Vegetable Gardening

Tomato Blight Treatment

Tomato blight, also referred to as potato blight, is a fungal disease which is the result of wet, damp conditions and mainly affects tomato plants growing outdoors. 

However, greenhouses that are poorly aerated could also be a cause of blight on account of high humidity and condensation.

Even so, if blight has affected quite a few leaves it is time to apply a tomato blight treatment and spray with Dithane 945 or apply Bordeaux Mixture. This can prevent the disease spreading, and more importantly infecting other plants, but there is no cure for blight, it is only possible to stop it getting worse.

If it has been wet in your area for a sustained period, and you are growing tomatoes outside, it’s possible that your plants have blight.
 
The combination of wet leaves and high humidity over a sustained period is nearly curtain to result in tomato blight. As a fungal infection, it can very easily get spread around from plant to plant and on fingers too, so it’s best not to touch plant leaves and run the risk of contaminating healthy plants.  

It is common to have some fungal infection on a small number of lower leaves when growing outdoors if you live in an area that gets a lot of rain. Take off the infected leaves and leaf branches, and keep the base of plants clear of decaying leaves. Good air circulation at soil level helps keep plants healthy.

Treatments for fungal diseases and tomato blight may be found by searching for a systemic fungicide for tomatoes and potatoes at the local garden centre.

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Growing Tomatoes Outdoors

Growing tomatoes outdoors is a challenge!

The weather is unpredictable, the soil is unpredictable - if you plant seedlings directly into the garden borders or plot and lastly, pests also cause an element of unpredictability.

So how do we cope with these conditions and increase the odds of a successful harvest?

The Weather
There is nothing more destructive to tomato plants than rain combined with cold temperatures. Even when growing tomatoes outside, it is a good idea to provide some kind of shelter if possible.

The Soil
If you are growing in the garden or allotment it is important to rotate crops in order to avoid nematodes - small microscopic worms that attack plant roots. If growing in containers, new bagged multipurpose compost or grow bag soil is ideal and should be free of any nasties that could harm your plants.

The Pests
One trick I use is to grow French Marigolds around tomato plants. Slugs and snails love them and are likely to eat the marigolds first rather than the tomatoes.

SP Plant Invigorator is another way (organic) to reduce aphid attack and boost plant growth.

Avoiding Tomato Problems Before They Happen

Sometimes we get emails requesting help from gardeners who seem to have a problem with their plants and they don’t know how to cure or fix it. The problem is that, it is usually too late to treat plants once they are infected with blight or any other fungal disease. The main thing is to reduce other tomato plants from becoming infected.
 
Keep a close eye on the leaves as they are usually the first sight of trouble … they change colour or shape and can give much frustration and a lot of headaches. This is can be followed by killing the fruit with kindness by over-watering or feeding.

A tomato plant that sits in cold water on a cold night will suffer badly and a young plant that is given a  strong quantity of tomato food could have its roots burned. In the Spring there are two rules that I try to follow:

• Don’t over-water
• Do not feed seedlings

By following these two pieces of advice should help prevent your tomato plants from all sorts of problems - from fungal infection to stunted growth.

However, there are also a few more things to keep in mind when growing small tomato plants in cool temperatures.
 
Good quality new potting compost or multi-purpose compost will contain all the nutrients a young plant needs until the time it is potted-on or up, into more new quality compost. However, if daytime temperatures are low, tomato plants will be unable to digest the nutrients they need - even if they are a double dose. This means that it is the cool temperature that is causing the nutrient defect.
 
Nutrient failing is seen in various diseases including stunted growth and discoloured leaves as the weak tomato plant struggles to keep off the nasties that can infect it in the early season.

By sowing alittle later or using tomato plug plants, many of the early season problems can be avoided.

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Growing Tomatoes from Seeds

Sowing tomato seeds in a small pot is good if you only want a few plants. However, if you want more than about half a dozen a propagator is best.

Sow just below surface around 1/8 inch deep. Place pot in a tray or saucer of water, or if you are using a propagator, water from below in a tray and cover lid - the pot can be covered with cling film.

Keep at a warm temperature, about 18 - 21C (65 - 70F) and as soon as the seedlings come through, put them in a light position at a lower temperature (around 15 - 18C) to stop them from shooting up like rockets and becoming leggy.

When their first true leaves have started to grow, about three weeks after germination, transplant the tomato seedlings into 9cm (3.5 inch) pots so that the seed leaves are just above the level of the potting compost (see below).

Here you see newly potted seedlings sat in a tray being watered from beneath.

Watering from above compacts the compost and removes the air which is bad. Roots need both moisture and air to produce a healthy strong root system.

Lots more tips about growing tomatoes from seed are available at the tomato growing website.

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The Advantages of Tomato Plug Plants

Here are a few Tumbling Tom cherry tomato seedlings that have just been given their first home.

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