Urgent help required, I think I have potato blight - tomatoes are in close proximity!

Hi everyone I'm very worried at the moment, I was convinced by my dad to plant some potatoes in my organic garden this year. Unfortunately he didn't realise that I didn't want any chemicals near my plants & he suggested spraying the potatoes with something called 'dithane' which I briefly read about & it didn't seem suitable! Last night I was showing my friend around the garden &I noticed something strange growing on the potato plant - it looked like three little tomatoes or some kind of fruit:





Anyway, I went back this morning to take this photo & I noticed that some of the leaves had black large black spots on them, I explained it to dad over the phone & he's sure that it's blight :( I am a complete beginner so I'm completely lost as to what I should do, it looks to have spread between a few of the plants but isn't exactly at epidemic proportions yet, my main worry are my tomato plants, I have about 20-25 in a greenhouse not far away from the potatoes & I would be distraught if they got infected!

I need urgent advice!!!

 

check Capneys post ,but if it is ,you have to destroy the lot

 

As pam says FS I have posted pictures of tomato blight I suffered last year.
Sad news if it is.
Link to forum thread is below
http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/showthread.php/tomato-blight-pictures-23437.html

 

I have no obvious signs on the tomatoes yet, it's the potatoes I'm worried about, I just finished work at two & raced home to chop off all the infected leaves they're currently being burned. I'm going to get a few helpers & dig up the potatoes to ensure it doesn't spread to them, I'll have smaller potatoes but at least they will be edible, I think? Then I'll just have to cross my fingers the evil little fungus hasn't made it's way into my lovely greenhouse! Thanks for the replies, any other advice is welcome!

 

Steady on!

Tomato-like fruit on potato tops is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about. Just don't be tempted to eat 'em!! Really. Don't

Blight on maincrop potatoes may limit the crop but won't necessarily ruin what's already there under the soil. As an amateur gardener you can live with potato blight and still get some good spuds. By all means trim out the infection, and be prepared to lift early, but I wouldn't go for the nuclear option just yet.

Tomato blight is no fun at all. But again it can be managed. Sometimes better, sometimes worse. I agree Dithane is not what we like to use these days, but traditional copper fungicide is generally regarded as safe. I believe the soil association permit it, but check that for yourself.

 

Thanks Manteur but I'm afraid I went from the nuclear option! Maybe it's the fact that I'm Irish I got a little too scared! Seriously though, I was too afraid of taking the chance of it spreading to my tomatoes, although I'm concerned I may be too late, I took off a few withered leaves recently which I now realise could have been more sinister than I thought! From about 12 potato plants I got about 200 potatoes, some unforunately were quite small, I bet if they got longer in the ground I'd have had lots more! Ah well, I'll learn from my mistakes I read about the copper fungicide it's not suitable for indoor tomatoes unfortunately. Does anyone know if there are any entirely organic options for blight?

Here are my little pinks ripped from the ground a little too soon but I'll be enjoying some in a few minutes. Thanks again for the advice everyone, I'll keep you posted on the tomatoes!

 

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Your potatoes look very good, better to be safe than sorry!

The leaves on my tomatoes in the greenhouse have looked terrible for weeks, but I sure it is not blight!

Any dodgy leaves on your tomatoes, have them off quick..

Good luck!

 

I've removed all the suspect leaves on the tomatoes, there were some blackish patches which looked pretty like the blight on the potatoes :( The only thing that's making me hold out any hope is the fact that the withered leaves were few & far between. Any way to prevent it taking hold if you catch it soon enough? What are your leaves like Makka-Bakka?

 

I do understand your concerns about using chemicals F_S, honestly. Nobody likes to, but where I live it seems to be that or give up growing tomatoes!
Not sure about the greenhouse thing. RHS recommend copper against seedling damping off in greenhouses. Was this concerning the risk of using a sprayer in confined areas?

 

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What are your leaves like Makka-Bakka?[/quote]

Horrible!!!!!!

,.

 

Agreed. The instructions on Murphy's traditional copper fungicide say to spray at first signs of disease, but I can't see the sense in that.

Guided by what I've read here, I brought first spray forward by two weeks from mid to early August. That means I'm spraying healthy plants in the hopes of keeping 'em that way!!