blight and compost

[darcyvuqua]

hey everyone just a quick question

ok 3 of my tomatoes that i was growing in pots decided to laugh at me and get blight now i have sent all above ground to the council waste heap however i have massive root balls to heavy to put in recycling bags

so am i ok to put these balls containing roots and old compost into my compost bin or not?

im guessing thats if you grow direct into soil and your plants get blight your not going to remove all soil are you?

any help would be great

[rustylady]

Blight spores only survive on living vegetation, so the compost should be fine in your compost bin.

You could also use it to topdress beds in your garden. I presume you used multipurpose compost, if so I find that it's fairly easy to break up and remove the roots.

[lottie dolly]

get the kids to rip it apart,see who can reduce it to dust and fiberouse roots the quickest,very easy to do,

[Two_Sheds]

I compost blighted foliage. As said already, blight spores can only survive on living plant material, and foliage isn't live.

The spuds are: don't compost any of the spuds that have had blight

[Dusty Rhodes]

I posted this elsewhere, but it has some good info:

Tomato blight factsheet

[Marcher]

I have a question related to this one - is it okay to use compost that I was growing potatoes in that caught blight for something other than Solanacae?
I was thinking about re-using it for a hydrangea that I want to put in a part and I don't think I'm going to bother with potatoes, tomatoes, aubergines or chilli next year - should it be okay? I won't spread anything to the Hydrangea will I?

Another question - would the Hydrangea be fine in standard compost or should I just go and buy some ericaceous compost? The flowers are pink - do they turn blue from acidity or from mopping up copper?