Can I remind everyone of the Blight Watch service aimed at commercial growers but free so good for us home growers.
This web site monitors weather conditions to calculate the likelihood of Blight affecting crops. By putting in your postcode to can see the temperature/humidity pattern by day and night for your locality and whether it constitutes a “Smith” period. This is when the weather is suited to the spread of the fungus that spreads blight.
I have had 2 near misses in recent days so will continue spraying with Dithane as soon as the threat of rain is gone tomorrow:
http://www.blightwatch.co.uk
I have used the site for about 4 years now and it is a good aid.
Jerry
Blight Watch
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Farmers son looking to get back to the land full time one day.....
Holiday in Devon? Come stay with us: http://www.crablakefarm.co.uk/
Holiday in Devon? Come stay with us: http://www.crablakefarm.co.uk/
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Hello Jerry
We have used the Potato Council site for some time now and did our first spraying 10 days ago. This was not on the basis of a warning but our experience is to spray and spray again at regular intervals
I wonder what the Organic purists spray their potatoes with to help prevent a blight attack. I think it was Bordeaux mixture (very organic!), although I'm not sure what they use now, see below.
The trouble with blight is that you can only at best try to prevent or lessen an attack, there is no cure. Perhaps there is an Organic cure that I have not heard of yet.
Blight spray clouds organic claims
By Martin Cassidy
BBC Northern Ireland's rural affairs correspondent
Questions have emerged about the marketing and labelling of organic food after BBC research found artificial chemicals are being used to control potato blight.
Confirmation that copper oxychloride is being used to control the fungal disease has come from the Soil Association.
The association promotes organic farming as being free of artificial chemicals and has admitted that the copper-based blight sprays represent an "achilles heel".
Consumers assume sprays are not used
Organic farmers are also now asking questions about the sprays which the Soil Association says are used as a last resort, but which potato growers say they rely on to produce their crops.
Tom Gilbert, who runs Ballylaggan organic farm in County Antrim, questions whether organic potato production should even be attempted in the British isles because of a climate which almost invariably results in blight infection.
He said: "If you have to spray things to make them succeed, it's not really what the organic ideal is about. I do it with a heavy heart spraying them because I don't really approve of it."
'Under review'
Mr Gilbert, who sells directly from his farm shop, makes a point of telling customers how the produce is grown but down on the high street shoppers seem confused.
"I just assumed that things like that were not used on organic farms," said one.
The BBC's investigation has also found other evidence of disquiet within the organic sector.
The Soil Association has confirmed that the use of the greenish blue powder-based sprays is now limited to eight kilos per hectare - equivalent to three applications during the growing of a potato crop.
With shoppers paying as much as £3 for a small bag of spuds, they may now be asking what exactly does the organic label stand for
An inquiry to the association's technical department has revealed that while copper-based blight sprays are permitted for the time being, the chemicals are now "under review".
All this may leave consumers wondering if there is any evidence of copper residues in potatoes that reach the shops.
The results of the BBC's research though, are reassuring from a food safety point of view. The investigation did not highlight any health concerns.
What is now under the microscope is the definition of organic.
The Soil Association's claim that organically grown crops do not require artificial chemicals seems somewhat blighted and seems to run counter to what is happening down on the farm.
With shoppers paying as much as £3 for a small bag of potatoes, they may now be asking what exactly does the organic label stand for.
Keep Spraying
Barney
We have used the Potato Council site for some time now and did our first spraying 10 days ago. This was not on the basis of a warning but our experience is to spray and spray again at regular intervals
I wonder what the Organic purists spray their potatoes with to help prevent a blight attack. I think it was Bordeaux mixture (very organic!), although I'm not sure what they use now, see below.
The trouble with blight is that you can only at best try to prevent or lessen an attack, there is no cure. Perhaps there is an Organic cure that I have not heard of yet.
Blight spray clouds organic claims
By Martin Cassidy
BBC Northern Ireland's rural affairs correspondent
Questions have emerged about the marketing and labelling of organic food after BBC research found artificial chemicals are being used to control potato blight.
Confirmation that copper oxychloride is being used to control the fungal disease has come from the Soil Association.
The association promotes organic farming as being free of artificial chemicals and has admitted that the copper-based blight sprays represent an "achilles heel".
Consumers assume sprays are not used
Organic farmers are also now asking questions about the sprays which the Soil Association says are used as a last resort, but which potato growers say they rely on to produce their crops.
Tom Gilbert, who runs Ballylaggan organic farm in County Antrim, questions whether organic potato production should even be attempted in the British isles because of a climate which almost invariably results in blight infection.
He said: "If you have to spray things to make them succeed, it's not really what the organic ideal is about. I do it with a heavy heart spraying them because I don't really approve of it."
'Under review'
Mr Gilbert, who sells directly from his farm shop, makes a point of telling customers how the produce is grown but down on the high street shoppers seem confused.
"I just assumed that things like that were not used on organic farms," said one.
The BBC's investigation has also found other evidence of disquiet within the organic sector.
The Soil Association has confirmed that the use of the greenish blue powder-based sprays is now limited to eight kilos per hectare - equivalent to three applications during the growing of a potato crop.
With shoppers paying as much as £3 for a small bag of spuds, they may now be asking what exactly does the organic label stand for
An inquiry to the association's technical department has revealed that while copper-based blight sprays are permitted for the time being, the chemicals are now "under review".
All this may leave consumers wondering if there is any evidence of copper residues in potatoes that reach the shops.
The results of the BBC's research though, are reassuring from a food safety point of view. The investigation did not highlight any health concerns.
What is now under the microscope is the definition of organic.
The Soil Association's claim that organically grown crops do not require artificial chemicals seems somewhat blighted and seems to run counter to what is happening down on the farm.
With shoppers paying as much as £3 for a small bag of potatoes, they may now be asking what exactly does the organic label stand for.
Keep Spraying
Barney