Is this blight?

[Scoot]

Just been out to look at my garden and noticed this on my spuds...







If so, what do I do? I've never had blight before. My tomatoes are nearby too.

[Jungle Jane]

It does look like blight,id carefully cut a section at a time & bag it up & bin the stems & leaves,not in the compost pile though,in a bin that will rid you of the bag forever! Don't lift the spuds yet though I think you're supposed to wait about a week or two? Your tomatoes might not get affected don't worry,I had two tomato plants here with blight but the plants 1 meter away weren't affected. Wash any equipment you use so the blight spores can't be passed on to the tomatoes too.

[Thelma Sanders]

Yes, cut off the tops and get rid, as already said, and wait two weeks for the potato skins to harden a bit before lifting, then less likely to get spores on the skins when you do lift them.

If you've got any poking through the soil - I'd bin them, now, to be on the safe-side.

[Scoot]

Thanks very much Jungle Jane and Thelma Sanders. I'll do exactly what you have both said.

I'll cut the tops off now and put them in the bin that the council take away and get shot of any spuds poking through the soil.

Thanks for the help.

[Penellype]

If the spuds are poking through the soil you can still eat them as long as they are not green. Blight isn't poisonous and the potatoes are perfectly good to eat, they just rot if you try to store them. If you have any nearly ripe tomatoes on your plants near the potatoes I would be inclined to pick them now, which may save them if the plants get blight. In my experience once a tomato plant gets blight any fruit will rot rather than ripen, even if it is already turning red.

[Scoot]

If the spuds are poking through the soil you can still eat them as long as they are not green. Blight isn't poisonous and the potatoes are perfectly good to eat, they just rot if you try to store them. If you have any nearly ripe tomatoes on your plants near the potatoes I would be inclined to pick them now, which may save them if the plants get blight. In my experience once a tomato plant gets blight any fruit will rot rather than ripen, even if it is already turning red.

Thanks for the tip Penellype. I'll pick the tomatoes that are ripening on the plants now.

My tomatoes have only just started to ripen within the last 7-10 days so there are a lot of green tomatoes on the plants. I just hope they all aren't affected by the blight my potato plants have got.

[Penellype]

Good luck with the tomatoes. Most green tomatoes will ripen after picking, so you could hedge your bets a bit by picking some. They don't taste as good as fresh but they are better than none!

[Scoot]

Good luck with the tomatoes. Most green tomatoes will ripen after picking, so you could hedge your bets a bit by picking some. They don't taste as good as fresh but they are better than none!

I'll wait and see what happens before i pick anymore. I'll be keeping a close eye on my tomato plants in the coming days.

[Scoot]

Right, so some of my tomato plants have the early stages of blight now as well.

Do i just take out the whole plant of the plants effected?

[Nicos]

I'd pick the fruit before it gets a hold...try and ripen them in the sun/ windowsill...

One they are blighted...even a bit, they start to taste a bit funny

[Scoot]

Yeah I'll pick the fruit but do you get rid of the whole plant? I don't want it spreading to my other tomato plants.

[Scoot]

Early sign if tomato blight?

[Jungle Jane]

I had a leaf that looks similar to that but the plant doesn't have blight,I think it's just an old aged leaf,I cut it off because it's had it's day,there's so many newer leaves the plant has to look after. Do any of the stems have the brown blight mark on them,like on the potato stems the other day? If not it might not be blight. Have you removed all the foliage lower than lowest truss of fruit,these are the leaves that are oldest? Is that leaf in the photo from a low down stem near the ground? If it is then it's normal for old leaves to have their day & no longer be of any use,yellowing leaves are a sugar drain on the plant too. A lot of people remove the leaves that are close to the ground,it helps with airflow & I find it helps avoid blight,splash backs onto the leaves & having a humid wet environment etc.

[Scoot]

It was from about halfway up i think. I've been removing all the bottom leaves for a while now.

Yes, there was a couple of black marks on one of the plants' stems. It's got blight I'm sure. To try and avoid the spread should i just take that plant out completely?

[Potstubsdustbins]

I agree its blight the leaf looks quite healthy apart from the affected areas and yes the whole plant including as much root as possible.