Potato Blight

[ordinarygull Profile Website]

Our allotments have been hit massively by potato blight - the speed it swept through our patch was incredible, although we have managed to dig up and hopefully rescue several sacks of spuds, they are not quite the harvest we hoped for.

On our blog we have documented the steps we've taken to get the blight monitored - thought this might be useful if any of you are unfortunate enough to get hit with it!

http://diggybob.blogspot.co.uk/

[lesleylove Profile]

This was mentioned on Beechgrove Garden yesterday. Should I also be worried about my spuds growing in potato bags?????

[Joanbunting Profile]

Poor you OG

I think you have done everything you possibly could. I thought it had to be fairly warm????. I suspect many crops will have been damaged in the UK with the dreadful weather with which you have been afflicted.

Our main crop suffered from too little water,despite the well. The problem was that the humidity was been down to below 30 for days and days and with the prevailing wind everything dries out almost as soon as you water it. As I have already mentioned the Colorado beetles are our big problem - but even they have given up!

Lesleylove, I think your potatoes in bags might be safer - less chance of spread i think.

[ordinarygull Profile Website]

Hi Joan

I'm on the South Coast, and despite the torrential rain we have been having for weeks now, it's been pretty warm - ideal conditions for it I'm afraid. Very disappointing in our first year on that site, but it probably would have hit our crops at home too..

We have managed to persuade the council to let us have the plot adjoining ours too, so a lot more work to do in the next few months, so it's not all doom and gloom!

Anyone with spuds in should keep an eye out though - it literally spread through our whole plot within a week - and we've been watching it spread over the whole allotment site

[Happy Violas Profile]

I guess that you're also aware that potatoes harvested from blighted plants don't tend to store as well ... last year I prepared them, par boiled and froze several bags worth. They made lovely roast potatoes used straight from the freezer. The alternative was to let them rot so worth a try with any that look a bit dodgy.

[Global_Worming Profile]

That's bad luck Gull, from your blog I can see you have put a lot of work into your lottie.
Touch wood no sign of late blight here.

[lesleylove Profile]

Well, dug up my earliest at the weekend. Not many and pretty small but tasty. But the other two potato growing bags look like they have been hit by the blight, either that or the high winds we have been having! The foliage was looking lovely, green and full of flowers and now has all died back and gone yellow. Not a happy bunnt!