early blight warning

splodger_seedswapper

just to let spud and outdoor tom growers know - i went to see my dad today - and his spuds are blighted - some have what looks like blackleg too - so not many spuds for him this year

i haven't been to my plot for a day or two - but will have a good look at all spuds in plots up there tomorrow if i can see any signs of blight

with the high humidity recently - i'm not that surprised to see blight really, but it still does feel ever so early

blight location - just in case anybody wants to know - hants/wilts border (close to new forest)

lostinrates

splodger_seedswapper wrote: »

just to let spud and outdoor tom growers know - i went to see my dad today - and his spuds are blighted - some have what looks like blackleg too - so not many spuds for him this year

i haven't been to my plot for a day or two - but will have a good look at all spuds in plots up there tomorrow if i can see any signs of blight

with the high humidity recently - i'm not that surprised to see blight really, but it still does feel ever so early

blight location - just in case anybody wants to know - hants/wilts border (close to new forest)

Thank you.

I will check our tomorrow. Inevitable i guess, my roses were so clear this spring, and they are blackspotty now too. I just think its going to happen in this weather. . Our outdoor tomatoes are ages behind anyway.

Lotus-eater

http://www.potato.org.uk/node/910

Farway

splodger_seedswapper wrote: »

just to let spud and outdoor tom growers know - i went to see my dad today - and his spuds are blighted - some have what looks like blackleg too - so not many spuds for him this year

i haven't been to my plot for a day or two - but will have a good look at all spuds in plots up there tomorrow if i can see any signs of blight

with the high humidity recently - i'm not that surprised to see blight really, but it still does feel ever so early

blight location - just in case anybody wants to know - hants/wilts border (close to new forest)

Obviously your dad was not listening to Radio Solent last week, when the excellent Brian Kidd told us to get out and spray last Tuesday evening, and he was right, high humidity & rain at end of last week.

Sprayed mine as told, but with yesterday & todays's rain may need to repeat once it dries out enough

The link given is ideal, I signed up a few years ago, and had blight warning last week, PO8 so no too far away

splodger_seedswapper

my dad does listen to solent i think - but only in the mornings - so he probably missed it - too late for him now (not that he would have sprayed anyway)

i am relieved though - as my allotment site looks blight free at the moment - so i guess i'll share my spuds with him

Farway

splodger_seedswapper wrote: »

my dad does listen to solent i think - but only in the mornings - so he probably missed it - too late for him now (not that he would have sprayed anyway)

i am relieved though - as my allotment site looks blight free at the moment - so i guess i'll share my spuds with him

Better tell your dad, just had a blight warning PO7 & PO8, so guess same applies to him, if he has any left that is

annie123

Just had a blight warning text, I'm in London SE26 in case anyone else is nearby.

GreenTricky

Just recieved one as well in leicestershire

*manda*

Well virtually everyone at our site has it- we're relatively new allotmenteers- so please advise on what we should do. We've removed what we can see on the less affected bed, and sprayed. We've totally removed the other bed that looked very limp and wilted. The potatoes we harvested look ok- are they fine to eat if they still look ok when we get around to eating them? Probably wont need them til next week so presumably by then they may show signs of infection?

I believe you also shouldn't grow spuds/toms in same area for 3 years- is there anything else we should avoid in there?

Also we have just planted sweet potatoes- literally in the same bed as the duff ones we've pulled up are they likely to be susceptible too? We sprayed them yesterday just in case but they weren't particularly cheap so don't want to lose them?

Thanks. We too are Southampton. And don't listen to Solent as we both work.

[Deleted User]

very useful information
http://www.sarvari-trust.org/late-blight.html

bordeaux mixture will not be available to buy from next year

splodger_seedswapper

*manda* wrote: »

Well virtually everyone at our site has it- we're relatively new allotmenteers- so please advise on what we should do. We've removed what we can see on the less affected bed, and sprayed. We've totally removed the other bed that looked very limp and wilted. The potatoes we harvested look ok- are they fine to eat if they still look ok when we get around to eating them? Probably wont need them til next week so presumably by then they may show signs of infection?

I believe you also shouldn't grow spuds/toms in same area for 3 years- is there anything else we should avoid in there?

Also we have just planted sweet potatoes- literally in the same bed as the duff ones we've pulled up are they likely to be susceptible too? We sprayed them yesterday just in case but they weren't particularly cheap so don't want to lose them?

Thanks. We too are Southampton. And don't listen to Solent as we both work.

if you are sure you have blight cut all spud foliage off at just above ground level (just leave enough stem to show you where the plants are - but no more than that)

do not compost the foliage, or leave it on the ground - remove it from your site and burn it (if possible)

you won't have to lift the tubers straight away - they can stay in the ground for a week or two if needed. best to lift when ground is a bit drier - so you won't have to clean the spuds of dirt etc, as they are young and the skins are tender - you are likely to damage the skin when you clean off and dirt - and then they won't store

if the tubers look ok - you could try and store them in boxes of dry sand - again because they are young and the skins will be thin, i wouldn't store them in bags as the skins will rub against each other

if you have caught it soon enough - the blight won't have reach the tubers (look at stems of plants to see if they have discoloured - as the bligtht usually settles on leaves first then travels down stem to tuber)
if in any doubt - cut a few spuds in quarters - to see if the flesh is spoiled or is nice and clean - if flesh is spoiled in anyway them it's likely that the blight has reached the tubers - in this case discard them as they won't be useable