This is utterly disgusting and sad

fredwes · August 16, 2009

I'm sorry for all that have the blights. Most of my 70+ varieties have been hit. I am also removing blighted leaves and stems, trying to stem the tide of destruction. I have quite a few large (1 pound) and smaller tomatoes that are beginning to blush. I picked four pounds today and three pounds yesterday and am letting them ripen inside. I hope I will get a lot more tomatoes off of the vines before they succumb, and believe that the current run of three or four sunny days will help. It's interesting that some varieties seems very susceptible, others seem to hold out longer. The potato-leaved variety seem to be better able to handle it. Also Aunt Ruby's German Green is holding on well - on the other hand, Crnkovic Yugoslavian seemed to scream and fall over dead at the first sight of blight. Stems, leaves, fruit, all gone. It's the only plant I've yanked so far.
I have five tomato plots and each of them has reacted differently to the blight. Soil and ammendments are different in each garden. My neighbor has tomato plants that seem to be completely unaffected. Her plants are grown in rich compost and have thick growth. Is this compost the key?
The 12 plants on my deck, which comes off of the second story, fare among the best. They are in 3 gallon containers of potting mix, shredded bark and peat moss. Perhaps being up in the air and drying faster helps, compared with those in the ground surrounded by grass and not far from the woods, which are very wet - skunk cabbage grows there in abundance. Also the soil in this garden has been used every year, mostly for perennials, and received few ammendments.
This is a learning year for me. I know what I will do differently , which will include giving more space between plants, prune, use Actinovate, more compost, shredded bark under the plants, plant varieties that seem to be more resistant.
My Stupice has been very healthy through all this, Green Grape is doing well, Baxter's Bush Cherry is also doing well. Sungold is not bad, also Sun Sugar. Large Red Cherry is on its way out.
All four varieties in one small garden are doing well: Red Currant, Stump of the World, Sandul Moldovan, Riesentraube. This ground previously had arbor vitae bushes in it.

I wonder what the experience of others is with different varieties.

To what extent is resistance to late blight (or early blight) a consideration in the development of new varieties?
Fred

August 16, 2009	#16
fredwes Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: northwest New Jersey Posts: 12	I'm sorry for all that have the blights. Most of my 70+ varieties have been hit. I am also removing blighted leaves and stems, trying to stem the tide of destruction. I have quite a few large (1 pound) and smaller tomatoes that are beginning to blush. I picked four pounds today and three pounds yesterday and am letting them ripen inside. I hope I will get a lot more tomatoes off of the vines before they succumb, and believe that the current run of three or four sunny days will help. It's interesting that some varieties seems very susceptible, others seem to hold out longer. The potato-leaved variety seem to be better able to handle it. Also Aunt Ruby's German Green is holding on well - on the other hand, Crnkovic Yugoslavian seemed to scream and fall over dead at the first sight of blight. Stems, leaves, fruit, all gone. It's the only plant I've yanked so far. I have five tomato plots and each of them has reacted differently to the blight. Soil and ammendments are different in each garden. My neighbor has tomato plants that seem to be completely unaffected. Her plants are grown in rich compost and have thick growth. Is this compost the key? The 12 plants on my deck, which comes off of the second story, fare among the best. They are in 3 gallon containers of potting mix, shredded bark and peat moss. Perhaps being up in the air and drying faster helps, compared with those in the ground surrounded by grass and not far from the woods, which are very wet - skunk cabbage grows there in abundance. Also the soil in this garden has been used every year, mostly for perennials, and received few ammendments. This is a learning year for me. I know what I will do differently , which will include giving more space between plants, prune, use Actinovate, more compost, shredded bark under the plants, plant varieties that seem to be more resistant. My Stupice has been very healthy through all this, Green Grape is doing well, Baxter's Bush Cherry is also doing well. Sungold is not bad, also Sun Sugar. Large Red Cherry is on its way out. All four varieties in one small garden are doing well: Red Currant, Stump of the World, Sandul Moldovan, Riesentraube. This ground previously had arbor vitae bushes in it. I wonder what the experience of others is with different varieties. To what extent is resistance to late blight (or early blight) a consideration in the development of new varieties? Fred