A different type of tomatoe disease
ck_gardener
Posts: 25
I have been struggling with a half-sickly tomato plant, and inspired by a the good advice offered in previous threads, I thought I would ask for help too.
I bought a dwarf miniature tomato from a garden centre in march - I think it is a Tom Thumb. It has been growing wonderfully outside in a sheltered corner in a very large patio pot, and is now about a metre tall with a large growth of trusses of tomatoes. I feed it once a day at the roots with tomatoe feed. I water it daily in dry periods.
However, for the last 3 or 4 weeks slowly a few fruit on one side of the plant have started going russet from the stalk down the fruit. Very pretty shiny bronze. I took no notice at the beginning, but then branches on that side of the plant started losing green and going a dusty grey colour. Now I have half a plant still with LOADS of lovely green fruit that are ripening slowly, and half a plant with fruit that are going bronze colour all over and shriveling.
I have tried snipping off shriveling leaves and branches but the "thing" is spreading. Looking at the RHS web site, I can only guess it is a virus, and they say "throw infected plants away immediately". But what about all the remaining tomatoes? Are they edible if it is a virus anyway?
The attached photos show the good side of the plant, the bad side of the plant, and the place in the middle where I get both good and bad fruit.
I only have one tomato plant this year - and the fruit I have eaten so far from this bush are totally yummy..
Thank you to anyone who can help
Last edited: 19 August 2017 12:07:48
Posts
Sorry to say but that's blight and all you can do is remove and burn all affected stems (they are the dead grey or brown ones.) Even if you do that, the remaining green stems will almost certainly go the same way but you have nothing to lose in trying. Affected fruit won't harm you but they will likely be blighted before they ripen. Whatever you do, don't put anything from the plant onto your compost heap and if you can't burn it, put it in your black waste bin.
Thank you scroggin and BobTheGardener
Does that mean I have to destroy the soil too? It is about 50 litres of compost.
And can you suggest where the blight came from?
Last edited: 19 August 2017 12:55:08
You can grow other things in the compost, just avoid tomatoes and potatoes which are both susceptible to this particular type of blight. Blight spores are everywhere and carried in the air but only take hold when conditions are right which is in warm humid conditions. Wet leaves are often the first part of the plant to be infected so if you can cover your tomato plants next year to protect them from the rain that may help in reducing the chances of another infection. That is why it is recommended to only water the roots of tomatoes grown in a geenhouse but you obviously can't avoid leaves getting wet from rain when grown outside unless you can somehow cover them.
Thanks guys - sigh.....