This afternoon I found a couple of potato plants with late blight :'(, walking past I nearly didn't spot it but something made me take a second glance and when I looked more closely I found some leaves and a few stems affected. Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy too early in the season. The spuds are away from the main potato patch but fairly close to the polytunnel with my tomatoes. I've removed the foliage and bagged it, I'll spray the remainder of the bed if it stops raining.
Really naffed off, hits every year, just when varies. I think I live in blight path central >:(
Just noticed blight here too. 'Rocket' foliage completely destroyed since I last looked a couple of days ago, and a few spots on other varieties. d**n!
Some varieties of potato (and all the tomatoes) show no sign yet. I'm going to step up deleafing of tomatoes to maximise ventilation.
Just been down to plot and home guard has spots on the leaves not onto the stems yet. Also looked around site and on another plot one end of a row with pale blue flowers also suffering stems starting to go there. I will keep a good eye on the rocket.
All other potatoes and tomatoes so far fine.
Hope it's been caught in time.
So far just the one bed affected here. But with 5 recent full Smith periods and one near miss... :'(
A day later and there are a few spots on Yetholme gipsey. Elsewhere on site there is one very sick looking row and spots elsewhere.
:(
I have a sick bed too, lots of spots and am watching like a hawk. Stunted foliage and very soggy bed, they are kestrels but charlotte in the next bed, which is raised, look very healthy. I think the kestrels are drowning
Had to cut Foremost down completely, most of the Charlotte, some of the Desiree and even resistant Cara starting to show symptoms................. >:( Horrendous year for potatoes.
We dug up all our international kidney yesterday - only a small bed, but shame they had to all come up,at once.
alison
another full smith period doh, I think I will strip tops off everything tomorrow, then I`ll have a couple of weeks to dig the potatoes out. I`m going to have to do a lot of preserving to keep up
been and cut the haulm. Two blight spots on stem base, phew just in time
I cut all the haulm off last Thursday - missed the Olympic flame passing my village to do so! Gemson was the worst affected so that was all lifted. Luckily I didn't have much of that. Charlotte was the least affected but I cut its haulm anyway. I also did a complete selfset/volunteer hunt round my plot.
Have lost all my Duke of York and Nadine to either blight or the potatoes rotting off.
My main crop are also starting to look sick, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Lets hope the weather improves and rescues the potatoes that are left
Just walked round my plot, no brown spots on leaves, but had to dig up 2 lady chrystl and 1 carlingford due to stem rot. The bottom leaves on disiree are completely yellow. Anyone out there know what this could be. Red fir apple, orla and blue belle all look healthy but of course this could change over night.
Found the early signs of blight on a few tomato plants in the greenhouse and polytunnel :'(
Hi everyone I am so sorry you are losing spuds to rot/blight.
I have just been to Asda for my shopping & many of the clear plastic bags of spuds have signs of scab or the start of blight in them....one bag smelt vile when I lifted it up :o
This is the first year I haven't grown any potatoes of any kind - usually at teh very least I grow the ones that are very expensive in the shops like Pink Furs etc. I've got a feeling any basic type will be very expensive indeed in the coming months ::)
I'm starting to wonder about trying some in sacks or raised beds next year xJane
I have two half plots the one in the Eastern side all the potatoes are now covered in blight
In the West most are still hanging on. But it is all around. 75% of potatoes on site are now affected. No potatoes up wind.
We have cut all the haulms off the spuds, even our early main desiree. The spuds aren't a bad size and , hopefully we've caught them early enough to get a harvest
If you think (hope) you cut the haulm off in time, how long could you safely leave the potatoes in the ground before lifting?
General recommendations are to leave potatoes in the ground for a couple of weeks, so any blight spores present don't infect your crop as you lift them, worked well for me last year. Although I did check them regularly in store. You could leave them longer if needed, slugs can be a nuisance though.
Quote from: Toshofthe Wuffingas on July 14, 2012, 01:21:11
If you think (hope) you cut the haulm off in time, how long could you safely leave the potatoes in the ground before lifting?
yep, a couple of weeks then we'll lift, dry and store them in potato bags from the chippy turned inside out. In the garage. Providing we get some drying weather, that is :)
Thanks. I'd want to lift them anyway before long to put other crops or green manure in.
Friday 13th - spotted blight and removed the tops from about 7 rows. :(
An annual event it seems only earlier this year. Last year 8th August.
Plot 2 today, had to cut all the desiree and kestrel tops off, got some good sized spuds under the soil so I hope we are in time, it doesn't seem to have gone down the stems
I finally had a sun shiny day at my allotment after 4 long weeks of ghastly weather....I walked around all the other plots just to check how things are going for my neighbours - every single potato plant looks like it has blight on the leaves, stems & they are still really short/small compared to usual. The tomatoes that are outside also look like blight has taken hold. I haven't grown either this year thank goodness. xjane
My spuds grew far slower than normal, but at least thee's no blight yet. It's bound to come if it goes on raining. Meanwhile they've been underwater, and I dread to think what I'm going to find when I lift them!
I have just cut down all the potato foliage and ripped out all the outdoor tomatoes. Some people's spud haulms are completely blackened. Luckily the earlies that are still in the ground have already died back so they just need taking up.
I wanted to cry as I pulled up the tomatoes, this is the second year without a crop. They are the veg I most enjoy growing, I raised them all from seed, and if it goes on like this, there doesn't seem much point :'(
Is there something I am not doing to "clean" the plot once blight has affected it? I removed all the plant matter, and the stakes, I leave out until the frosts come so they are exposed to hard cold, which I naively hope will clean them of any nasties. Is that maybe wrong?
Sorry to hear you have lost your tomatoes, it really is a shame after raising them from seed and getting them to this stage :'(
It doesn't sound like you are doing anything wrong, but perhaps just 2 bad years in your area for blight. Trouble is if the next door plots have blight it is likely to spread. Keeping rain off tomatoes is meant to help, perhaps a frame or temporary hoop-house for next year?
I admit that last year it struck later as we had a very bad August with cold and rain.
Everyone here grows outdoors as no one has a greenhouse (usually it's warm enough not to need any!), so once it appears, everyone gets it to varying degrees. My neighbour treated his but I have no doubt that his will go as he already had blight on his potatoes.
I am unfortunately not good with the DIY side of allotmenting so not sure I could build a shelter for them, but that would be an idea...
The last few years have been terrible for us also with blight on the toms.
We're in Mayenne (next to Brittany) and everyone round here has some sort of cover over their tomato plants. I've given up on outdoor ones.
Mine will soon be snug in the polytunnel (I know it's late in the season but it's been that kind of year and some toms are better then none!)
Jayb you mentioned seeing blight on yours in the poly...how are they doing? Do you normally succeed in keeping it out?