The same mould that causes potato blight affects tomatoes as well. Tomatoes and potatoes are quite closely related so it makes sense.Just like potatoes, the first symptom is brown patches on the leaves which spread really quickly followed by the whole plant dying. This can happen in just a couple of days so if you spot blight on your tomato plants you need to act immediately.
Blighted Outdoor Tomatoes – By Scot Nelson CC BY-SA 2.0
Harvest all the fruits of a reasonable size, both green and ripe. Use the fruits up quickly as they may be infected. Leaving the green fruits to ripen is not a good idea as the chances are they’ll be rotting in a week with the blight.
So here are some suggestions from our recipes and food section to use up those ripe and green tomatoes quickly.
Ripe Tomatoes Recipes
Spicy Tomato Cooking Sauce, Bulk Recipe that freezes well
Tomatoes and Lentils Soup Recipes
Green Tomatoes Recipes
Green Tomato Marmalade Recipe Variant
Microwave Green Tomato Chutney Recipe
Normal Green Tomato Chutney Recipe
Val’s Favourite Green Tomato Chutney Recipe
Val’s Favourite Green Tomato Jam Recipe
‘Sun Dried Tomatoes’
How to produce Sun Dried Tomatoes at home to preserve
This year i have avoided blight in potatoes and tomatoes , so far with a tip given to me by a friend ,a gardener of 55years. Spray the crops with a mixture of 1 pint of SEMI skimmed milk to a 5 litre spray.
My first reaction was ‘no way’ but thinking about it, dilute milk can be effective against mildew so why not. Worth a try at least!
What should I do with the compost that I grew tomatoes in after getting blight.