Saturday 23 August 2014

Tommy Rot.



There was I, proudly telling my friend José that I never put chemicals on my Tomatoes, as he was explaining that loads of people (including himself) had lost their entire crop to disease this year; I can tell you, I was feeling rather smug. 

Then, almost overnight, the above happened. Something virulent killed off the plants in a flash, and the fruits themselves developed nasty yellow 'sores'.


Luckily I had just finished preparing all my conserves. I have over 25 litres of tomato, and tomato mix, sauces in storage. Everything from plain Passata, to courgettes in Tomato, and Ratatouille. 

So, my annual problem of knowing what to do with the excess glut has been decided for me by Mother Nature. I shall now grub-up all the plants, and take them to some distant corner of the estate (where hopefully the disease will do no future harm). 

My friend José has just been by; and was laughing his head off. C'est la bloody vie!



27 comments:

  1. Wow!!! I'm on the early side of this...plants still loaded and the whole garden is booming!!!
    Your pantry is wonderful!! I'm ready to do about 15quarts if dill pickles!!
    So lucky we are......

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  2. Thank goodness most of your harvest was safely in and preserved, and you only lost the excess! Good for you for avoiding nasty chemicals. Food tastes better when you know it's organic and healthy. :)

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    1. My friend José was saying that even though his plants (and fruits) were completely blue from the copper sulphate, they still all died. I'd rather mine die in their natural colour.

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  3. Shame about your tomatoe plants but, as you say, you have a good store for winter use.

    I have been out of contact on the world wide web for almost a week.

    What a surprise your post of yesterday was. I last saw our aunt and uncle in 1965 just prior to leaving for New Zealand.

    Mother told me that aunty had been dead for several days when found but definitely did not mention that she had committed suicide so, as you can imagine, after fifty years this was a great shock.

    It was also a shock to hear that Uncle had "gone mad" - by a weird co-incidence I was clearing out some papers only this morning and came across a letter from uncle written on the 9th November, 1969 that I had completely forgotten about - it is three pages long and he "sounds" fine. Among other things he mentioned that you were his god child and I was aunty's. He said that he was getting out and about as much as possible and intended "spending my money & have as good a time as I can"

    He mentioned games he used to play with us as children and described his last visit to us in Worthing in amazing clarity.

    He was obviously lonely and commented that our parents hadn't been to visit him but hoped that they would one day.

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    1. Looks like my date was a bit wrong. I'm surprised that you hadn't been told exactly what happened. I even went to the inquest, although I don't quite know why. Shame he didn't get to spend his money; his sister saw to that. Amongst other things, she used to take taxis all the way from London to Kent, and back, at his expense. All very sad.

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    2. At least she visited him and I doubt he would have spent all the money anyway and, from his letter, once it was all gone, his fees would have reduced to the amount of his pension.

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    3. I just looked it up and she died in March 1967

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    4. My memory is way out then. I must still have been working in London. It's all a long time ago.

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  4. About tomatoes- we used to grow tomatoes when I lived near the Dead Sea 30 years ago. the grass is very salty there but the tomatoes were wonderful , they also has many problems when the humidity was high,

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  5. You lasted a couple weeks longer than me then. The humidity this year has been the problem. Lost all my cucumbers as well now.

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  6. Well at least it happened towards the end of the growing season - strange how it practically happened overnight though. Blight, do you think?

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    1. I imagine so; but a very virulent form by the look of it.

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  7. I expect it is blight too Cro, After all, tomatoes are closely related to the potato and that is the scourge of the potato crop isn't it.


    Your store shelves are most impressive.

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  8. Wow, all those preserves, how long do they last? Also do you need to burn the plants and how long before you can plant anything in that place or does it just have to be a different sort of plant?

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    1. Our preserves usually last for over a year, I have about 4 jars left from last year. I've just taken all the plants out, and have taken them well away. I'm also making sure I take every fallen fruit away too. I might try to find resistant plants for next year; what else can one do?

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  9. We used to suffer from the blight on our tomatoes every year on the allotment, to the point where we began to think it was not worth planting them.
    At least you managed to get a good haul to make sauces.
    Briony
    x

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  10. Deffo blight Cro. Bag the plants in a bag on the spot and put in the rubbish or burn, don't compost.Have you got your potatoes up yet ?
    Your preserves are impressive.

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    1. Only a few late spuds in the ground. No I've taken them well away from the compost.

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  11. Oh, what a shame. Our tomatoes are still producing.(Knock on wood.) We did have a bit of a problem with worms early in the season, but a little sprinkle of seven dust seemed to do the trick.

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  12. Could be a number of diseases. But sounds like bacterial spots. Pick your flavor here.
    http://www.maine.gov/dacf/php/gotpests/diseases/tomato-problems.htm
    The one that usually gets mine is Anthracnose.
    Either way I would burn the whole lot to stack the odds in my favor so it wont come back next year.

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    1. That's what worries me. This was my first dose.

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  13. This happened to me also. Last week everything in the tomato garden looked fine, then on the weekend I noticed black spot on one plant and removed the affected leaves. By Wednesday, it was on eight of nine of my plants. I have cut back the plants hoping that I can save the unripened fruit. If not, I will be making fried green tomatoes.

    This disease leaves spores in the soil so I will have to remove and replace all of it (they are in raised beds) before I plant anything next year. I am not sure that I will be up for that.

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  14. Your conserves look wonderful and I'm sure you will have forgotten all about the disappointment come winter when you are enjoying your harvest. I only have potted tomatoes in my yard and I am still waiting for them to turn red. Luckily, many of my catsitting clients share their bounty with me so I have enjoyed some wonderful home-grown tomatoes. :) Have a lovely weekend, Cro. Hugs, Deb

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  15. I have now heard that the whole of my village has been affected, so having all my preserves done is making me feel quite good.

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  16. I have grown Ferline for the last couple of years which are supposedly blight resistant - nice big tasty tomatoes too - no blight so far.

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