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Oh no - blight!
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Message 1.Â
Posted by Grajean (U13953712) on Friday, 12th August 2011
After the heavy rain showers my outdoor tomatoes now have blight, such a shame as they were large healthy plants. Thank goodness for my GH plants which are laden with fruit. I should have put plastic covers over the outdoor ones like the local french do!
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Message 2
Posted by Italophile (U12516505) on Friday, 12th August 2011
If it's only something like Early Blight it's not going to do a lot of damage at this time of year. Ugly leaves, but it won't affect the fruit or stop production for quite a while. Cold weather will probably intervene first.
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Message 3
Posted by BaraGwenith (U14257539) on Friday, 12th August 2011
Bit late for Early Blight isn't it? This is probably Blight, and it will certainly damage the potatoes unless the haulm is cut off immediately before it goes down to the tubers.
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Message 4
Posted by BaraGwenith (U14257539) on Friday, 12th August 2011
Sorry, not thinking straight, I've moved on to potatoes! But I still think it is a bit late for Early Blight.
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Message 5
Posted by punpun (U14553477) on Friday, 12th August 2011
Hi Grajean,
Have your ears been burning ????
After all i had to say ref making a tunnel sort of top effect over the toms to stop this happening you've gone and let the rain do its worst,
It's the same for peaches, they dont like rain on the skins and all for a little effort by making a cover over the tops of the plants you can reduce the chance of the rain damage,
I first got on to this cover method from moving here to france, the french have been using this method for a long time now and its a common sight to see the tunnel effect with pull down sides being pulled down if it's forcast rain of an evening or later in the season when the september early morning mist appears.
So my friend, your winter project is to make a few portable tunnels for those next years toms,
Regards "keep smiling" punpun. -
Message 6
Posted by Italophile (U12516505) on Saturday, 13th August 2011
Early Blight typically lives up to its name but I've had it turn up later in the season. Hopefully it's not Late Blight, one of the nastiest and quickest-acting of the fungal family.
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Message 7
Posted by Grajean (U13953712) on Saturday, 13th August 2011
Hi Grajean,
Have your ears been burning ????
After all i had to say ref making a tunnel sort of top effect over the toms to stop this happening you've gone and let the rain do its worst,
It's the same for peaches, they dont like rain on the skins and all for a little effort by making a cover over the tops of the plants you can reduce the chance of the rain damage,
I first got on to this cover method from moving here to france, the french have been using this method for a long time now and its a common sight to see the tunnel effect with pull down sides being pulled down if it's forcast rain of an evening or later in the season when the september early morning mist appears.
So my friend, your winter project is to make a few portable tunnels for those next years toms,
Regards "keep smiling" punpun. punpun - I forgot! Oh well learn by our mistakes! The tunnel making will be a project for my OH! -
Message 8
Posted by koala_girl (U12702629) on Sunday, 14th August 2011
What part of the country are you in Grajean? Mine on the patio still look OK. I have been keeping a careful eye on them.
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Message 9
Posted by zoomer44 (U14019069) on Sunday, 14th August 2011
I think I may have blight too but my toms are in the GH and we haven't had a blight scare. I first noticed it this weekend on one of the plants and then on closer inspection about thee other plants have the same problem.
Do the leaves affected have a powdery/dust layer on them and when picked off it billows off in a little cloud, can't think of any other way to discribe it. -
Message 10
Posted by Italophile (U12516505) on Monday, 15th August 2011
Sounds more like powdery mildew, zoomer. It can strike tomatoes if it's around.
Is this what you're describing?
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Message 11
Posted by Global_Worming (U14532104) on Monday, 15th August 2011
Ital for the last three years my indoor and outdoor container toms leaves curl and look manky. They produce a lot of fruit, I picked the first outdoor marmande's last week so I am not really bothered but would like to know what causes this?
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Message 12
Posted by Italophile (U12516505) on Monday, 15th August 2011
Looks like leaf roll or leaf curl, GW. In its benign form it's thought to be temperature/watering related, but it's harmless apart from the aesthetics. There's a version - well, the symptoms are similar - that can be virus related. Your plants, though, look otherwise pretty healthy and loaded with lovely fruit, so I'd reckon it's the benign form. I wouldn't worry about it. A friend of ours down in Umbria for whom I set up an orto was showing me the same thing last week.
Some of the plants, though, do look a bit crowded. Not much room for air circulation with the foliage jammed together. Do you get any fungal problems? -
Message 13
Posted by zoomer44 (U14019069) on Monday, 15th August 2011
Italophile:
It's definately not powdery mildew, I had that on a courgette plant outdoors, this is something which looks totally different, the leaves affected have gone mainly brown and hang down limply were they are brown and it's a brown cloud of dust, very dry to touch. -
Message 14
Posted by Italophile (U12516505) on Tuesday, 16th August 2011
Well, it could be good old Leaf Mould, one of the less famous (or infamous) fungal problems because you hardly ever see it on outdoor plants. It loves GH plants, though, because of the mainly still air and often humidity.
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Message 15
Posted by Global_Worming (U14532104) on Tuesday, 16th August 2011
Ital thanks for the response, they are a bit crowded because I planted 2 Roma by mistake and the peppers have gone mad, the romero type are cropping so heavily that the two branches in the pic just dropped off.
