I collected all the remaining (mostly green) fruit, which was a surprisingly large amount, and put them in some plastic seed-trays on the Dining Room table, where hopefully most of them will ripen. I know that some of them will succumb to the blight. The blight spores are already there, but you can't see them. The fruit suddenly goes brown and wrinkly, and you just know then that the fruit is beyond redemption.
This photo shows what at first sight appears to be a first-class truss of "Sungold" toms, but on closer inspection you can see how the stems and sepals are beginning to go black with the blight.
I found that Sungold had little resistance to blight. I had to keep cutting off infected leaves and stems to stop the disease spreading. Without blight infection my plant would have produced a huge quantity of fruit. As it was, the yield was modest. The red cherry types "Losetto" and "Lizzano" fared better. Even though they were the first ones to be infected, they both managed to survive pretty well - even to the extent of producing new foliage - and had what was effectively a second life.
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| "Losetto" on its final day |
I cut all the tomato leaves and stems into manageable pieces and stuffed them into old compost bags for eventual disposal at the municipal tip. I don't think it is advisable to compost blight-infected plamts in one's own compost-bin, because it probably won't get hot enough to kill the blight spores. When I can summon the energy I will empty the pots. For now though I have just vacated four of the big pots, and in them I have put some of my "reserve" Purple Sprouting Broccoli plants. I know I don't need these, because I have already got six plants in one of the raised beds, which is plenty, but I just couldn't bear to throw them away!
On a different note, the other day I wrote about harvesting some Greek Oregano for drying. Here is the culmination of that story: after a fortnight in the airing-cupboard, the herb was completely dry and brittle, so I stripped the leaves, and some of the flowers, off the stalks. To avoid making a big mess I did this over a 40cm x 30cm baking-tray.
I then crushed the leaves into small pieces. Actually, after taking these photos I decided that I hadn't crushed them enough so I crushed them into even smaller pieces, which will make them better for culinary use. They are now stored in an airtight container and I expect them to be useable for several months.
We seem to have avoided blight this year which is just as well seeing as our tomatoes are so late to ripen. We don't have an airing cupboard that we can use for drying herbs so if I decided to have a try I will have to think of an alternative.
ReplyDeleteYou're lucky the blight didn't wipe out your tomatoes, it can be devastating and destroy a crop within 24 hours once it strikes. Fingers crossed that the tomatoes on the table ripen in due course. You should be ok for psb with the plants you're growing, I wouldn't throw away healthy looking plants either.
ReplyDeleteBlight has been awful this week.
ReplyDeleteNever had it before, but it has caused complete devastation this week!
I guess that is one good thing about not being able to eat tomatoes. I no longer have to worry about blight. This year I have just one tomato plant. It is all alone and I've never had one healthier. I think without all the tomato neighbors around it did a lot better.
ReplyDeleteSo far everything I have planted to substitute what I pulled up, all have died. I planted lettuce in the hanging baskets, they died, I planted Swiss chard in a row in one of the raised beds, they died, I planted beans, they grew to produce a little bit but now they are dying, I planted a cucumber plant, it grew well, has two small cuckes on it but now it isn't looking so good. I think it is just plain still too hot here. I am going to hold off on transplanting anything else.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear about your blight problem. However, glad that you at least got some of a harvest.
ReplyDeleteWe need to cut our 'blighty' plants in the greenhouse down now, I stripped all the remaining fruit off them this weekend. At least our cucumber plants are having a second flush though!
ReplyDeleteAnd a season begins to end.... But that psb and lettuce looks good!
ReplyDeletewow... already prepped for next year!...and my toms are even red yet!!
ReplyDeleteAccording to this http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/factsheets/dc20.php blight can only survive in the seeds so its fine to compost the leaves and stems. I hope its correct because thats what I've done.
ReplyDelete