Blight

[Arnie]

As we are all looking to source our seed potatoes for this year, I see the dreaded Blight has raised its ugly heard.
I would like to ask you all this Question

Do you spray for Blight Yes or No

I would set a poll but I di not know how to do one

Regards


Arnie

[Westi]

Yes if it is early in the season and I have had texts from Blightwatch. (It doesn't help much in a really bad year though so I concentrate on the Tomatoes as I can cut the foliage off the spuds if necessary).

Westi

[oldherbaceous]

Evening Arnie, what do you mean by, "I see the dreaded blight has raised it's ugly head" ?

But i don't spray, try and grow resistant varieties, and something that i have found helps, is to plant the lates a little earlier then i used to, so tend to harvest them a little earlier.

[solway cropper]

Not sure what you mean about blight rearing its head. You don't get blight in February!!

I don't use spray. I still have some dithane unused that I bought five years ago. I'm lucky in that blight is rare up here and I also mainly grow first and second earlies.

[Monika]

No, I don't spray for blight, but we now grow mainly blight-resistant potatoes like Sarpo Mira, Sarpo Axona and Blue Danube - they grow well, taste good, keep well, can be used for all the purposes I want them for and they don't get blight. You can't really ask for more.

[Monika]

About blight having "raised its ugly head again": I read in last week's "Farmers Guardian" that a new strain of blight has been discovered in volunteer potatoes in Norfolk which is proving resistant to known professional anti-blight sprays.

Is that what you meant, Arnie?

[peter]

I believe that Arnie was referring too a question about blight resistance on another thread.

[Arnie]

Hi Monika & Peter

You are both right, I was talking last week with a group of friends about all things spuds as we were sorting our potato order's, my mate's son works in farming and blight was mentioned but not in any great detail.

Then as Peter points out someone on the forum also mentioned blight and I thought this is early in the season to be talking about blight.

As with most things if you rush them it can get a bit mixed up so I am Sorry for the Confusion



Regards

Arnie

[Catherine]

We don't spray either. But we have stopped growing main crop potatoes because of the trouble we have had in previous years.

[Diane]

I grow a few first earlies....not enough room for maincrop potatoes. And I also grow blight resistant toms and subscribe to Blightwatch. So no need to spray.

[glallotments]

We don't spray and don't plant maincrop potatoes - this way if blight does hit the tops of the plants they have usually developed a decent crop beneath ground

[Stephen]

I haven't sprayed against blight in the past, prefering to cut the tops off. However, last year the regrowth was caught by a second attack and some tubers were affected. This did affect the Sarpo Mira I grew.
In consideration of this I expect to spray this year as a preventative measure.
As in previous years I have three varieties to grow this year, an early, a main crop and a salad biased one.
As well as aiming to find varieties I like, I also want to get the best separation between the early and the main crop, to exploit their distinct styles.

[Cider Boys]

Everyone should spray regularly as a precaution against blight on main crop potatoes, whether they grow blight resistant (not immune) potatoes or not.

Barney

[FelixLeiter]

Everyone should spray regularly as a precaution against blight on main crop potatoes, whether they grow blight resistant (not immune) potatoes or not

That's a good point. It's also worth pointing out that potatoes cannot be cured of blight once they get it; spraying can, and should, only be used as a preventative. Even so, not all blights can be prevented, so resistant varieties and regular spraying seems like a belt-and-braces approach, but in a bad year it's a wise one.

[Johnboy]

I always grow Maris Bard as a second early and not a very early variety because of late frosts in this area and I grow more than I need as new potatoes and allow them to mature to very decent and quite large potatoes. To date I have never experienced late blight on potatoes and only once on outdoor tomatoes.
This year however alongside my Bard I am growing Sarpo Mira, Axona and Blue Danube and all three are excellent potatoes with extreme resistance to late blight in foliage and tuber blight. This is by way of an experiment on my behalf for my own benefit and no other purpose.
I have two allotmenteers on my plot and they are not only growing the three Sarpo varieties I am growing they are also growing Sarpo Una, Sarpo Shona and Kifli.
We are trialing the Sarpo varieties this year because next year (2013) we will have 22 acres of potatoes growing along side my property and we will grow them again next year and compare the two years.
We do not spray against blight here.
I have tasted all these Sarpo varieties and some are better than others but then taste is a very personal thing and what I thought not quite so good other people raved about!
JB.