How bad is tomato blight?

 I was listening to GQT today and they were saying how bad tomato blight
is, how susceptible Gardeners Delight is and that they were going to do
trials to find a resistant variety.

Er, I grew Gardeners Delight last summer outdoors with no blight.

Was it just (as they hinted) that last year was exceptional?

Would I be well advised to spray my crop this year every 14 days as a
precaution?

Steve Harris - Cheltenham - Real address steve AT netservs DOT com
A useful bit of gardening software at http://www.netservs.com/garden/

 http://tinyurl.com/27p2h

Regards,
Emrys Davies

 On Sun, 2 May 2004 21:29 +0100 (BST), root@netservs.com (Steve Harris)
wrote:


Tomato blight  has been bad in many parts of the country for about 5
years now.
Last year I sprayed with Bordeaux mixture but will not bother again.
It covered leaves and fruit with a white powdery film and I had to
wash all fruit before eating.
Blight comes with the rain.  We had a long dry summer and I had my
first tomatoes for 4 years, but as soon as the rain came, so did the
blight.
Bob's idea of a "tent" or roof sounds good but I have not tried it.
Good luck tomato growers!

Pam in Bristol

 

: On Sun, 2 May 2004 21:29 +0100 (BST), root@netservs.com (Steve Harris)
: wrote:
:
: >I was listening to GQT today and they were saying how bad tomato blight
: >is, how susceptible Gardeners Delight is and that they were going to do
: >trials to find a resistant variety.
: >
: >Er, I grew Gardeners Delight last summer outdoors with no blight.
: >
: >Was it just (as they hinted) that last year was exceptional?
: >
: >Would I be well advised to spray my crop this year every 14 days as a
: >precaution?
:
I am in Plymouth and I have stopped growing tomatoes altogether because the
blight affects my plants so much that it is disheartening and a waste of
time and space. I have tried a couple of sprays but they have little effect
and I don't like spraying anyway

 On Mon, 3 May 2004 07:16:23 +0000 (UTC), "Robert"


==============================
Robert.
    I too live in Plymouth, and whilst I have problems with
growing tomatoes in a greenhouse, it's usually the dreaded 'greenback'
which I undestand is caused through either negligence in shading
or irregular watering (or both?) Over the years I've tried all types
of toms, always in Grobags turrned on their side through 90 degrees,
and sometimes through  a bottomless pot, though that doesn't appear
to make all that much difference.

I have a theory that the clean air down here is 'too' clean.
If ypu remember, the garden dividers in the roads used to
be planted with roses, and the carbon monoxides from road
vehicles exhausts appeared to kill off all the bugs.

John.
====================================