Blight Alert already

[Penellype]

Blight alert here today - the first time it has been both warm enough and humid enough this year. Not a Smith period though as there were only 6 hours of 90% humidity yesterday and 11 forecast today. Tomorrow is much less humid.

[Bren In Pots]

Had my second blight warning this morning.

[Vince G]

In the East of England (my area) there are only 2 confirmed blight outbreaks as of now, one near Margate and one near Lowestoft, both in outgrade piles. I don't understand why potato farmers can't find a more sanitary way of disposing of outgrade potatoes, but there it is. There's another unconfirmed report near Ipswich. With any luck we'll keep westerly breezes for a while, to keep the spores away from my garden!

Confirm blight is in Ipswich, I've picked off several leaves today on both my first earlies and my Maris Pipers. Annoying as the Maris Piper plants are looking really good.

Allotment secretary suggest a spray consisting of 500mg of soluble aspirin in a gallon of water. Anyone tried aspirin?

[1Bee]

Does anyone have a link to a good pictorial guide to potato problems? Took the tops off several troubled Charlotte and Lady C plants last night, but on reflection not sure it was blight...

[Penellype]

Does anyone have a link to a good pictorial guide to potato problems? Took the tops off several troubled Charlotte and Lady C plants last night, but on reflection not sure it was blight...

The best thing to do is google potato leaf diseases and look at the images that come up. There are various pictures of spotty leaves, the late blight (Phytophthora Infestans) ones are quite distinctive. I find with blight that you can think you might have it when you don't, but if you definitely do have it it is unmistakable.

[1Bee]

Yeah, as I thought it's a deficiency, not blight - magnesium deficiency. There was something about the way the brown spots were all between the veins that got me thinking.

I think I may have overfed with potash. They'd had a good sprinkling of bfb and then I watered with some very old comfrey feed rather haphazardly diluted.

Not a problem, they're producing the yield I wanted anyway.