My brother has a theory, when we first moved in we only grew things in the greenhouse and set up the water butts the next year, those toma had no leaf curl. The tap water is very hard, since then we have watered with rain water from the butts? -
Message 16
Posted by Italophile (U12516505) on Tuesday, 16th August 2011
I'd be surprised if it's down to which water you used. Given clean rain water. Toms should prefer rain water to hard water, which is alkaline, and can tip the soil's pH in the wrong direction. The problem with these sorts of physiological tomato problems is that science takes a back seat to the anecdotal. There just isn't the real research, though it's getting better. Anecdotally, overwatering/poor drainage can cause that sort of curl, as can high temps in combination with underwatering. See the problem?
If the curl bothers you, monitor the conditions - watering, drainage, temp - when it appears. The important thing is that the plants are producing well. -
Message 17
Posted by Global_Worming (U14532104) on Tuesday, 16th August 2011
Thanks again Ital.My toms need a shrink not a drink.
Ps I planted 4 spares in the main veg plot 3 are fine one is manky. I think I will stick to the concept of ignorance is bliss otherwise I may need a drink and shrink. -
Message 18
Posted by Italophile (U12516505) on Tuesday, 16th August 2011
Ignorance is very often bliss. Ultimately, if a tomato plant produces good fruit, that's all that matters.
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Message 19
Posted by zoomer44 (U14019069) on Tuesday, 16th August 2011
Thanks for the reply Italophile.
Just googled 'leaf mould'; it could be that.
It's not straight forward growing toms is it. Is there a variety called 'pretty much resistant to anything'
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Message 20
Posted by Logissimo (U14020652) on Wednesday, 17th August 2011
Hi all,
From the photos I would say that this curling is not all that uncommon, I would put it down to day/night temperature variation, otherwise the leaves look green and healthy to me.
Enjoy the tomatoes, I'm sure they will be fine. L -
Message 21
Posted by martingodliman (U13761957) on Wednesday, 17th August 2011
I've been stripping off some leaves of my Marmande tomatoes they were curled like others have described but also some were very brown and crisp. So far no others are effected and the tomatoes look OK.
I thought blight was blackish and started on the stems ? -
Message 22
Posted by Global_Worming (U14532104) on Wednesday, 17th August 2011
Thats the rub, I am not allowed to eat them as they are high in oxalate.
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Message 23
Posted by Italophile (U12516505) on Wednesday, 17th August 2011
martin, "blight" has become a generic term for tomato fungal problems. The most common fungal diseases - Early Blight, Septoria Leaf Spot, etc - start with the leaves. There are usually dark spots or patches on the leaves, often surounded by lighter halos. The leaves eventually succumb, go brown and die off. Stem lesions tend to come later on with Early Blight. Septoria doesn't tend to affect stems.
There's also Late Blight, one of the most destructive fungal diseases, but it's not often found in domestic gardens. It starts out similarly to Early Blight, with the addition of mould. It can destroy an entire plant inside a week. I've only ever seen it once in a domestic garden. Horrible it was, too.
Leaves can curl without having fungal problems. As with Global Warming's plants, it's usually harmless if unsightly. If the leaves were yellowish, curled and distorted, with distorted stems, it would more likely be Tomato Leaf Curl Virus, which is spread by insects. -
Message 24
Posted by Italophile (U12516505) on Wednesday, 17th August 2011
G_W! What? That's tragic ...
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Message 25
Posted by martingodliman (U13761957) on Wednesday, 17th August 2011
Thanks Italophile,
I wasn't convinced it was blight......as the fruit is OK and my Rosada and 100s & 1000s are unaffected..... so far !!
I did have blight once a few years ago and it was devastatingly quick affected every plant and they all went mushy and black. -
Message 26
Posted by Italophile (U12516505) on Wednesday, 17th August 2011
Erk. Sounds like the dreaded Late Blight. Hideous.
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Message 27
Posted by Calendula (U2331338) on Monday, 22nd August 2011
I was inducted into the blight hall of fame for the first time ever this weekend. A row of 6 lovely Marmande plants, all heavy with fruit, now all rotting in the green waste bin
Oh well, it had to happen sometime I suppose. At least the greenhouse plants aren't affected and fruiting their socks off. -
Message 28
Posted by martingodliman (U13761957) on Saturday, 3rd September 2011
Just completely filled one of those council bags with my blighted tomato plants it was so heavy with unripe green (black) tomatoes I could hardly lift it.
Some were Marmande, funnily enough the last time I grew them it was the only other time I got blight,.....note to self, bu**er Marmande in the future
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Message 29
Posted by martingodliman (U13761957) on Saturday, 3rd September 2011
I hoed and weeded the plot racked it and sowed it with green manure, I dunno where I get the enthusiasm in the face of such setbacks
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Message 30
Posted by sanjyogi (U14887047) on Monday, 5th September 2011
My heavily laden tomato plants turned brown and floppy almost overnight!!!!!
And the fruit started turning brown too...picked up about 25 kilos of tomatoes...all big and green...made lots of tomato chutney yesterday....but very disappointed;-( was looking forward to the sight of bright red tomatoes against the green leafy background.
Was it blight? I ended up uprooting all the plants...next year, if I feel cheery enough that is, not sure if I am going to let them grow so wild as they did this year. Hope it will not put me off from growing my own veg again next year...you expect better results in your first year to stay motivated, don't you? -
Message 31
Posted by martingodliman (U13761957) on Monday, 5th September 2011
It is devastatingly quick sanjyogi I've threatened not to bother again but I always do in the end next year i will make sure i grow the earliest cropping variates and some of "so called" blight resistant and less tomatoes.
I do tend to over invest in tomatoes a third of my plot area, more than I can eat easily and end up giving loads away.
All I've got left of this years effort that's still OK is cavolo nero, spinach/chard and chillies.
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