Just chopped down some outdoor tomatoes as the blight had got to them. Sometimes I wonder why I bother!
Sorry to hear that, it's so disheartening. Nowadays we stick to small bush varieties outdoors: they crop earlier, have less foliage and a neater habit which allows for more air flow. Maskotka, Cherry Falls and Koralik have given a great yield already and look like they'll be finished cropping by the end of the month. Koralik also has some blight resistance. Next year we might try two blight resistant bushes, Lizzano F1 and Losetto F1.
Have you considered blight resistant varieties for outdoors? There are new varieties coming out every year. Here's some I've got on my blight resistant list - Celano, Buffalosun, Consuelo, Crimson Crush, Cocktail Crush, Crimson Blush, Nagina (aka Crimson Plum), Crokini, Romello, Mountain Magic, Mountain Rouge, Mountain Merit, Oh Happy Day, Early Resilience, Honey Moon, Burlesque, Galahad, Defiant. Most of them are F1 of course, and some haven't been released over here yet, but in my opinion the higher price of seed is worth it to not lose a whole crop in a couple of days.
Thanks for the advice TMTT, I've got crimson crush which looks fine. The outdoor ones are only those leftover from gh planting, the odds and sods that have spent too long in their little pots that get planted out into any spare spot, but it's still disheartening. I fear one gh my have it too!
Not had blight this early before, I expect that rainy spell didn't help. Perhaps better planning next year will help
As tmtt has said very disheartening to experience that, even if they are just to use to fill a space, sadly most if not all the varieties that have resistance to blight seem to be F1s though early cropping tomatoes apparently do well, the only variety that I have had success with outside has been mountain magic, bought at a trial price of 99p, sorry now that I didn't buy more (I don't know why they increased the price, as I was in favour of the price, why have a trial if you aren't going to listen to the verdict
) the price now is more than £4+for between 5 and 10 seeds, possibly if I lost my crop to blight I might agree with tmtt, but at the moment I think they are way over priced.
You've just got to shop around and ignore most of the big name seed shops unless they have a good sale on. Premier Seed Direct sell Losetto, Lizzano and two of the Crush line for 12-13p per seed and Pennard Plants many of the other plants on my list for 13p per seed (with a few at 20p). You can probably get at least 2kg of fruit from one bush tomato like Maskotka and some hybrids will give you even better yields. Organic cherry tomatoes sell at £10+ per kilo in the supermarkets so if one hybrid tomato plant gives you £20 worth of fruit for 13p, that's a pretty good deal!
(10-08-2021, 05:00 PM)JJB Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks for the advice TMTT, I've got crimson crush which looks fine. The outdoor ones are only those leftover from gh planting, the odds and sods that have spent too long in their little pots that get planted out into any spare spot, but it's still disheartening. I fear one gh my have it too!
Not had blight this early before, I expect that rainy spell didn't help. Perhaps better planning next year will help
Last year our outdoors toms got blight around this time. I'm surprised we haven't got it here yet this year with the recent wet spell, but it's also been pretty windy so maybe that's helped the leaves dry out quicker.
I haven't planted any toms outdoors this year, deliberately, because of the blight problem but, I've found 2 self seeded plants which look very healthy. No flowers yet but I'm watching the leaves for problems.
I've not really noticed any blight here - except on the tubers from a couple of vitabella potatoes. It was last week, I'd planted a few of each variety I grow away from my potato plot to save as seed potatoes for next year. Most of the vitabella tubers were affected and starting to rot and had to be thrown away. I had been thinking of growing more of those next year as they cook really well. No other potatoes have been affected including the vitabella I grew to eat.
I may have asked this before but do you put blighted material 9n the compost?
(11-08-2021, 10:42 AM)JJB Wrote: [ -> ]I may have asked this before but do you put blighted material 9n the compost?
Personally I don’t a lot of people say it’s ok to, but my composter is not a hot one so I’d be concerned about killing the blight.