Mmmm. About the only disease I can think of that might manifest on the stem before elsewhere is White Mould. I've only ever seen it a couple of times. It starts out as a lesion on the stem, a bit like a stain. Eventually, as the stem succumbs, it turns almost white.
EDIT. I just Googled White Mould for further info. Everyone spells it Mold. Whatever. It seems that it's most common on plants in flower and yours weren't flowering. Might be back to square one.
I don't know alot about blight but is blgiht the same for spuds as it is for toms.
There have been alot of full Smith alerts for my area of Lancashire, with 12 alerts this month alone, and alot in June and May. Depending where you live conditions have been good for blight, certainly here in the NW. There have been more alerts to date this year than for the whole of last year for my post code.
Which months are early and late blight likely to appear? I grow alot of spuds and it would be interesting to know.
Yes it is the same as potato blight. Which is how I got it in the first place about 5 years ago. Not been very lucky since. I grew my potatoes in a dustbin. That year it rained very heavily,
Potato Blight is the same disease as Late Blight in tomatoes. The pathogen is Phytophthora infestans. In toms, it certainly manifests on the stems, but also on the leaves. That is wasn't showing on the leaves still puzzles me.
I also think I have had blight on several varieties of tomatoes already. Quite upset about it as I bought all new seeds this year, whereas I usually save seeds from tasty tomatoes and grow them.
Mine were all in the open, some in tubs others in a small raised bed. Maybe I had them too close together? I have thrown them away and just hope the rest of the plants dont get it.
What spray is it you use to help fight blight?
I was so looking forward to lots of home grown tomatoes!
Is it too late to take a photo of the symptoms, Dipadee?
As I've posted before, it's impossible to avoid fungal spores, the pesky little things that cause these problems. They're invisible, they travel in the air, and they are everywhere.
Preventive spraying is probably the best means of preventing infection. The spray coats the leaves, creating a barrier between the fungal spores and the leaf surface, preventing the spores getting a grip and doing their damage.
Traditionally, the most common spray has been copper sulfate-based and you'll find it under various brand names in any garden centre. Technically it's organic because copper is a naturally-occurring substance. On the other hand, it's a metal, and some growers worry about a build-up of metal in the soil when the sprays drips to the ground.
Spraying is preventive, meaning it has to be undertaken before the spores arrive. It's no use spraying after the spores have arrived - that is, once fungal (or bacterial) symptoms are showing. Usually you start spraying a couple of weeks after planting out and continue to spray every week or 10 days. If it rains within that timeframe, you have to respray to recoat the leaves. Importantly, you have to spray every leaf, and both sides of every leaf.
Preventive spraying doesn't guarantee 100% that you will be fungus (or bacteria) free, but it gives you a huge head start. The only alternative to spraying is very diligent housekeeping - at least 3' between plants to aid air circulation, judicious pruning of branches and leaves to avoid great clumps of leaves which hinder air circulation, and keeping the foliage as dry as possible. Damp foliage is a fungal spore's playground. Finally, removing the lowest branches to keep a gap of at least 1' between the lowest foliage and the soil will help against the spores - that fall from the leaves to the soil - splashing back up onto the leaves when watering.
Talking of hybrids. Several years ago I was growing a mini-plum variety called Rosada in the GH and someone gave me a couple of yellow plants, probably Golden Sunrise or the like (medium fruit but average flavour), which I remember did not do very well. I kept a couple of Rosada toms for sowing the following year, and when they fruited, they came out as yellow mini-plum, very sweet and a prolific cropper, very dark leaves, which I have continued to grow every year since. Modesty forbids that I should name the variety anything other than 'those yellow things'.
Dipadee - first, load the photo from your camera to your computer, taking note of where you store it in the computer.
Post here. When you want to insert the photo into the post, click your cursor where you want to insert it. Then click on the symbol third from the right in the menu at the top of the window in which you're writing. It looks like a little green tree.
A new window opens. At the top, you can select whether you're uploading from your computer or an external side. Your computer is the default option so leave it as is. Click on Select. Then navigate to where you stored the photo on your computer and select the photo.
Click Upload.
Then click Save.
The photo should appear within your post where you indicated with the cursor.
Posts
No it was noticed on the stem
Mmmm. About the only disease I can think of that might manifest on the stem before elsewhere is White Mould. I've only ever seen it a couple of times. It starts out as a lesion on the stem, a bit like a stain. Eventually, as the stem succumbs, it turns almost white.
