Topic: Surprised by Blight on my harvested spuds - advice on saving?

[George the Pigman]

I always look out for potato blight at this time of year particularly with current weird weather conditions. So far everything seemed to be OK. I usually grow some tomato plants near them and they act as an early warning as they seem to get it first. My first earlies had gone brown and were dying back which I attributed this to normal die-back - given the time when they were planted.
I dug some up on Thursday but today I noticed in some the tell tail signs of tuber rot due to blight. They were fine when I dug them up. The plant haulms seemed OK but the fungal spores must have been in the soil. I don't know whether all of the potato patch is affected or just one or a few areas.
Firstly has anyway had this happen before ie tubers affected but no obvious evidence on the plants themselves?
Secondly any tips how to preserve the spuds. I can cut off the haulms of all the plants and dig up the spuds. What if I wash the soil off them to get rid of the spores as soon as I dig them up and dispose of any clearly affected ones?
Any ideas?

[ancellsfarmer]

I fear we shall all suffer in the light of climatic conditions currently, but remember there are several rots that affect potatoes apart from late blight.
SEE:
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=471
It may have been in the seed tuber(s) or in a stray volunteer
My only advice would be to store in a manner that you can pick them over and use as many as you can.

[saddad]

In my experience washing the tubers seems to do more harm than good... unless you can really dry them off properly...

[galina]

There is foliage blight and tuber blight and they can be different.  A potato can be blight resistant on the leaves but not so much on the tubers and vice versa.

All you can really do is dig them up and let them dry out completely, single layer on trays and only brushing soil off not washing off, then after a day taking all out that look a bit suspect.  Then check again in storage. 
 

[Tee Gee]

As I do with my Garlic & Onions I lay my potatoes out to dry on trays as seen in the photos below.

Then when the soil on the tubers dries I put on a pair of ribbed gloves and roll each tuber in my hands to remove the dried soil  before bagging up.

This process also works to my advantage in another way and that is I can grade my potatoes by size and look out for any damaged tubers which I will use first

OK it is more work but it is a good rainy day job!

2nd Earlies



Maincrop



Cover while drying to keep the sun off thus avoiding them going green



Bagged up and in store in a frost free greenhouse!