[Coach]

Received a blight warning yesterday!!!

Dug up my 1st earlies this morning and sprayed the rest and my tomatoes!!!

[DD.]

Given that the only reported outbreak is about 600 miles from you, I wouldn't have worried that much!

[Aunt Sally]

A little hasty there Coach.

The Blight Watch Alerts must be interpreted with a little thought.

If there is a full Smith's Period in your area and the nearest outbreak is say in the same county as you then some preventative action would be a very good idea.

Otherwise you are just wasting your money and throwing unnecessary fungicides about.

[Jamie Butterworth]

One of my friends who lives relativley near to me is adament that his tomatoes in his greenhouse have blight, it does look like it aswell

[Aunt Sally]

Tomatoes can suffer wit early blight - different to late blight on potatoes.


This is a good site for tomato diseases:

http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/diagnostickeys/TomWlt/TomWiltKey.html

[barbarella]

This is a good site for tomato diseases:

http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/diagnostickeys/TomWlt/TomWiltKey.html

Blimey - I wish I hadn't looked at that - now I think a couple of my toms have got Tomato Bunchy Top - what I do about that I wonder?

[JayG]

Blimey - I wish I hadn't looked at that - now I think a couple of my toms have got Tomato Bunchy Top - what I do about that I wonder?

Don't go and read a medical encyclopedia to take your mind off it!   

[Ian_P]

RG23 Near Miss Period yesterday 9 June 2010 

[mumofstig]

This is a good site for tomato diseases:

http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/diagnostickeys/TomWlt/TomWiltKey.html

Blimey - I wish I hadn't looked at that - now I think a couple of my toms have got Tomato Bunchy Top - what I do about that I wonder?

You've got curly leaves along with a lot of us....it's quite common at this time of year.....and nothing to worry about I think it is caused by temperature variation between night and day

[barbarella]

Blimey - I wish I hadn't looked at that - now I think a couple of my toms have got Tomato Bunchy Top - what I do about that I wonder?

Don't go and read a medical encyclopedia to take your mind off it!   

I had to laugh - were you also thinking of the opening chapter of Three Men and a Boat when the hero read a medical book and convinced himself he was suffering with every sickness except housemaids knee?  I know it's a bit off topic, but check it out on http://www.readbookonline.net/read/2463/11546/. 

I am also relieved to read that Stig's mum is also suffering from bunchy tomato tops

[JayG]

Blimey - I wish I hadn't looked at that - now I think a couple of my toms have got Tomato Bunchy Top - what I do about that I wonder?

Don't go and read a medical encyclopedia to take your mind off it!   

I had to laugh - were you also thinking of the opening chapter of Three Men and a Boat when the hero read a medical book and convinced himself he was suffering with every sickness except housemaids knee?  I know it's a bit off topic, but check it out on http://www.readbookonline.net/read/2463/11546/. 

I am also relieved to read that Stig's mum is also suffering from bunchy tomato tops

I think that's exactly what I was thinking of although funnily enough I don't actually remember ever reading the book! 

("Bunchy tomato tops" almost sounds like something Jerome K Jerome would have written about as well!  )

[mumofstig]

It actually sounds quite painful..........I'm just glad that it's the tomatoes that are suffering and not me 

[Coach]

A little hasty there Coach.

The Blight Watch Alerts must be interpreted with a little thought.

If there is a full Smith's Period in your area and the nearest outbreak is say in the same county as you then some preventative action would be a very good idea.

Otherwise you are just wasting your money and throwing unnecessary fungicides about.

It was a full Smith Period for the TQ12 area

[mumofstig]

A little hasty there Coach.

The Blight Watch Alerts must be interpreted with a little thought.

If there is a full Smith's Period in your area and the nearest outbreak is say in the same county as you then some preventative action would be a very good idea.

Otherwise you are just wasting your money and throwing unnecessary fungicides about.

It was a full Smith Period for the TQ12 area

Yes, but the only blight so far is in Scotland.............so you need to asses the risk of blight for your area

[DD.]

I think it worth repeating that a  Smith Period is a 48 hour period where temperature and humidity are suitable for the propagation of the blight pathogen.

It does NOT mean blight will occur. There is a greater chance of this happening with more frequent and regular occurances of Smith Periods.

With there only being one outbreak in the north of Scotland, it is not nesessary for those 100's of miles away to start panicing at the notification of a Smith Period.

These links were provided so you had all the info to make an informed decision - as Aunt Sally said - and not to cause mass panic.