

To encourage all the fruits to ripen, pinch out the main growing tip of the plant in early to mid-August and remove any new leaves or flowers that appear. Two weeks after moving them into their own pots, move them into a slightly bigger pot as they'll be growing quickly. Keep them in a light place - either on a heating mat in the greenhouse or under grow lights in the house. Then make a hole in the new pot of compost and put the seedling in so that the leaves are just above the the surface of the compost.

Gently hold the leaf - never the delicate stem - and loosen then from the compost by lifting underneath them with a pencil. When the seedlings have emerged, they can be moved into individual 7cm pots of a Best Buy compost for raising young plants. They need a temperature of 15-20C to germinate so put them on a warm windowsill indoors or in a heated propagator. Sow the seeds in a pot or small tray of a Best Buy compost for sowing seeds. Mid-March is perfect for tomatoes that will be grown indoors in a greenhouse or polytunnel. If you sow tomatoes too early the natural light levels will be too low and you'll get tall, leggy plants that won't grow well. We also taste the tomatoes, rating them for taste and texture. We grow lots of varieties alongside each other then harvest the tomatoes regularly, and count and weigh the fruit from each variety. OVERALL RATING Score ignores price and is based on: yield 40%, blight resistance 30%, quality 10%, flavour 10%, ease of picking 10% How we test tomatoes Yields are healthy fruit from three plants. Rotting, smelly potatoes, tomatoes and eggplant.USING THE TABLE The more stars the better.A white, downy appearance on the underside of the leaves.Small brown-black spots on the leaves often surrounded by a pale halo, which grow into larger lesions.Everything you need to know is available from Farm Biosecurity. Establish good on-farm biosecurity measures.Source certified seed potatoes from accredited suppliers.Import shipments may need to be treated and certified, so before you import, check our Biosecurity Import Conditions system (BICON). To keep potato late blight out of Australia, never ignore Australia’s strict biosecurity rules. It poses a significant risk to both potato and tomato farming in Australia. While there is a type of potato late blight in Australia, the more severe type is not found here. Fields of potatoes can be destroyed in less than two weeks. In addition to damaging the potato plant with black spots on leaves, potatoes can also become infected with a brown rot that leaves them a mushy mess with a strong smell. It can remain dormant in plant debris or soil for years. Blight can spread very quickly, carried by wind and rain. Once infected, complete collapse of foliage can occur within a few days. Phytophthora infestans caused the Irish potato famine in the 1840s and continues to devastate potatoes and tomatoes worldwide, costing billions of dollars annually in losses and control costs. Phytophthora infestans (A2 mating type) is exotic to Australia, while A1 mating type is present in Australia infecting tomato. Potato late blight caused by Phytophthora infestans is the most devastating disease of potatoes and one of the most devastating plant diseases of any crop. Scott Bauer, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Potato late blight is caused by exotic strains of Phytophthora infestans (A2 mating type). How they spread: Importation of infested seed potatoes local spread by spores blown in the wind or transported on clothing, equipment or in soilĪt risk: Potato, tomato and related species including eggplant Where it’s from: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea International Symposium on Xylella fastidiosaĮxotic to Australia: Phytophthora infestans that causes potato late blight is exotic to Australiaįeatures: Fast spreading fungal disease that rots entire fields of potatoes and kills tomato crops.Requirements for seeds for sowing to protect against khapra beetle.Requirements for sea containers to protect against khapra beetle.Requirements for other-risk plant products to protect against khapra beetle.

