Comments on: Potato Blight & Clubroot

By: Simon

Simon — Fri, 01 May 2009 09:01:25 +0000

Just wanted to check if anyone else in the Bristol area has potato blight? I checked this morning 01/05/2009 and my potato leaves are all covered in brown patches. I know the weather has been unusually warm and also damp recently but thought this is very early for Blight? I know Blight happens when conditions prevail rather then time of year but after checking all the other plots on the allotment can only assume it has come early as all potato plants on the other plots also have brown blotches.

By: paul jones

paul jones — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:17:03 +0000

hi, clubroot can lay doorment in soil for up to 20 years.its not the end of world, i find if there is a bit of club root about to put a bit of jays fluid into planting hole before you r brassicas,and rotate your crops as normal.

By: dwtomo

dwtomo — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:14:31 +0000

Hi John just read coping with clubroot so I have only repeated the advice sorry

By: dwtomo

dwtomo — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:10:03 +0000

Hi John just some advice passed on to me at our allotment with regards clubroot, apply a small amount of lime to the planting hole even though you will have already limed the plot and this seems to give protection and reduce the effect of the clubroot to the plants even if affected.
Also regarding slug damage to potatoes, as a newcomer I was advised to plant my potatoes using a bulb planter to lift the soil from the hole to be planted and place a small amount of manure in the base plus layer of soot then the potatoe then another layer of soot and then replace the soil from the planter and so on down the row, then when you earth up sprinkle a small amount of soot over the row and also when you earth up again, this then washes down into the soil and the slugs do not like it, I have tried one without soot and another with, and it worked very well just thought I would pass this on hope it is of some use.(we are fortunate that the chimmny sweep drops the soot off for us as he has to pay to get rid of it at the tip so good for him and good for us)

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:05:50 +0000

Only planted first earlies up here in Cumbria this year. Planted Maris Bard but not till early May and had an excellent crop of spuds in Late July with very little slug damage and missed the blight just lucky I think as the plots around me with main crops all seemed to be blighted from late August.

By: lay_reb

lay_reb — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 21:42:09 +0000

hi there sorry to the bearer of bad news but i can honestly say that up here in east anglia we have had no blight at all. My tatoes did very well i am very new to gardening and allotmenteering so this was my first year. I chose arran pilot, arran victory, desiree and anya beautiful and tasty and have two big sacks to keep me going til the new year. Hopefully we will have a another free year 1n 2009.

By: nickyveglover

nickyveglover — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:08:42 +0000

Hi John sorry to hear about the blight. Ive been very lucky over here no blight at all, grew maris peer, kestral and pink fir apple also nadine. All did very well thank god.

By: John

John — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:02:56 +0000

Pretty hard to find a patch where potatoes haven’t been grown before on my plot. I think with growing you have to accept some losses. Next year the weather must be better.

By: Iain@jbaseedpotatoes

Iain@jbaseedpotatoes — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:21:11 +0000

The earliest potato you could grow would be Swift if you wanted to try and avoid blight.
I think everyone has blight this year but it has happened later than normal with most people.
There is always next year to try again and do better I always say.
Maybe you were very unlucky John and planted your Sarpo in a previously blight infected area that you didn’t know about?

By: John

John — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:08:10 +0000

Thanks Iain, I did well with my Kestrel this year – lovely potato and popular with the show growers as well.

As for Sarpo, I think they’ve done better than any other potato would have under the circumstances. It’s just that this year they haven’t done as well as they usually do in blight and slug ridden conditions.