Is this blight

[Martin the mushroom]

this is one of my ear;y charlotte potato plants. Some are more affected than others. Is this blight? I have read that early blight is unusual and that it could be magnesium deficiency
Any ideas??
Thanks for your help in advance
Martin

[ameno]

It's early blight.

Early blight is, however, completely unrelated to late blight, which is the devastating one.
As you say, early blight is uncommon in this country. It likes hot, dry conditions. Most of June has been pretty hot and dry, though, so that was clearly enough to allow it to strike.
I wouldn't worry too much about, it, though. It's not actually a very severe disease, especially not in this country where the climate doesn't really suit it. It doesn't affect the tubers at all, and only spreads quite slowly through the leaves. Just leave it be and let the plant grow; it should be fine.

[Martin H]

It could easily be early blight, but your Charlottes will be thinking about dying down now anyway - I find that they are quite fast to mature for a second early.
Nothing to worry about, anyway. Keep them watered and get ready to harvest!

[Martin the mushroom]

Thanks for your responses. I guess I was concerned because they are all so much smaller than the King Edwards and Maris Piper I'm growing and haven't even started flowering yet which the other two have

[Jungle Jane]

Could be natural dieback (if they were planted around 14 weeks ago or however long for the variety). I can’t see any concentric rings in the dark patches that indicate early blight,they’re probably fine.

[ameno]

Could be natural dieback (if they were planted around 14 weeks ago or however long for the variety). I can’t see any concentric rings in the dark patches that indicate early blight,they’re probably fine.

It's definitely not natural die back. When potato leaves die they go yellow first, then brown at the leaf margins, before going completely brown. They don't go brown in the centre of an otherwise green leaf.
Brown in the middle of a green leaf is always caused by something. It could potentially be a nutrient deficiency, but personally I would put money on that being early blight. Disease symptoms won't always present in precisely the way a textbook tells you they will.