Tips for preventing blight?

[Nikki Arnold]

There's nothing more disappointing than discovering your beloved spuds or toms have succumbed to blight, so this month we are asking for your top tips (from beginners right through to expert gyo-ers) on how to avoid this dreaded disease!!



Please note your answers may be edited and printed in the July issue of GYO magazine.

[SarzWix]

I make sure I grow blight resistant varieties of main-crop potatoes, such as the Sarpo varieties, in order to ensure that I get a crop. I don't particularly want to spray my crops with a preventative such as Dithane or Bordeaux mixture, if I did that then I might as well just buy potatoes from the shop. I've grown Sarpo types for 3 years now and never had a speck of blight on them. They make great roasties too

[Nikki Arnold]

Thanks SarzWix - any tips for tomato blight, too?!!

[SarzWix]

I trialled a variety of tomato which claimed blight resistance last year, Losetto, and that did well. It's a basket/cherry type, and had a much better flavour than some other types which claim resistance Generally though, I think some sort of cover is the best way to keep blight off tomatoes, even if it's only a cheap 'blow-away' type that you can find in the supermarkets and DIY shops. (Just glue the poles together and weigh it down well, and it will hopefully last at least one season.)

[lottie dolly]

Another of our mods posted recently,about boiling up horse tail for a brew,to help with blight,
I cannot take credit for this so,come forth and claim your post,

[donnakebab]

Try this from our very own Zazen. I'm going to try it this year.

Type 'Tomato frame success' in the search box and look for the thread.

How do you post a link so that it can just be clicked on?

[lottie dolly]

Try this from our very own Zazen. I'm going to try it this year.

Type 'Tomato frame success' in the search box and look for the thread.

How do you post a link so that it can just be clicked on?

you got it

[Aberdeenplotter]

Resistant varieties are surely the way forward and I too have grown sarpo mira with huge success. Spuds are also huge. It's also very sensible to try to grow varieties which will have matured by the time the blight season is upon us if we are in bad blight areas. Not everyone is in favour of spraying with fungicides and I do understand that viewpoint but it can be that option or a total loss of crop. If spraying, do pay attention to blight warning websites so that sprays can be applied at the optimum times. Blight only manifests after a sustained period of humidity (a smith period) and these websites give the necessary info.

[Aberdeenplotter]

Should have said, I have grown toms outside up here but it is very hit and miss because of the weather.
I personally refuse to spray tomatoes. Somehow seems wrong to eat something that has been treated with a chemical without washing and cooking it. There are various blight resistant tom varieties available now, ferline for one.

[SarzWix]

Is this the one you mean Donna? http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ess_60544.html

[roitelet]

An ancient prevention from blight on Tomatoes giver to me by a French lady. A peice of copper wire pushed right through the base of the stem at planting time. I suppose that the plant takes up the copper from the wire thus increasing blight resistance. I tried this last year together with a sort of tomato frame and some thing worked. The French also recomend putting chopped nettle leaves in the planting hole. I think that this is more for the nutrients than blight.

It wasn't me that started the thread about Horsetail spray but here is the recipe.

500grams dry Horsetail simmered in 2ltrs of rain water for 15mins. Strain and make up to 10 ltrs with water. Keeps about 2 weeks. Spray every 10 - 14 days starting early in the season. It increases the plants resistance to fungal diseases. I think I read somewhere that it is the high silica content of the Horsetail that is the active ingredient.

Here's another one, 1 oz fresh horsetail soaked in 2 pints of hot water for 24 hours. Use at once undiluted.

[StephenH]

Don't grow tomatoes or potatoes!
Seriously - grow toms in a greenhouse or polytunnel - it provides a physical barrier to the blight spores. Still have some Bordeaux mixture ready, though, because, if my very limited experience is anything to go by, greenhouse toms will get it later than outdoor ones, but they'll still get it. Actually, I think that delaying the disease, rather than hoping to keep it away altogether, is the best bet - if you delay it long enough, you'll get a reasonable harvest before the disease really takes hold. If it comes to it, pick them green and make green tom. chutney.
I've never had blight on spuds, even when my toms, nearby, were collapsing with it. Most odd!

[VirginVegGrower]

I grow tomatoes under cover only, glass or plastic. As for potatoes, I plant early and harvest early. Keeping my fingers crossed and eyes open has worked so far. Not really a foolproof method though