Potato blight

[King Carrot]

I tried the blight resistant potatoes (Markies, Sarpo) last year and I never got blight on them, although my outdoor tomatoes did succumb. However, I'm not growing them this year because they are too floury and are not good to eat.

When I first tried the Sarpos I didn't like them as they were floury and fell to bits on boiling, however I think I’ve accidentally hit upon a way to make them grow waxier and boilable.

Last year I tried setting Sarpo Mira again as they do resist blight and I wanted some successful maincrops, anyway I was putting seaweed we'd collected from the local beach in with all the spuds when I got talking to my uncle who has set spuds all his life in these parts. The subject of seaweed as a fertilizer came up as I imagined they would have used it in the 30's and 40's when everything was scarce and difficult to get here. I was surprised when he said they never used it on spuds as it gives you a "wet" spud and they do love their floury potatoes here.

Anyway - when we started using the sarpos last Autumn I was amazed that herself had boiled them straight when I had been steaming them - they actually held together and made a nice eating spud. It's only on reading this thread that the pennies dropped, mind you – not much good unless you live near the coast and can collect seaweed !

I’ll probably plant a couple of Sarpos this year without seaweed to see if there is a marked difference, does anyone have any theories or knowledge on this seaweed/wet spud thing?

[sewer rat]

There are acres of tatttie fields round here . The farmers spray them for blight then before lifting them they spray all the top foliage with weedkiller so that any blight spores don't get on to the tubers when they're lifted as they wouldn't store. That's what in the shops.

Nearly Alice.
The final spray that kills the tops is not a weedliller. They were sprayed with hydrochloric acid, to kill the foliage to assist mechanical lifting and stop any late blight as you say, but the EC has decided that they can no longer use acid and must now use a chemical replacement. I know it sounds silly but the acid is actually safer !

[womble]

Some interesting stuff here, but no one seems to have answered my question.
If you don't want to spray your potatoes so you don't grow maincrop, do you then go and buy normal potatoes which have been sprayed with all kinds of things, including hydrochloric acid apparently?

And if you do (like I do) don't you think that's a bit strange?

Rat, isn't it possible to cut off the tops of the plants without using a spray, when you want to remove them?

[zazen999]

Hi

Spraying my mains with Dithane is the only thing I do that isn't organic as I also have the same dilemma...

[piskieinboots]

Spraying my mains with Dithane is the only thing I do that isn't organic as I also have the same dilemma...

I guess a middle ground has to be sought

[zazen999]

Exactly....

[Peter]

Some interesting stuff here, but no one seems to have answered my question.
If you don't want to spray your potatoes so you don't grow maincrop, do you then go and buy normal potatoes which have been sprayed with all kinds of things, including hydrochloric acid apparently?

And if you do (like I do) don't you think that's a bit strange?

Rat, isn't it possible to cut off the tops of the plants without using a spray, when you want to remove them?

I agree with you Womble.

Sometimes people get a bit hung up on NO chemicals and do not consider what was done to what they bought instead of growing it themselves. You are absolutely right ALL spuds will have had sparays, even organic.

Personally I go for MINIMUM chemicals as my gardening ethos, in the realisation that sometimes that is the difference between a crop or nothing. Also I'd rather have chemicals that I know a bit about.

Having lost 8 rod of potatoes a couple of years ago, they fizzed to slimedeath in the sacks, I reduced back to Nicola and Charlotte which are ready before the maximum risk periods and carry a decent yield.

However this year I have bought some copper sulphate "Bordeaux mixture" to apply when the Potato Council Fight Against Blight and Blightwatch services warn of "Smith periods" and am trying some Desiree.

[Edwardo82]

Interesting experiment Victoria, I have wonder what the difference would be, keep me posted please

[Alice]

I thought I had answered your question Womble, but if you need it underlined in red
You can spray them yourself or buy them ready sprayed. It's up to you.

[womble]

I thought I had answered your question Womble, but if you need it underlined in red
You can spray them yourself or buy them ready sprayed. It's up to you.

Obviously you and me are on a completely different wavelength, because we don't seem to be reading the same thread.
Glad to know others got what I meant.

Sorry if I upset you by asking a question.

[womble]

Peter and Zazen999, you have obviously already come up with the answer that I did a couple of days ago.
I suspect there are many walking around here not admitting to themselves what the potatoes in the shops have on them.

Thanks.

[faerieprincess]

Has anyone heard of the baking soda treatment for blight? I read in someone's blog that they used it for tomato blight, and I wondered whether it would be possible to use it on potatoes as well.

This is the recipe:
General fungicide soray; a gallon jug full of water with 1 Tbs baking soda, and 2 1/2 Tbs vegetable oil added to it. Shake the jug well. After your done add 1/2 tsp of pure castile soap. pour the mixture into a spray bottle and your ready to go. While spraying your plants, make sure you keep shaking the bottle to keep the mix from separating. Spray both the top and bottom of leaves as well as the soil around the infected plant. Repeat every 7 days.
This baking soda spray can be used to treat anthrocnose, early tomato blight, leaf blight and spots, as well as powdery mildew.

From:
Lydia’s Organic Gardening and Healthy Living Blog: Search results for blight

[womble]

The link I posted above has another recipe in it for a baking soda mix, although he states he doesn't think it works very well.
tomato blight? - Oklahoma Gardening Forum - GardenWeb

Zazen and Peter, do you spray your tomatoes as well? If you suffer from blight on them that is.
I normally manage to get round blight by being extra vigilant and removing the blighted leaves/stalks, I also have been relying on Legend and Ferline the last couple of years to at least give me some resistance, but this year I will be growing Ferline only of the two. Although I have got other varieties as well.
What I am not growing this year is Marmanade (as it didn't ripen) and Russian black cherry as it seemed particularly bad with blight.

[suzie spud]

Blight in tunnel

Sorry of this is a dulplicate guys...

I was wondering if anyone knows how long blight spores will stay in the soil and what if anything I can do to get rid of them? Also, does blight affect anything else other than potatoes and tomatoes?

I have blight on early potatoes I have in my tunnel. I have cleared the damaged foliage and pulled up the marble sized potatoes from 3 plants but now I am worried about the soil as I was planning to follow the potatoes with other veg such as butternut squash & chilli peppers. Will they suffer blight too? I had blight on tomatoes in grow bags last year in the tunnel and though I washed down the tunnel before planting this year I worry about the soil and my 30 or so tomato plants this year. I also have lettuce, carrots, garlic, onions, peppers, courgettes, gherkin, cucumber, mangetout, strawberries, basil, scallions, cabbage, leeks, chillis and various seedlings in the beds and in pots. Anyone know are they at risk?

Thanks for any input.
Suzie Spud

[womble]

Blight affects nothing but tomatoes and potatoes. The jury is still out apparently as to whether blight spores can stay in the soil overwinter, I say no and my organic HDRA guide agrees with me, other people say that it will.
You pays your money and takes your choice