Are my tomatoes OK?

Hallo Peter, mine - the ones outside - are exactly the same. Can't be lack of water, I guess they've been under stress and this is the dreaded blight attacking! I'm going to pick all toms green or whatever and dispose of plants...:-(

This is blight Peter. Not much you can do about it now. I spray my potatoes and tomatoes with Bourdeaux mixture during June to keep the blight off. It did not work this year because of the weather.

Mmmm, mine have suffered this year too. This year was the 1st time I have grown from seed, I purchased small plants last year and the tomatos just kept on coming....tonnes of them. Tried two different varieties from seed this year and mine looked just as bad as yours. Thought it was something I'd done wrong but upon asking other fellow tomato growers we all seem to have had the same problem. Pick off the toms and ripen them on the windowsill and get rid of the plants....let's hope we have better luck (and weather) next year! Sarah.

Blight is caused by hot and wet conditions. I've grown the same variety from seed for over 25 years - this is the third time they've gone down to blight in all that time. Just blame the British summer!

Thanks for all the answers, and the cause. I'll pick all the toms tomorrow and get rid of the plants. Any ideas on whether it's OK to compost the blight ridden plants? Also, my onions and peppers are right next to the tomatoes, is it contagious?

Hi Peter - your onions and peppers should be OK next to the tomatoes: the only other plant I am aware of that gets blight is the potato, being of the same family. You shouldn't grow them next to each other because of this problem, the spores can be carried by watering one, spilling onto the other. I am not going to risk composting, don't really know if the heat in the bin would kill the spores off, but not taking the chance,so I'm incinerating my plants!

Later...They've gone to ashes! I now have a bowl full of green tomatoes with a ripe banana in it. I heard an old wives' tale (that may have some scientific basis) about ripe bananas giving off gas that helps tomatoes to ripen. We'll see.

Hi Spritz, I remember hearing that tomato producers use nitrogen to ripen tomatoes ready for sale. If someone can confirm bananas give off nitrogen your wives' tale sounds sound :o)

Science bit!!
Bananas as they ripen give off the gas Ethylene. This along with oxygen helps the fruit ripen quicker.
Hope this helps :)

Thought I was right - thanks both. Now just hope that the tomatoes ripen before the banana gets eaten :-)

hello all
same problem here at south lodge so its been interesting reading all your comments. I am going to pick all ours tomorrow and incinerate.
Mum in law says put the green tomatoes in brown paper bag and this helps them ripen. Although I like the idea of the banana!
ha ha just looked at the dates

Hi RKDA,
I've had exactly the same this year (although spotted earlier) I think we're planning on making green tomato chutney :o)