Potato blight our fault?

[Mikey]

The blight didn't take my potatoes this year, the slugs did. They were quite fair though they left me about 20% for immediate use.

[Two_Sheds]

Is the Potato Council going to stop sending out free spud kits to schools then?

[ancee]

I was talking to my Mum about the cost of seed potatoes going up and she said that when she grew them when we were all small she just grew sprouted potato peelings. She used to peel the potatoes that had sproutlings on them and plant them and they always worked! I'm going to try it next year, it's worth a try and she is really good at gardening and so knows some things sometimes!

[Aberdeenplotter]

Mothers know everything (always)

[Two_Sheds]

Mum ... just grew sprouted potato peelings.

Do people still peel potatoes? (Mum says that's where all the vitamins are).


I chuck sprouty ends of my spuds into the daleks, and usually get a better, earlier crop from there than from my proper planted ones.

[tattieman]

I have had emails and phone calls about this all day and I have to say that the wording I have seen in the telegraph and other publications does not make the potato council sound very friendly towards amateur growers.

Blight is always a problem and this year farmers have been struggling with the worst growing conditions ever known. We have only lifted about 50% of our crops but there's no point blaming anyone.

I have a vested interest in this as we supply the amateur gardeners but people should have the choice to grow what they like.

That's really all I can say on the matter at the moment.

[SarzWix]

I took my gardening group from school to a Potato Council organised day where they showed the kids how to plant and feed potatoes, which took about half an hour, and then spent another couple of hours brainwashing them about how great lots of potato products are. Like frozen potato croquettes and frozen chips, and 'Smileys' and frozen roasties... Oh yes, and right at the end, 'a simple jacket potato'. It's quite lucky that there were lots of small children around because it meant I had to keep my mouth shut!

Anyway, it seemed obvious that the whole thing was a marketing exercise, and not much to do with promoting growing for kids, hence the attitude shown in this article doesn't surprise me. Although it does make me extremely angry. Particularly as the Savari Trust, who bred the Sarpo family of blight resistant spuds, are in need of funding to get their new varieties through the expensive EU testing/listing process. Why not work with them Mr Potato Council, instead of whingeing?!

[Two_Sheds]

Potato Council ...spent another couple of hours brainwashing them about ... frozen potato croquettes and frozen chips, and 'Smileys' and frozen roasties..... the whole thing was a marketing exercise

Yes, I got impression that from their website.

I've cancelled our participation in their Spuds For Schools scheme (but for a different reason: they supply a few spuds & grow bags, but only give us a few weeks to grow the spuds before they are to be dug & weighed for the competition. Well, our spuds are never bigger than marbles, and the children are always disappointed: the lesson they learn is that it's not worth growing them yourself!. This year we planted my spuds in the ground ~ despite spuds being on the "banned" list ~ and got a huge crop).

[SarzWix]

If the farmers spray anyway then what's the issue?

Incidentally, I think a lot of their problem is down to this: the amount and frequency of the rainfall has meant that their spraying regime didn't work. Either too wet to spray or the spray was washed off, or it was too wet to get the machines into the fields to spray or harvest. This is a problem that isn't going to go away, so again the answer seems to be blight-resistant varieties, and a change in farming practices...

[cptncrackoff]

I havnt heard any farmers complaining about blight this year.
low yields, bad weather, wet, dry, wet, yes, I have even heard of farmers still with alot of potatoes still in the ground.

I wouldnt have thought blight is as big a problem as the millions of potatoes that are throw back by the farmers every year.
Slight green, too small, too big! It's quite a sight to see.

As is the amount of onions discarded, i saw (and collected) a lot of onions discarded purely because they are too large for a major supermarket.

I also dont think that farmers suffer quite as much during shortage years as they would have us think - I saw desiree being sold at £9 a bag on the way home, the same farmer this time last year was selling at £4.50, their costs have not doubled. They may have increased, but i doubt doubled.

Unfortunatly there are alot of sprays being applied.
The worst i encountered was when i was little, every few years we had potatoes grown in the field that surrounded our house.
The farmer in question always 'sprayed off' the tops prior to harvest with sulphuric acid, the smell was disgusting, acrid, burning smell, that also irritated my asthma.
These potatoes were sold in Tesco, I hope we all washed them properly.
Cc