after the blight

[david71]

advice please on what to do on my allotment to prevent any repercussions from this year's attack of blight (potato and tomato)
I will, of course, rotate as usual.
thanks

[arthur e]

My local papers farming page reports that the A2 type of blight which is coming from the Continent is reproducing with our type A1 strain to produce spores which can be soil borne and can survive for many years and are sugesting a crop rotation period of 5years or more to keep it under control.
Sorry for the doom and gloom.
Arthur

[david71]

bad news but thanks Arthur

[CradleyMike]

Although blight can be in the soil, it is important to remove or burn all the potato tops, I had to do this a few weeks ago. We could not harvest the potatoes at the time so we removed all the tops although not all the plants were affected. Then I burnt all the tops, this was the safest method of disposing of them and reduced the risk to other crops. We have since harvested the potatoes and have had little blight infection within the tubers. The yield has clearly been reduced and we are going to be resticted in what we can use the ground for next year.

What alarms me is the sight of blight ridden crops left in the ground or placed on the compost heap!

[Chantal]

I've just cooked off all my spuds as the blight was spreading rapidly in the sacks.

As the hessian sacks were pretty wet in places from mushy spuds, I've put them through the washing machine at 40 degrees. Was this the right thing to do and was that hot enough to kill the blight spores?

[peter]

Chantal, I went through the blight problems last year and have subsequently disposed of my sacks.

The modern hessian sacks are very VERY flimsy, more akin to net curtain than sackcloth.

Paper sacks as sold by Edwin Tucker do a very good job (for dry blight free spuds) at a fair price.

BTW I am currently digging both Nicola and Charlotte without any blight loss (yet) and no spraying involved, just allowed the tops to die off as normal and have been digging as needed.

I am now of the belief after this year and last year that maincrop is not worth the effort, but that these two second earlies are, as they give decent size, fair keeping and great flavour, if tonights "rustic" chips are anything to go by.

[Chantal]

Hi Peter

My sacks are from Marshalls and they are VERY heavyweight hessian which took the washing machine in their stride. Flimsy is not a word that could be used to describe them and they are "modern" as I only bought them 3 years ago. Once they're dried out properly I'll turn them inside out and check them; I may even wash them again inside out to make sure.

However, once properly clean they are going into store as I've decided to give potatoes a miss next year. I'm not that fond of them anyway and after peeling and cooking one and half sacks of them, right now I feel as though I never want to see one again!

[David]

Ive just spotted some tomato blight in the greenhouse so I guess it has blown in through the door.

Are there any treatments I should give the greenhouse when I clean down in a couple of months?

Thanks

David

[Johnboy]

Good morning David,
I would suggest Jeyes Fluid would do the trick.
JB.

[David]

Thanks JB, JF it is!

DGB