Topic: Potato blight??????

[Unwashed]

That looks very much like late blight to me.  I've found Desiree to be quite susceptible.  It develops very quickly so by now I'd expect the tops to look dreadful.  Only option is to cut off all the tops and take them to the dump, and if you're really lucky the spores won't have washed down through the soil onto the tubers.

[Ruth Rocket]

Thanks again for the info pumpkin lover and unwashed :).

[George the Pigman]

Since you only planted them in August it is very likely to be blight as normal die back wouldn't have started yet!
You need about 60-90 days before first or second earlies start to die back and 90 to 120 days for main crops. It was a bit to late to plant spuds and get anything of reasonable size before the blight, slugs or the frost get them! Anything you got was a bonus.

[Ruth Rocket]

Cool, thanks for that info, I will jot it down on my potato list, when I planted them I knew it was late, but was kind of hopeful that they would work.  On the positive side we have already eaten double the amount that we planted so yes that is a bonus.

[cornykev]

If you got the plot that late then you didn't have a choice, so as you said at least you've had a few meals out of them.
I put my earlies in in March and follow weeks later with middles and so on, but it will depend on your area and the weather, good luck with the other spuds.    ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

Given the stage the foliage blight was at in your photo, you shouldn't have any tuber blight. Keep an eye open for spuds which begin to rot. The fungus can't live in dead tissue, as Pumpkinlover said, which is why it's OK to compost the tops.

[Ruth Rocket]

Thanks cornykev and Robert_brenchley, I am going to print this thread and pop it in my allotment notes :).
I cut off the tops of the next bed of potatoes as they looked quite bad.  Looking around our allotment site I think probably all of the outdoor tomatoes have it and a quite a few of the other potatoes.  Just wondering if other plots have it, but leave their tops on and their tomatoes in the ground with it, is there any point growing these things nearby?  Or if you buy the resistant varieties will all be ok?

I had to bin all my carrots too today as they were riddled with little skinny maggot things which I guess are carrot flies?

I did however have a lettuce the size of my bottom! Lol!  And my first turnip! 

[superspud]

Glad I read this one!,  sent the wife out to dig up some eddies we had planted and looked a bit iffy on top, found they were huge underground so she is pleased, shouted something about "at last a real baking size spud not like tesco's mini sizes".

Our only success this year apart from the beetroot...

[antipodes]

Ruth, next year you can be planting your spuds in March/April and you will be harvesting your big maincrops by this time next year (usually they have about 120 days to harvest, down to 90 days for early varieties). Don't worry, there is always 2012...
And you know now to keep tomatoes and potatoes well separate - they are family so both prone to the same blight disease.

[Ruth Rocket]

Ruth, next year you can be planting your spuds in March/April and you will be harvesting your big maincrops by this time next year (usually they have about 120 days to harvest, down to 90 days for early varieties). Don't worry, there is always 2012...
And you know now to keep tomatoes and potatoes well separate - they are family so both prone to the same blight disease.

Yes, I am looking forward to 2012,  hopefully i have learned a lot this year!  There really is nothing like the taste of homegrown potatoes!  I am definately printing off all the advice I have had on this thread! x Thanks x

[realfood]

This is the first year in 15 that there has been virtually no blight on our allotments in Glasgow!

[Robert_Brenchley]

First time in years we've had almost none, though I have spotted the odd blighty plant around the site. Obviously, it's due to the drought. I'm hoping that most of what overwintered will have been eliminated, though no doubt it's pie in the sky to hope for an allotment site without it for a year or two!