Grow Your Own Magazine

Sorry folks, to raise the 'b' word again, you must be fed up with all these posts! I found just one leaf amongst the forest of potato foliage that looks very like the photos I've seen on here of blight. I've removed and destroyed it, and the rest of the plants look very healthy so far. Is it inevitable that it will spread through the lot, should I dig them all up now (I think they may be maris piper, they were planted out first week in May) and resign myself to tiny tatties or is it worth the risk of waiting a bit?

My tomato plants are right next door to the tatties and again look perfctly healthy so far, with lots of small green toms. Are they doomed? Or am I panicking unduly over just one leaf?

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Life may not be the party we hoped for but since we're here we might as well dance

You could always spray them with copper sulphate ( ie spuds and toms).
It needs doing during a dry spell though, and repeated very week to prevent any spores getting hold of the plants.

Otherwise you could dig up a few spuds, and if they are of a decent size, dig them all and store as they should be healthy enough to store through the winter.

Or- you could just wait to see if it is blight, and possibly lose some/all of your crop.
If you choose to do this, you'll need to check every day as it spreads like crazy. If you find it is indeed blight, cut off all the tops straight away , so the infection doesn't go down into the spuds.

Do keep an eye on your toms though- I'd spray those now!
Good luck!

If the leaf was turning black and was wet to the touch then sounds like blight. However, if the leaf was crisp to the touch, it's wind / weather damage and no need therefore to panic.
As regards spraying, blight is threatening up here and the commercial potato seed growers are spraying up to 3 times a eek at the mo.
I spray mine once a week - woulod prefer nopt to spray them at all but if my tatties take get blight and it spreads to the surrounding fields , occupied by the big commercial boys, I might not live til my next birthday.

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Rat

British by birth
Scottish by the Grace of God

Blog updated Wednesday November 13th

The leaf had a big brown spot in the middle which was very dry and crispy. The rest of the leaves, and plants, look really healthy so far. The compost is very wet in that particular tub (its the one on the end, and helps shelter the others a bit) so fingers crossed it was the weather. I'll have a good look every evening to see if any more discoloured leaves appear - thanks both for your help, I would hate to lose my first ever crop of tatties.
Rat - good luck with your crop, here's to a blightfree harvest for you - and those who have survived so far.

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Life may not be the party we hoped for but since we're here we might as well dance