Blighted by Blight

Plenty of damp weather is an ideal breeding ground for potato blight. Recently we have had plenty of damp weather ... and now we have blight! No real surprise. We had decided against spraying and tried the organic route. I suppose we ought to have researched exactly what the organic route might be before the blight struck, but hindsight is a great thing. Once a neighbour confirmed the diagnosis, a couple of vegetative emergency contacts gave us two options to try. Being curious, we decided to use one method on half the crop and the second method on the other to 'compare and contrast' (as they used to say in school) the results.

Not all our potatoes have been affected. Duke of York, British Queen and Cara were all badly hit. Cara showed a little resistance, but bit the dust in the end. The only potato that has stood healthy and proud as her sisters went brown, blotchy, and collapsed in a slimy heap ... were the sarpo mira. Guess which one we'll be growing next year??? Inside the polytunnel its a different story. No sign of blight in there as yet. We had planted potatoes around a thin edge bed, which would have been impossible to dig up against the plastic. Instead we threw potatoes on the ground and covered them with rotted manure ... no digging required. Once harvested we will simply mulch the bed and use it as required. I'm thinking a low lying crop ... perhaps strawberries in this mini side bed? So, back to the task at hand ....

Mother In Law, an allotment expert, gave us the first blight approach ;
Dig up the spuds, gently wash them (we used the kids paddling pool), dry them, and store in a cool dry place in paper sacks. A lot of digging ensued. The benefit of this is that the potatoes are already washed when I go to use them in the kitchen.

Option number two came from Hedgewizard in quick response to a pleading email from me ;
Remove and burn all the vegetation. Leave the spuds in the ground for three weeks, during which time the spores will have died off. On a dry sunny day (snigger!) dig up the potatoes and store them without washing, in a cool dry place, in a paper sack.

For both methods any damaged tubers must not be stored, and should be used immediately. I'll let you know what happens.

In Ireland you can't hear the word 'blight' without thinking of the Great Hunger. To gain some understanding of the dark causes of the terrible famine (no, not just blight!) you ought to take the time to  read up on Irish history. If fiction is your thing, I can recommend an excellent book which is set during the stark realities of the Irish famine, called  Star of the Sea, by Joseph O'Connor

Comments

[Henriette]

Hi
lovely page- used to live in Ireland- love the place :-D

Anyway we are badly hit here in Denamrk as well.
We use the latter option- remove all tops - store in the ground- take them up and let them dry 1 day- and store in paperbags.

It worked quite well for me last year when August rained away here. This year I´m glad that only grew early new potatoes- for the late part of june and all july has been crazy with rain- so if I had grown potates to store it would have hit us bad- I see my neighbours fields and they don´t look good- but I have only 3 plants left.

[Marie]

Hi Rebecca,

Sorry to hear about the blight, but it sounds like you managed to save some of your crop.

I was thinking about the famine as I read your post and will look out for the book you recommended.

Marie x

[Barbara C.]

I read Star of the Sea. It was an intense book. I kept thinking about my four grandparents and their lives there. One grandmother would never return after she emmigrated. She said the memories were just too bad......and now look at Ireland.... wish my grandparents were aware of it's new golden age!
Barbara C.
Oh, good luck with the spuds!

[colour it green]

ah join the club - my spud have had blight - but we have brought he harvest in, and have washed dried sorted and stored. seems to be working out so far - but then spuds were not devastated... unfortunately my tomatoes.. inside and out have got the blight.. and gone down fast.... boo :(

[carolyn]

The organic method sounds much kinder than the method our potato farming friends are currently applying. They are currently spraying against blight on every dry day (admittedly they are a bit few and far between)and as if that is not enough on wet days they are spraying against slug. Apparently the chemical makes the slug explode, well that is how it was described to me. Then of course there is the stuff they use to stop the potato sprouting in the cold stores. Somehow I don't think we will be quite so grateful for the gifted sacks of potatoes this year, enen if they do make the best chips and roasties in the world (Maris Piper).

[Ash]

Mine had it. I dug up everything, washed them, dried them and have them in a paper sack. Didn't get that much of a harvest because we had it over a month ago. I still got a few though.

[Sorcha]

There was no famine in Ireland.
Yes, the blight failed many a potato crop and it's fair to say that there was a potato famine. But Ireland was still growing other crops at the time which were seized by Britain and exported from the country and at great expense to the Irish people. That said, I think it's fair to say that the Great Hunger was not a famine but actually genocide via the starvation of a people due to prevention of access to food.

Blight is spread via airborne spores so it's not surprising your tunnel has remained blight free. No doubt you are not using the same equipment in there as you are outside.

You can't spray or utilise treatment once blight has hit nor can you use the tubers. Seeds for next year must not be from the same crop and remember, it's not the damp that does it, it's warmth and humidity. Cold actually kills blight.

Good luck.