Urgent help needed, please - is this blight?

[Caro]

This is the first time I've ever grown potatoes, and so far so good. But tonight, when I went to check on them, I noticed that the haulm of one of my roosters seems to be rotting. It's as if the haulm has been damaged, at the knuckles (if that makes sense) which are now rotting, but it does seem to go all the way down to the soil. Near the base, there are some white dots, possibly spores of something? And a leaf is rotting too, although most of the leaves appear perfectly fine, just a little wind-torn.

There doesn't appear to be blight in my area at the moment.

Can anyone suggest what this is and what I need to do about it?

Thanks

[SarzWix]

Hmmm... What does the underside of the leaf look like? Does it look white spore-ish at all?

Definitely take off any dodgy looking foliage; even if it isn't blight, you don't want whatever it is to spread, and the rotten bits won't feed the tubers at all anyway.

[Caro]

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for your reply. I went back this morning and studied the underside of the leaves. Couldn't see any white spores.

Nothing looks any worse than it did yesterday, although I gather blight is hugely fast acting. So, I've removed that haulm (buried it in the incinerator) and will hope that whatever it is leaves me with a couple of healthy potatoes!

Fingers crossed.

Thanks again

[susiewoosie]

I live in Ayr and I've just received a blight warning from blightwatch.co.uk They say there has been 2 full Smith periods over the last 14 days. They were the 10 & 11th and 15 & 16th July

[Two_Sheds]

Smith period means conditions are favourable for blight - it doesn't mean you WILL get blight

[susiewoosie]

Thanks TS. I've been worrying about it since the email. I grow my potatoes in containers and the containers are stood on gravel which has plastic underneath it. Do you think this would cut down on the chance of blight?