Is this tomato blight, if not what please?

Hi

Sorry for another tomato blight thread, but after babying our plants and looking forward to the first ripened tomatoes, we don't want things to go wrong at this stage!

We've got around 20-25 plants in all. They're in a poly tunnel. 4 or so plants are affected, and they are next to each other. So far, apart of a couple of fruits, it is only leaves that are effected. The stems are ok as far as I can see...

If it's not blight, any other ideas as to what it is and what needs to be done?

I've done a fair few photos to help with the diagnosis!

Many thanks

 

The fruit looks like possible physical damage ,but could be wrong.

The leaves just look a bit tired to me, possibly a few deficiency problems, but nothing unusual.

 

Not blight, containers look to small, insufficient nutrients. Cut off any yellowing leaves, discard any damaged fruit and FEED with a 10-1 (water to feed) tomato feed once weekly, maybe twice weekly for the next fortnight.

PS, cutting off lower (yellowing) leaves will aid air flow and ripening .

 

Apologies for not coming back to this sooner. I don't know where the days go!

First and foremost, thanks for all the helpful replies. We have since removed yellowing leaves, and bottom leaves below the first truss even if they weren't yellow. And we've moved things about a bit in the polytunnel to allow more air.

I use homemade Comfrey liquid for feeding, but have probably been doing it every ten days or so. So I'll be sure to increase the frequency.

Some pots are larger than others, and we've had success growing in the larger ones previous years. We'll be growing int he ground from next year on, so we were reluctant to get lots of new pots which would then have no use. Could the small pots be causing these problems?

It's been ten days since I first posted, and looking at the toms this morning we noticed more that have problems up the top. Unlike before, there is now some discolouration on the stems too. We've snipped these bits off - photos below. Not sure if this is something different or a continuation of the same problem?

Thanks again

 

I'd say blight.

 

Last time I saw black patches like that on tomato stems outside a polytunnel, they all died, then all the plants inside suffered the same fate.

 

That dead black area on the stem says blight to me.

Black areas on the fruit usually as well.

Botrytis I always associate with cool wet conditions very late in the season.

 

Hmmm... Seems the jury's out!

Well, there seem to be a variety of different "not green" leaves etc and we're fearing blight, although that's not based on anything other than fear!

We did have some potatoes nearby which we suspected had blight.

So I've taken a bunch of photos - including a couple of the remnants of the potatoes - and uploaded them to Google Drive. If anyone can spare a moment, I wondered if you wouldn't mind taking a look to see if blight is on the menu or not... I thought more variety in the photos might help.

Tomatoes Blight 2020 - Google Drive

Many thanks - I really appreciate it

PS - in the meantime, we've got the affected plants away from the polytunnel so that hopefully the ok ones remain ok.

 

Dont see blight in those pictures.
I've grown toms and spuds side by side for years.
Often get blight on the toms, never had it on spuds.

I put it down to the different growing times.

By the time the toms get blight the potato tops are usually dying off anyway.

 

Very interesting... So in your opinion, the photos in the original post and the photos on google drive don't look like blight? But the two photos of the cuttings on the concrete path do?

Or were you just referring to the spuds?

 

Well just my opinion obviously but most of the tomato pictures just show curled leaves, a couple look fungal.
But my recognition of blight is usually blackening of stems and leaf stems , and blackening of fruits in spots.

 

Looking back picture 2 in the original post could be first signs of blight.

 

Although I no longer grow tomatos. I am well aware that they can be very sensitive and troublesome subjects.

If I may offer some advice. Many leaves are usually the first to show signs of trouble. Very much like our skin reacts to us. Call it, 'Mike's Law' if you wish. Basically a damaged leaf, spotted with Black Spot, or leaf curl of sorts, browning, dying. Whatever adverse thing has happened to it. Remove it and if possible burn it.

It must be remembered that once a leaf becomes damaged by whatever. Is is non-repairable and cannot be cured/saved.

Using chemical sprays etc. For fungal attacks. The use of a fugicide WILL NOT cure or mend the damage. Such a spray will however offer some preventive coverage in case of a further attack. So, obviously the keen grower will study to some degree, what is required to grow, certain plants, and then anticipate possible trials and tribulations.

Hence in the matter of growing tomatoes. Right from the start, be prepared to spray in advance and NOT wait until things start to go wrong.

One thing I learned, shamefully. Tomatoes don't like smokers. Hope this helps.