outside the greenhouse. I would have thought if I had they'd all be dead by now. But I've taken off any foliage that looks suspect, cleaning my secateurs inbetween plants with a anti bacterial wipe. Might that help you Sunny?

[Growster...]

That's worth knowing my potato's have been hammered by blight this year.
Cheers
Aled

For spuds, Aled, it seems the best thing to do is cut and destroy the halms asap. You should be OK with the crop underground, but you may want to check.

With toms, I tend towards taking off everything with the slightest sign of blight (not so much the yellowing old leaves, and dying bits, which are normal), and of course, I take off the suspect fruit, and isolate them.

We've been here before, and as long as we get some good sunny weather, and some dry breeze, that all helps the battle too.

[Aled]

Thanks Growster, that's what I've done, should be Ok now, only one row left so we have not lost too much in the harvesting sense.
Cheers
Aled

[Growster...]

If you can Aled, check daily, or 'eveningly' after work...

I feel that the tom fruit seems to behave itself if the stems and leaves are free of tell-tale blotches, and although I've lost about a dozen reasonable toms, the rest are surviving, and hopefully deciding to turn soon!

For the record, I've also seen more blossom-end rot this year than ever, and that's happened with other chums too, so it's still a touchy year, but we'll all get there eventually!

[Growster...]

It is a case of remembering to use these preventative measures right from the off!

Cutting out any diseased sections of tomatoes or potatoes does slow the course of any attack but I am always wary of spreading it from plant to plant on secateurs

Well I'm still not sure if I've got blight on the greenhouse toms & competition potato in a bag,just outside the greenhouse. I would have thought if I had they'd all be dead by now. But I've taken off any foliage that looks suspect, cleaning my secateurs in between plants with a anti bacterial wipe. Might that help you Sunny?

Kay Scarpetta could learn a thing or two from you, Snows!

;0)

[snowdrops]

It is a case of remembering to use these preventative measures right from the off!

Cutting out any diseased sections of tomatoes or potatoes does slow the course of any attack but I am always wary of spreading it from plant to plant on secateurs

Well I'm still not sure if I've got blight on the greenhouse toms & competition potato in a bag,just outside the greenhouse. I would have thought if I had they'd all be dead by now. But I've taken off any foliage that looks suspect, cleaning my secateurs in between plants with a anti bacterial wipe. Might that help you Sunny?

Kay Scarpetta could learn a thing or two from you, Snows!

;0)

I had to look that one up, & thought it might be a good read. Then blow me down at my WI evening tonight what should be on the book stall but a Patricia Cornwall novel, a Kay Scarpetta no less

[Growster...]

Snows, as Cranbrook library has had the same books for ages, and Mrs Growster seems to have read them all, she's announced that she's going to re-read all the books on our shelves, and they include quite a few Patricia Cornwell Books!

The earlier ones are fantastic, she does get a bit dark later on though, but retains the ability to tell a great yarn in some considerable detail!

Kay Scarpetta would be great for doing cuttings such as geraniums etc, too... (to stay on topic...:0/

[Growster...]

Just as an update, I've been chopping every 'blight-look' piece from the Patch toms every day or so, and the blight hasn't made so such of an inroad on the others as I feared and expected.

Yeah, there have been one or two fruits which have had to be dispatched each day into the 'blight bag' (a plastic bag kept well away from all the other chaps), but there are several which are so close to ripening, I've cut them free, washed them under tap water at home and popped them all into an ice cream-box (Walls), and they seem to be ripening as I gaze at them!

They're mostly Marmande, and look incredibly ugly, but we'll see if they survive, which they have the chance to do if I'm Dr Kildare..;0)

On topic though, there are two plants next to the blighted chaps, and they are from seeds that I saved from Crimson Crush (the magic non-blighter), from last year.

The plants have grown erratically, forming silly huge leaves, but now have some splendid fruits attached, and they don't have a touch of the dreaded blight at all!

I just wonder if they've got what it takes to beat the disease (from their ancestors), but naturally, I won't count any chickens for now.

Anyway, I'll keep one or two for seed next year as they're quite nice-looking fruit, although there are only three trusses!

I'll keep you posted!

[jaydig]

Growster, I grew Crimson Crush from seed this year, just to check out its blight resistance.  I had a free plant last year from Dobies that did really well, but we didn't really have any blight to test it.
The plants grew very strongly and looked healthy, with lots of blossom and then ....... the dreaded blight struck on our site.  The Crimson Crush plants eventually started to show signs of blight, which I cut out and hoped for the best.  They stood up to it really well, and grew through it, and now look like perfectly healthy plants which are giving me a fantastic crop of tomatoes.  So far, from eight plants I have taken ten pounds of toms, and they are still loaded with more to come.
The ordinary, outdoor toms that I had just keeled over and died within a few days of the blight attacking, so Crimson Crush definitely worked for me.