EDIT. I just Googled White Mould for further info. Everyone spells it Mold. Whatever. It seems that it's most common on plants in flower and yours weren't flowering. Might be back to square one.
I don't know alot about blight but is blgiht the same for spuds as it is for toms.
There have been alot of full Smith alerts for my area of Lancashire, with 12 alerts this month alone, and alot in June and May. Depending where you live conditions have been good for blight, certainly here in the NW. There have been more alerts to date this year than for the whole of last year for my post code.
Which months are early and late blight likely to appear? I grow alot of spuds and it would be interesting to know.
Yes it is the same as potato blight. Which is how I got it in the first place about 5 years ago. Not been very lucky since. I grew my potatoes in a dustbin. That year it rained very heavily,
Potato Blight is the same disease as Late Blight in tomatoes. The pathogen is Phytophthora infestans. In toms, it certainly manifests on the stems, but also on the leaves. That is wasn't showing on the leaves still puzzles me.
I also think I have had blight on several varieties of tomatoes already. Quite upset about it as I bought all new seeds this year, whereas I usually save seeds from tasty tomatoes and grow them.
Mine were all in the open, some in tubs others in a small raised bed. Maybe I had them too close together? I have thrown them away and just hope the rest of the plants dont get it.
What spray is it you use to help fight blight?
I was so looking forward to lots of home grown tomatoes!
Is it too late to take a photo of the symptoms, Dipadee?
As I've posted before, it's impossible to avoid fungal spores, the pesky little things that cause these problems. They're invisible, they travel in the air, and they are everywhere.
Preventive spraying is probably the best means of preventing infection. The spray coats the leaves, creating a barrier between the fungal spores and the leaf surface, preventing the spores getting a grip and doing their damage.
Traditionally, the most common spray has been copper sulfate-based and you'll find it under various brand names in any garden centre. Technically it's organic because copper is a naturally-occurring substance. On the other hand, it's a metal, and some growers worry about a build-up of metal in the soil when the sprays drips to the ground.
Spraying is preventive, meaning it has to be undertaken before the spores arrive. It's no use spraying after the spores have arrived - that is, once fungal (or bacterial) symptoms are showing. Usually you start spraying a couple of weeks after planting out and continue to spray every week or 10 days. If it rains within that timeframe, you have to respray to recoat the leaves. Importantly, you have to spray every leaf, and both sides of every leaf.
Preventive spraying doesn't guarantee 100% that you will be fungus (or bacteria) free, but it gives you a huge head start. The only alternative to spraying is very diligent housekeeping - at least 3' between plants to aid air circulation, judicious pruning of branches and leaves to avoid great clumps of leaves which hinder air circulation, and keeping the foliage as dry as possible. Damp foliage is a fungal spore's playground. Finally, removing the lowest branches to keep a gap of at least 1' between the lowest foliage and the soil will help against the spores - that fall from the leaves to the soil - splashing back up onto the leaves when watering.
Thankyou for your reply.
I have thrown most of the plants away, but will take a photo if it happens any more.
I will also try spraying next year, but be very careful with the spray. As most of my tomatoes are in containers, it wont get onto the soil.
Just one thing - how do I put a photo on here
???
Talking of hybrids. Several years ago I was growing a mini-plum variety called Rosada in the GH and someone gave me a couple of yellow plants, probably Golden Sunrise or the like (medium fruit but average flavour), which I remember did not do very well. I kept a couple of Rosada toms for sowing the following year, and when they fruited, they came out as yellow mini-plum, very sweet and a prolific cropper, very dark leaves, which I have continued to grow every year since. Modesty forbids that I should name the variety anything other than 'those yellow things'.
Dipadee - first, load the photo from your camera to your computer, taking note of where you store it in the computer.
Post here. When you want to insert the photo into the post, click your cursor where you want to insert it. Then click on the symbol third from the right in the menu at the top of the window in which you're writing. It looks like a little green tree.
A new window opens. At the top, you can select whether you're uploading from your computer or an external side. Your computer is the default option so leave it as is. Click on Select. Then navigate to where you stored the photo on your computer and select the photo.
Click Upload.
Then click Save.
The photo should appear within your post where you indicated with the cursor.