potato blight

amandstu

My poratoes got the blight a good few weeks back.

As I normally do, I cut the haulms down to ground level , cleared them away and proceeded to use the potatoes as needed in the kitchen.
Like I say I do this every year.

However on this occasion ,whilst the tubers are still good I have come across the odd one that is completely liquified as well as the odd one that is a suspicious colour on the outside.

So my question is this: If the blight has spread to the tubers (or to just the odd one amongst them) am I safe in the assumption that ,baring floods, it is not going to spread to the others in the soil?

I feel that if I was to lift and store them that that is exactly what would happen but that ,if I just leave them in the ground (minus the haulms like I said) they will be more or less protected (apart from those tubers that are already infected)

I know that the normal advice is to lift and store the tubers but that is quite a bit of trouble (and it may also attract mice moreso than if I leave them in place)

redser7

Well I guess by leaving them in the ground you are risky carrying the blight into next year. It will live on any living tissue which the spuds are. I think the accepted advise is to lift them and hope your crop gets you through the winter. I would check them regularly. Pain but leaving them could cause bigger problems down the road.

amandstu

thanks but won't stacking the spuds in close proximity favour the spread of the blight from one to another if there are any bad ones amongst them (in an airborn way ) whereas leaving them in the ground would keep them more isolated?

Now that I think back I did used to lift them in the past and the way I kept out the mice was by wrappping them in fleece-although I am not sure if that wasn't down to good luck as well.Also ,then, there may have been no blight in the crop whereas I do think it may have been infected this year.

redser7

Well yes, it could spread in the sacks. Which is why you would have to keep checking them. But my main point is not about this year's crop, it's about keeping the blight alive in your soil. That could infect next year's crop. Safest thing is to compost the foliage and make sure you get everything out of the ground that could harbour the blight spores, dig the spuds up, get rid of any dodgey ones and hope for the best with the rest.

amandstu

What about if you don't replant in the same patch? That is what I normally count on(actually I plant in separate patches ideally -they don't all catch the blight at the same time either) .

Anyway I thought the blight spread from great distances.Is that a (longlived -over 20years) misconception on my part? Do they come from your own area so that it might , in theory be possible to eradicate it on your own garden if you didn't have close neighbours?

Clare man

I have the same problem, do not spray, got blight, most of tubers are fine, come across the odd blight potato.

I just dig what i need and leave the rest in ground, have done so for years, one year I dug them up and bagged them, but did not check them regularly and ended up with a rotten mass.

IT depends on what volume you have, if you have enough to last through complete winter and spring then save some, if you will run out this year leave in ground and use away

you will need to rotate and fork thru ground to ensure you collect the volunteers irrespective, I do not compost any blighted material