Blight!

[Michelle]

Another question from me!

After enjoying lots of tomatoes, we lost them (virtually overnight) to blight last month. Pulled them up and got rid of them straight away.

I planted my Carlingford spuds at the opposite end of the allotment (can't remember when, early Aug probably). I also sprayed them with a powder I bought that said it protected from blight, but haven't been able to spray again due to rain at the weekends and lack of light in the evenings.

Now they look like they might have blight (mostly healthy but some signs that they're getting poorly!). I know I should remove all of the haulms if it is blight, but will this stop the potatoes growing? I wonder if my dreams of new potatoes on Christmas day are over?

Any ideas?

Thanks

Michelle

[Earthbabe]

Cutting off the haulms will stop them growing and if they are in the ground they will need to be dug up within a fortnight or the slugs will have a banquet. We had to do this last year and lost some to keel slug as we couldn't get there in time.

The reason you leave them is to ensure that any blight spores on the surface don't get on to the spuds.

[Michelle]

Oh no, so I wonder if I'll even get any potatoes worth having... I wish I could remember when I planted them. Have learnt my lesson and now make a note of everything, but only just started that!

Thanks for your reply.

[nick the grief]

The Gardeners memory is like a plant label .... fades to bloody easily

[Michelle]

Don't even get me started on plant labels - I'm going to have a nice surprise in the spring when I see which of my plants are brocolli, which are cauliflowers and which are cabbages... I did label them, but not very well and now it's all washed away...!!

[nick the grief]

What did you use Michelle? I find really cheap pencils or something like a 2B are good rather than the felt tip pens

[Michelle]

Long story, left my usual sticks and waterproof pen at home, so just stuck the labels off the plants in the ground. Kept meaning to go down and relabel them.. by the time I remembered it was too late!