Topic: Yet another potato and blight question!

[finchy]

Not sure if I have early signs of blight on my Maris Pipers, but say I did:

If it is severe resulting in me having to hack all the foliage off, and I leave it a couple of weeks for the skins to harden and spores to die, would I expect a crap crop? It is at least 1.5 - 2 months before I was going to lift them, but bearing in mind all the rain we have had,

Am I right in thinking the flavour of the pots will be 'odd' if lifted early?

[Kepouros]

Theoretically, Maris Piper should not even be starting tuber initiation yet - this depends not on the weather but on the number of hours of continuous darkness in each 24 hour period.  However, it is quite possible that the gloomy weather may have tricked the plants into thinking that the nights were longer than they actually were, and tuber initiation has started earlier.  I would lift just one plant to see exactly what it has underneath it.  You might well find that tubers are already forming.

However, there is no doubt that another few weeks in the ground would improve the chances of a decent crop, so the short answer is "Don`t cut them down yet".  If you have only just seen the first signs of blight then you should be able to keep them growing for another two to three weeks - longer if the weather dries up a bit - by spraying regularly and careful defoliation of all infected leaves as they show.  It`s now nineteen days since blight struck my King Edwards, and although they`re now looking a bit thin they`re still good for another day or two before I have to cut them down, when I`m hoping for some sort of crop at least even though it`s theoretically far too early.

[finchy]

So will they taste funny?

[tim]

Pick off all the affected leaves? Yes - just wish I could!

That's PFA so no hope of a crop there. Moan! And the other varieties have it too

[Barnowl]

Tim,
The spuds in my bags sometimes looked similar to your photo when I hadn't watered them for too long but recovered once I did, apart from some individual leaves that were too far gone. How do you tell whether it's blight or just early die back because of the weather conditions? For instance,  in your photos the haulms don't look particularly blackened. Is it because the leaf damage is blotchy rather than speckled?

[saddad]

That's why I went over to Anya, Tim.. on a good year all lifted by now before the bight has even arrived...
 :-\

[tim]

Aha, TG. but Anya don't last until February??

Don't quote me, Barnie, but this looks like blight to me!

And with PFA, they are 3 months from 'dieback'.

[saddad]

Ours do just about.. and PFA taste better, but better to have something than nothing..
 :(

[tim]

True! But does anything equal this?? Yes - repeat, I know!

[Barnowl]

Thanks Tim - that's definitely blotchy - commiserations. :(

Haven't visited my PFA for 5 days  so concerned what I'll find tonight -  last year got a pretty good harvest despite digging them up in late August,  so hope they'll survive a few more weeks.

Still have some earlies (Milva) in a bag  is it ok to leave them if no sign of blight or die back or better to harvest now and store?

[Barnowl]

Oops - just found the answer to my second early question on another thread surprisingly called 'second earlies'......