Tomato Growing Thread 2022

Yes, plenty of time to recover; I usually grow as double cordons anyway.

 

Is a tomato specialist someone who sows seeds VERY early, and lots of varieties?

 

Hi everybody
I have a question..
Do early blight spores survive over winter?
I am asking because while we were away last August, the blight obliterated each and every tomato plant in our back garden. I guess the wind spread the spores so all plants in a 30 meters radius or so were affected very badly.

Because it did not seem to affect anything else, and I felt a bit discouraged, I just left them all there, but now it is time for me to clear it all up and get things ready for planting more in the summer.
I am wondering if I should remove the top soil and any soil affected by the roots, and if I should be wary of reusing the same canes from last year.
Sorry, probably it is a bit of dumb question, but it never happened to me before.
Fortunatley I had half a dozen plants on the front so not everything was lost (I had considered not planting any in the front, for once I am glad about my compulsive cramming habit).
Thanks for any advice!

By the way, this what it looked like. All the othe plants were just the same.
Am I correct assuming it was early blight?

 

Just my own thoughts but I dont think you can actually eradicate the spores, there will always be some somewhere.
So I would definitely get rid of any nasty looking material lying around and if you want to disinfect the area with jayes fluid it wont hurt, but I think whatever you do, if conditions are right the blight will be back.

 

Though blight cannot be eliminated if you keep the leaves as dry as you possibly can that will go a long way to avoiding blight attacks in the future.

I've been gardening on a balcony for over 20 years & in all that time I've only had blight once - that was probably my fault as at the time I had an allotment & ALL my plants looked exactly the same as yours! :( I cleared them all away but I probably went out on to the balcony wearing the same clothes I had been wearing on the allotment. Unknowingly I must have spread the spores to the tomatoes on the balcony).

I remember reading somewhere that blight spores need a wet surface on which to germinate (or whatever the process of growing is called) so as my plants are always sheltered from any rain they never get wet & therefore blight cannot get a hold on them.

Hope this will be of some help to you.
.

 

Try 'Gardeners Delight' They taste like tomatoes used to taste like - seems centuries ago!

 

Transplanted 42 tomato seedlings today and sowed some aurora, crimson crush and banan krasnyi for attempting to grow outside. I'll also try growing some of the earlier sown ones outside as I have nowhere near enough space undercover for 42 plants

 

My tomato seedlings are doing alright outside on the balcony table but from tonight, & perhaps for the coming week, I shall have to bring them in at night as we are forecast possible frosts.

 

Been away in Edinburgh for three nights. My friend in the next village agreed to foster my smaller toms/seedlings. Unfortunately one tray of four pots took a tumble, throwing at least one newly emerged seedling out of its pot and now I have a game of "guess the variety".

 

Re-sowed the varieties that were in the spilled pots. Also a dozen 2010 Gardener's Delight seeds and the last two of JWK's 2005 strain. Fingers crossed.

You'll all be relieved to know that the traumatically pruned Piglet Willie's French Black is out of Intensive Care, having pushed out a couple of decent side shoots.

 

I've sown my gardeners delight a week ago. The are sat in the conservatory. Am I little bit late to the party. I know they aren't going to planted out till well after last frost.....who knows when that will be. I've never grown Tom's outdoors before, I've never actually grown Tom's at all.

 

If you have never grown Toms before Paul, and you are growing outside, it might have been better to have gone for a blight resistant variety, only if blight does strike, and I hope in your case it doesn't, it can be enough to put you off growing toms for good.