Topic: There IS Life After Potato Blight Strikes (Conclusion)

[Kepouros]

When the Blight first appeared on my King Edwards on 29th June I dug one plant to see whether tuber initiation had commenced. The  resulting yield (?) is shown below



To put the tubers into perspective they are on a piece of 9inch standard kitchen roll, the largest one was approximately 1/2 inch in diameter, and the total weight was just under 4oz.

After 20 days careful nursing the tops were cut down and the bed flame-gunned. Yesterday I dug up the remaining plants and got



Total weight 29lbs, and every tuber carefully examined and not one sign of blight.  Admittedly not a wonderful crop from 10 plants, but much better than the 10 x 4ozs I would have had if I had cut them down as soon as blight appeared

[Mrs Ava]

Excellent Kepouros.  Mine were cut down 2 weeks ago before we went on our hols, and tomorrow I will start digging.  I shall take pics.

[tim]

Amazing. How did you carefully nurse?

[Mrs Ava]

Got the old man to dig a row and a half of kestrel today.  They had blight, but I had been careful, keeping the plants clean and removing all signs of blight as I went along.  The tops were cut down 2 weeks ago before we went on holiday and just look at these.

Some are huge, much bigger than my hands.  Not a bad crop, and I still have lots to dig.  Maxine and PFA are now blighty looking so I will spend some time sorting them out tomorrow.

[flossie]

Really good to see these.  I have lost all mine to blight this year and will be much better prepared next year - thanks

[Kepouros]

Well done, E.J.  However, if I might make a suggestion, wash them all off and inspect the tubers carefully - just to make sure that none of them has any sign of blight - before you store them.  If you`re not sure what to look for let me know.

tim, I can only elaborate on what I said on your thread on the P & D board. Blight does not appear on the leaf one day and rot the potatoes the next - it has to progress back through the leaf and down the stem first, and this normally takes several days.  If you do nothing during those first several days then you are likely to get potatoes like those you showed.

By carefully nursing them I mean that the moment the first dark spot appears on the first leaf you remove either the leaflet or the whole leaf.  You do this every day without fail with every leaf that becomes affected, and while you`re doing it you check every stem for signs of the brown streaks that show that the blight has got back to the stem - if you see any you cut that stem back either to a clean leaf axyl or to the soil (in which case cover the stump with clean soil from elsewhere).  You keep doing this until you think the crop is ready - if necessary until all you have is bare stalks with a few leaves at the top - then you cut them down.  Meanwhile you spray every 7 days.

That is what I mean by carefully nursing them, and anyone who does this rigorously should avoid the examples you showed on the P & D board.

[Mrs Ava]

Thanks Kepouros.  I will be washing and sorting them carefully before storing them, these had just arrived home from the allotment.  A few have slug holes, so I need them out immediately anyhow.  I would certainly backup your advice regarding slowing down the progress of the dreaded blight.  By careful 'housekeeping' I have been able to harvest a great amount of excellent spuds where as others on our allotment site have been luck to fill a teacup with theirs.  The longer the plants can grow above ground, the more chance there is of spuds filling out under ground.

[keef]

Its worth keeping an eye on whats been dug though - mine are ok at the moment, but my dads looked absolutley fine when lifted, but about a week later loads had gone rotten..

[artichoke]

On 21st May I took a proud photograph of waving green leaves bursting out of the ground3 foot high, the best I had ever grown, and went away for three weeks. When I got back, every leaf had disappeared, and there was either nothing on the ground or a few dismal blackened stalks. I don't know where the leaves went - there were none lying on the ground, and certainly nobody had cut them back for me (a very deserted allotment site).

So there was nothing to nurse along, but I started digging a few plants every week from mid June, and found they were a good size. Some were rotten, some had patches of blight, some were riddled with slugs, but about 60% were perfect, and have stored well so far, after careful cleaning and drying. In mid-August I still have a lot to dig, and maybe they'll become progressively worse, but so far I am delighted with them.

I did take a chance, because I knew I would be away a lot this year, and put them into the ground very early (mid-Feb, SE England) so by sheer good luck they got plenty of rain to see them through the dry patch we had next, and were probably a reasonable size before the blight struck.

I intend to plant them early next year too, unless the ground is frozen. On the few other plots at this site, people planted theirs in the middle of the dry period and they were quite stunted at the time I took my photograph. I don't know what their potatoes are like, because they seem to have abandoned their overgrown plots for the summer.

[SueSteve]

One thing about spraying - I have never sprayed mine, but when I looked at the Copper stuff it was very expensive I can't remember if it was £5 or £10, and that was enough for 5 sprays! Doesn't it work out very expensive to keep spraying?
How does that compare with a smaller crop/supermarket prices?
Sue

[Smileyk]

Spray with what?

Ours have just come through the soil and been earthed up and I'm trying to find out what to do to prevent blight.

Yours look good - hope we're that lucky!

[Robert_Brenchley]

The 'copper stuff' is Bordeaux mix.

[Kepouros]

Smiley, if you wish to pretend to be organic use Bordeaux Mixture (which isn`t organic at all in fact).  If you`re prepared to sacrifice organic principles for the sake of saving your crop use Dithane 945, which is more effective anyway.

SueSteve - from the purely culinary sense it depends on whether you prefer bought supermarket potatoes or your own home grown (no contest as far as I`m concerned).   From the economic point of view a packet of Dithane containing 6 sachets costs £4.99 and will give 4 - 5 weeks protection for 40 plants or 8 - 10 weeks protection for 20 plants, or yields of 60lbs+ and 120lbs+ (on a conservative estimate) respectively.  How much would it cost you to buy that many potatoes?

[rogerpacker]

Hello

I was interested to read the posts about potato blight. I have some pink fir apples in the ground and the leaves have been showing signs of blight. I have been getting rid of the affected leaves and have sprayed with copper fungicide and the problem does not seem to have got any worse. I have lifted a few of the potatoes and they are small at present so I am hoping to keep them in for as long as I can. The potatoes have small blue/purple patches on them. Is this normal for pink fir apples or could it be signs of blight in the tubers. The haulms look OK apart from the leaves which were affected.

Thanks

[Kepouros]

Pink Fir Apple does have darker markings, although I would describe these as a `darker blush` rather than blue/purple, and I certainly don`t think that the markings are blight marks.  However, to be quite sure take one of the marked tubers and cut cleanly through the centre of one of the marks and right through the tuber, then inspect the cut surfaces.  Blight would show as a small  brown granular patch under the skin marking, but I suspect that if you carefully and gently peel away the marked skin you will find clean flesh underneath, meaning no blight.

My advice is to keep them growing using the methods I mentioned above, and not to cut them back until either the spuds have reached a satisfactory size, or the blight gets back into the stems - in which case cut them back immediately.  But keep spraying, and remember to leave them in the ground for 2 - 3 weeks after you cut them down.