Blight takes its toll on spuds

Published on Monday 16 July 2007 10:54

ALL the foliage on a row of first early Rocket potatoes at the allotment disappeared a couple of weeks ago.

At first I thought it had been munched away by the slugs that have set up home under the carpet tiles that I've laid to suppress weeds (you're quite right Mr Longhurst!).

But then someone told me how potato blight is wiping out crops on allotments across Northampton.

The first signs of blight appear as brown or black patches on leaves.

Brown patches may also develop on the stems, or 'haulms', and the disease can spread rapidly to all foliage, resulting in its collapse.

Infection can also spread to developing tubers from the leaves and stems. Blighted tubers have a firm reddish-brown rot under a discoloured skin.

They are often subsequently invaded by secondary organisms (particularly bacteria) producing a soft, foul-smelling rot.

Warm, wet weather conditions are likely to spread this disease like wildfire, and whole rows can literally rot ovenight.

Spores are spread by wind and rain. The same fungus is capable of attacking tomatoes.

Now my first row, grown in an 'L' shape alongside a row of organic maincrop Arran Victory, saw all the foliage disappear, but the potatoes, lifted in two digs a week apart, seem perfect.

So have I had blight or not?

Elsewhere on the allotment, I can see that fellow veg growers have rows of disintegrated foliage and have dug up just a few feet, leaving the rest in the ground.

From what I've been reading, it seems if you think you have blight, you should cut away all the foliage to just a stump (to show you where your tubers are) and burn the tops.

Don't leave any scrap of infected material, as it will come back next year. Also, don't plant potatoes in the same place year on year – move them to avoid disease.

If you use chemicals (and I don't) you should spray with Bordeaux mixture, copper oxychloride (Murphy Traditional Copper Fungicide) or mancozeb (Dithane) to protect plants before they become affected.

Fungicides are ineffective once infection has occurred, and wet weather this year has curtailed both spraying and lifting of crops, so don't be surprised if the supermarkets start upping their prices claiming 'shortages'.

But then if you are reading this, chances are you already grow your own anyway.

If you don't have any signs of blight, then you can start to lift potatoes after flowering.

You don't have to lift them all at once. They will carry on growing in the ground and you only have to lift as many as you need.

Earlies won't store as well as main crop potatoes either, so eat them when you lift them.

To lift them, do it on a dry day (ha, ha!) so the tubers can dry out quickly.

Push a fork into the ground away from the ridge and gently lift under the root to loosen the soil, or you'll end up slicing through or puncturing your spuds.

I have a very handy three-year old who is more than happy to crawl along the trench fishing out 'tatoes'.

Making him eat them is another matter though.

This week we've had sausage and mash, potato bake and wedges, and he's gagged at it all. Somehow, his potato phobia doesn't seem to include chips. . .

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Blight takes its toll on spuds

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