potato blight or defiency

[morverngirl]

found my plot neighbour cutting off tops of potatoes as she was informed by old member of commitee she had blight and she had to get rid of. her potato tops were yellow with brown areas but we live in a very very dry area and apart from some rain a couple of weeks ago we have had none for months-we're officially a drought area, any ideas please

[SarzWix]

Late blight doesn't sound likely - it needs humidity to thrive, not dryness. However, early blight is a different thing altogether. Also known as 'target spot', that's possibly what your neighbour has. My Setanta haulms have it, and it does eventually kill the tops off. But it doesn't affect the tuber like Late Blight does.
If you could get a pic of the leaves, and the undersides of the leaves, we might be able to work out what it is.

[Two_Sheds]

Yellowing leaves suggests the plant is dying off, because the spuds are ready to be dug up. Blight is dark brown/black wet soggy patches, not yellow at all

[Aberdeenplotter]

Rain in itself does not cause blight, as Sarz has said, it is humidity that causes blight after what are known as Smith Periods. Have a google at that.

[snohare]

I'd say early blight rather than late, because of the low humidity but also because it is the same (general) description as the early blight some of my potato plants had last year. I just took off the affected parts and the other neighbouring plants were perfectly fine, I think I might even have gotten a crop from the diseased plants though I wouldn't swear to it !

[zazen999]

Or they are just dying off [yes, potatoes do die off when they are done, I know we don't see it over here very often but that's what they do!!!].

I cut my Kestrel haulms back on Saturday and covered the bed with cardboard and we'll dig out what we need as and when. Next week it will be the Amorosas. The late potatoes are still growing away merrily; which is why I know it's not blight but just old age.

[Alison]

My early main crops are dying down now, look really grotty but they're not that horrible mankiness that comes with blight.

[binley100]

My maincrop have been going yellow and dying down but the pink fir apple are still very green and growing well .....

[VirginVegGrower]

My maincrop have been going yellow and dying down but the pink fir apple are still very green and growing well .....

I'm opposite pink fir yellowing and MC lush and verdant.

[Curlykale]

.

I cut my Kestrel haulms back on Saturday and covered the bed with cardboard and we'll dig out what we need as and when. .

I didn't know you could do this - leave the spuds in the ground until you need them. I thought the slugs would get them. I tried to store some in the garage last winter but it encouraged a little long-tailed visitor to move in so I'm not allowed to keep them in there again. Do you cut all the foliage off or leave a little bit on?

[VirginVegGrower]

I would say they probably mean cut to about an inch off ground level as with maincrops as it helps set the skins on MC potatoes for storage. Must be a similar process, I guess.

[Aberdeenplotter]

I didn't know you could do this - leave the spuds in the ground until you need them. I thought the slugs would get them. I tried to store some in the garage last winter but it encouraged a little long-tailed visitor to move in so I'm not allowed to keep them in there again. Do you cut all the foliage off or leave a little bit on?

If you have problems with slugs damaging potatoes, it is well worth applying nematodes at earthing up stage. I used to have a real problem with keeled slugs but the nematodes sorted that out for me.

[Two_Sheds]

My maincrop have been going yellow and dying down but the pink fir apple are still very green and growing well .....

PFA are supposed to be a late main crop ...

I'm opposite pink fir yellowing

... mine did too so I dug them up. Not many (five from one plant, from my own saved from last year's crop) but they were big & perfect, and NO SCAB ~ I've done it, I've beaten the scab

I didn't know you could ...leave the spuds in the ground ...I thought the slugs would get them.

They might do. It's the soil-living keel slugs that do the damage (not many here, the soil is too dry & sandy for them)

[Snadger]

Because in the past i've had no trouble with keel slugs and very little with scab I usually dig spuds as required. Sometimes leave them in the ground all winter! Problem is sometimes remembering where they are!

[zazen999]

I didn't know you could do this - leave the spuds in the ground until you need them. I thought the slugs would get them. I tried to store some in the garage last winter but it encouraged a little long-tailed visitor to move in so I'm not allowed to keep them in there again. Do you cut all the foliage off or leave a little bit on?

We choose Eelworm resistant spuds for this reason; the slugs don't seem to like those ones.

And yes, we leave an inch of stem so that we can find them again.

Meanwhile, they are a little growing area on top of the cardboard for tomatoes in pots.