I've got blight

annie123

Took a sample to my local allotments (sealed in a bag just in case) and several confirmed blight, this was last week.
Today I received blight alert text from blight watch, confirming blight area.:mad::mad::mad:

I have always brought my seed spuds from a reputable supplier...untill this year, when, due to only 1 income now, decided to cut costs and buy from £land.

So my tatties will now be as big as they cant get with out foliage over the next few weeks, wasn't due to lift them till end of the month at the earliest so will be potato salad size instead.

Whilst I have no proof that it was because they were from £land, I have never ever had blight on my spuds in 30 plus years, longer if you count the ones my parents grew in the same area.

False economy as my nan used to say.

Lotus-eater

While it's not impossible to get blight from tubers, I have looked into this a bit, I find it very interesting with alot of scare stuff banded around, it is very very unlikely in a bought seed potato.
To be a seed potato the tuber must be a certain std, otherwise it is not able to be sold as a seed tuber, so it doesn't matter where you bought it from, if it's a seed potato, it should be clear of all disease.

I suppose it depends where you live, if you are on the coast, that's where it seems to start first.

It does seem a little early, are you absolutely sure it's blight? Is it devastating all the foliage?

Lotus-eater

I've just had a look on the blightwatch map and it only shows one unconfirmed attack. It's not impossible you have it, but it seems unlikely. Any chance you can get a photo up?

annie123

Lotus-eater wrote: »

While it's not impossible to get blight from tubers, I have looked into this a bit, I find it very interesting with alot of scare stuff banded around, it is very very unlikely in a bought seed potato.
To be a seed potato the tuber must be a certain std, otherwise it is not able to be sold as a seed tuber, so it doesn't matter where you bought it from, if it's a seed potato, it should be clear of all disease.

I suppose it depends where you live, if you are on the coast, that's where it seems to start first.

It does seem a little early, are you absolutely sure it's blight? Is it devastating all the foliage?

Yea it's blight, I remember seeing it at college years ago, but took it to my local allotments for a second (or as it turned out about 20) opinion,
It acts so quickly you can almost watch it spread.
I was given 2 options, 1st cut and burn/bin all foilage and dig up spuds at the correct time, or 2nd, remove at ground level all affect stems now and watch every 4 hours and remove every leaf that shows any sign of it.
I did option 2, so some plants have some leaves but 70% don't, never mind, will try again for xmas spuds.
I'm in south east london btw, my neighbours over the road have it too on their earliers but not on their main crop.

Will appreciate my tatties all the more next year.:D

annie123

Lotus-eater wrote: »

I've just had a look on the blightwatch map and it only shows one unconfirmed attack. It's not impossible you have it, but it seems unlikely. Any chance you can get a photo up?

Chopped down Saturday, should I have told blight watch?, didn't think of that, could have emailed them a pic.
Think my neighbours done the same, off to see if they are in, if they haven't then could take a pic of theirs.

Barneysmom

Do you have to throw away all the compost too? I wonder what you'd have to do with it, where you could dump it?

Lotus-eater

Very unlucky then.

I use option 2, remove and try to contain on tomatoes. But I've never managed to make it work with spuds. It just spreads too fast, I always take off all foliage from all potatoes, when it's taken a hold, then leave the tubers in the ground for a couple of weeks, or even longer, then dig up. I've stored tubers like this no problem over winter (dug up and stored inside)

Btw I always compost the haulms myself everyone tells you not to, but I don't believe in the chance of anything happening.

Optimisticpair

I checked the maps too and there is only a suspected case in Scotland near the coast as Lotus Eater said.

Lotus-eater

annie123 wrote: »

Chopped down Saturday, should I have told blight watch?, didn't think of that, could have emailed them a pic.
Think my neighbours done the same, off to see if they are in, if they haven't then could take a pic of theirs.

I don't know about contacting them, they wouldn't be interested in a photo I would have thought, but you could ask them about it.

Lotus-eater

Barneysmom wrote: »

Do you have to throw away all the compost too? I wonder what you'd have to do with it, where you could dump it?

It's a controversial subject

I say reuse it, obviously not on any potato family crop, next year.
But that's based on research I have read about, where although feasable for blight to survive the UK winter, is it (or was then) unknown for it to actually happen.
That's why I compost all the stuff I have which is blight affected, although when I'm dealing with small infestations on tomatoes, I do bag and bin the small amounts, to try and limit it.

Most other people will tell you to send it to the tip, together with the foliage. So you do that... if you do it in the green bin, it gets composted in big heaps and may be open to the air and of course you get it back as council compost. Or if you black bin it, it gets chucked onto landfill and gets opened to the air, or is sealed into a warm place where it can survive for years probably.

Can Blight Survive In The Soil?

• Usually no, because hyphae and spores die quickly in the soil being dependent on living tissue, like tubers, for survival

Lots of other info here
http://www.sarvari-trust.org/late-blight.html

annie123

Optimisticpair wrote: »

I checked the maps too and there is only a suspected case in Scotland near the coast as Lotus Eater said.

But they don't cover the whole country literally.
I've spoken to them and the potato council now, and the closest a scout comes to London is about 40 miles away from me, and they dont have many around the countryside bit outside south east London because its not a big potato growing area.
The timing was right for the 3 day smith periods for my area, and my description sounded like it, and they said it may well have been a local outbreak. If it happens again can I post in a sealed bag leaves for formal identification.
They didnt think it was my cheap seeds either, so that makes me feel better:D said it was just one of those things.


'Sticks fingers in ears at talk that it may not have been' as I have already removed the affected foliage thus reducing my crop size:( and so have my neighbours too.

Only grow a few for fun, cheaper to buy them, but not as tasy as home grown;)
Now if something attacked my butternut squash or peppers that would be an entirely different matter!