Tomato Growing 2024

I'm not against spraying, but only as a last resort, I do use copper spray on Toms late in the season if I get blight, but cant say its something I want to do, but its often that or just bin everything for another year.
I use sprays on not edibles quite often but try to keep it to a minimum.

 

Interesting to note whilst on the subject of spays, pyrethrum in particular. Pyrethrum is derived from marigolds....hence why gardeners plant them between plants to deter whitefly & aphids.

The pungent smell you get when you rub marigold leaves between your fingers, is in fact neat pyrethrum.

 

That makes a lot of sense.
For some reason I've always been quite sure that it was derived from chrysanths
I've got some somewhere I'll have a sniff.

I always grow French marigolds and basil amongst the tomatoes in the greenhouse and (touch-wood) never had insect problems other than the occasional adventurous slug or snail

 

The history of Bordeaux Mixture (treatment for potato/tomato blight) is quite interesting:

"Bordeaux mixture (also called Bordo Mix) is a mixture of copper(II) sulphate (CuSO4) and quicklime (CaO) used as a fungicide. It is used in vineyards, fruit-farms and gardens to prevent infestations of downy mildew, powdery mildew and other fungi. It is sprayed on plants as a preventive treatment; its mode of action is ineffective after a fungus has become established. It was invented in the Bordeaux region of France in the late 19th century. If it is applied in large quantities annually for many years, the copper in the mixture eventually becomes a pollutant. As such its use is controlled, but not forbidden in most of the European Union.[1] Despite this, some advocates of organic gardening consider it an 'organic' pesticide."

 

Knew this happen ....it was ever so. Full family = Chrysanthemums are also related to dahlias, sunflowers, marigolds, zinnias, and cosmos.

 

Please note there are NO fungicides available to amateur gardeners, that are approved for use on food crops in the UK. This is almost impossible to police but the reasoning must be obvious. I know there are recipes for bordaux mixture on line but for the reason given above it's use should be limited. I have only been growing food crops for about 65 years, I too remember the days when everything was sprayed liberally. I recall being told in a biochemistry lecture that my generation and older would have DDT in our system and that we would have to live to about 110, to get rid of it. (I am still working on that one). This helped change my attitude to
the use of chemical sprays, I will not claim to never using them but I am very reluctant to do so, unless it means the plants will die without .

 

I used to grow Pyrethrum aureum 'golden moss' as a bedding plant.

 

Glad my memory isn't quite as bad as I thought -
But as you mention, Marigolds do have some in them too

15.3.3.4 Pyrethrum
Pyrethrum is the powdered, dried flower head of Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium, and pyrethrins are composed of six related insecticidal compounds that occur naturally in the pyrethrum flowers. These are pyrethrin I, pyrethrin II, cinerin I, cinerin II, jamolin I, and jamolin II. The insecticidal action of the pyrethrins is characterized by a rapid knockdown effect, hyperactivity, and convulsions in most insects.

Insecticides that contain pyrethrins have neurotoxic action on insects as it blocks voltage-gated sodium channels in nerve axons. Pyrethrins are moderately toxic to mammals however, commercial preparations are considerably less toxic. They are harmful to fish, nonpersistent, and lack photostability.

 

You do mean French marigolds, don't you? I've always planted French marigold with my tomatoes but recently in a magazine I saw a photo of English marigolds planted with tomatoes.

I planted my tomatoes outside yesterday. I'm in SW France, 29C forecast next week. I don't grow them from seed anymore, no greenhouse now that I've moved house, downsized. Also, OH lives in the UK so I'm not always here at the right times for sowing.

 

Yes - French Marigolds, not the calendulas often grown.
African Marigolds would also work, but they get quite tall and big.

 

Crikey! I've always found them bullet-proof.
Another 'climate change' casualty?

 

I did grow them for years when I was into bedding plants and they were the one you could always rely upon.

Must have been old seed @Loofah

 

Phew!