Loving The K-cup....

[mbday630]

drac, what is your favorite tomato plant? it seems that the big boys and early girls get the tomato blight here and so I have given up on them. Last year we had good luck with celebrity tomatoes but I am always looking for blight - resistant plants.

[draclvr]

I fight early and late blight too - none of them are particularly resistant. The trick is to not plant tomatoes where tomatoes or potatoes have been grown for at least 5 years. The blight fungus lives in the soil for many years. When that isn't practical, I hate to say it, but an anti-fungal spray is the only solution. I can rotate because I have two huge gardens, but 3 years is about all I can go between planting tomatoes on the same spot. Last year was the worst in one of the gardens, but it was blossom end rot in the middle of the season which is very unusual.

I spray them once about 2 weeks after planting and then once again right as they start blooming.

The Big Boy or Better Boy tomatoes are about as good as it gets with disease resistance. To be honest, I sometimes have better luck with my heirlooms which don't have any resistance bred into them.

I don't care for the Early Girl or Celebrity tomatoes for taste, but have been very happy with an early variety called Siltez. Another one that has done very, very well with heat and disease resistance is Cherokee Purple which is an heirloom. It's probably one of the best tasting tomatoes out there too. Aker's West Virginia has also been a good reliable heirloom as have Box Car Willie and Brandwine Off the Vine. You probably won't find these except in places that specialize in heirloom plants. I grow all mine from seeds.

[mbday630]

yes, this blight is a killer for me. I have only a 30 x 30 garden, so, I can move the plants a few feet over every year, but, that is about it. I do spray them. I hate to do it, but, if I don't spray, I won't get any tomatoes. Better boy sounds like a good one to try for me.

[draclvr]

You're in the same boat as I am on a smaller scale. There are so-called "organic" sprays, but I've never had any luck with them. Last year with that blossom end rot killing every tomato on the vine (the vines were fine!), I finally bit the bullet and stripped every single tomato of any size off them and sprayed the anti-fungal on these 6 and 7 foot tall tomato plants! It did arrest it, but I had to give up the middle of the season crop. These were my 48 plum-type tomatoes that we use for sauces, juices and salsa. I grow two of them - one called Opalka and one called Mama Leone. One had more resistance than the other one, but I don't remember which one!!

[Val]