Tomato Growing Thread 2021

Were the affected plants under roof vents, beside open doors, etc. where they could be wetted by rain, or in random locations?

I've often wondered if an under membrane watering system and mechanical ventilation would radically reduce blight in greenhouses and polytunnels.

 

It sounds from all your threads that this is a real humdinger and not easily preventable, particularly if it's in the soil.

 

Garden tomatoes growing outdoors - no blight.

Garden polytunnel tomatoes - no blight (nor on spuds growing in there)

Plot polytunnel tomatoes - no blight (nor on spuds growing in there)

Plot outdoor tomatoes - no blight, sprayed twice with Bordeaux mixture, first application before blight arrived (all spuds either harvested or tops removed before blight hit, apart from Setanta (blight resistant) which had tops removed a few days ago before any signs of blight.


Still plenty of time to get it! I've already got all the seeds saved I need to, plus grown some 'seed spuds' of unavailable varieties and got those safe.


P.S. Don't grow greenhouse tomatoes as it's full of staging and growlight boxes, plus it tips with rain through the roof windows, it's drier in a polytunnel.

 

I just think if the leaves and stems remain wet for days on end blight is pretty much inevitable.

I think rain with wind is not as bad as still air where everything just hangs with moisture.

The rain in this part of the country has come in the form of heavy showers with no drying out in between them.

For greenhouses maybe follow the alpine growers approach of using fans to move the air around during wet periods.

 

I have six vine tomatoes and six tumbling tomatoes all growing outside with no blight and checked every day. I've kept the bottom leaves of the vines pruned but haven't touched the tumbling ones.

 

North West England by the seaside.

 

Wonder if salty air plays a part in killing off blight spores.
Or maybe its just been drier up there.

 

Oh, it has rained non stop here!

I don't grow potatoes and I always wonder if that plays a part. Every gardening YouTuber I watch has blight on their tomatoes which are usually growing right next to their potatoes with blight.

 

Next door have about 10 cordon toms, several bush toms and about a dozen Tumblers and no blight (yet).

 

I find it works the other way around.
Often get blight on toms but up till this year I've not had them on spuds.

 

Polytunnel toms are now up to the apex. They were only planted mid June as I didn't get the cover on until early June. Lots of cherry tom trusses of 30 to 40 fruits, toms on third trusses now starting to ripen. If 5 trusses 30 tomatoes ripen on my 40 cherry tomato plants, that's a lot of tomatoes!



This is my best contender for heaviest tomato class. Looking back at this time last year etc. pics reminded me it's time to bag them up to deny access to tomato moth caterpillars which eat into them and disqualify them from competition entry. The bags also shade from sunlight so they will take longer to ripen and grow bigger.

Have you got any links to that as it really interests me.

My potatoes have rarely had blight, and tomatoes have always had it much later in the season. This year it's alread wiped out nearly everybody's spuds and is now going through their tomatoes.

Late Blight is early this year.