potato blight

blowin · potato blight

I have just noticed that my spuds have got quite extensive blight on the leaves . This must have developed over the past 24 hrs .
The common advice is to immediately spray with chemicals but I googled this subject to death last year and found one article which pointed out that there are 2 distinct types of blight . The one which appears before ?? mid July is not harmful to the tubers . It is "Late Blight" which appears later in the year which is the serious problem for both spuds and tomatos .
The blotches look the same but the Early type is ?? confined between the veins on the leaf ?? whereas the Late type spreads over everything .
The question marks are there because I cannot remember the precise detail and can't find the article either . Possibly it was incorrect and has been deleted but it appeared to be authoritative and from a good source . Does anyone know for sure ? Thanks .

chook

I doubt it's blight. They probably got frost!

chook

greentree

I agree - there was a frost on Tuesday night. I had to cover my spuds in straw and I think I saved them.

You will know frost because after a couple of days the leaves will turn yellow/black and tend to dry out. Blight rots the stalks and they stink.

I have never got blight here. Think its something to do with altitude....

Mike

quarryman

There were two nights of frost in your area Blowin. We got away with it down here but the forcast gives blight conditions over the weekend. If the wind picks up we should be ok.

wayoutwest

if you do get blight, the very instant you recognise it as such, cut everything off down to the stem, and then mulch quite heavily. We've done that for the past two years and it's meant saving all the spuds. they carry on growing under there. oh, but we only grow earlies - just too blighty for main crop here.

the cold spell was enough to finish off my first load of squash plants. that'll teach me to put them out before august! Laughing

blowin

Thanks for all the input . I was pretty sure it is fungal but I now think you are probably right about it being frost damage . I have no prior experience of that . I will keep a close eye on it .
Here are a couple of links to fact sheets for future reference anyway !
This one is specifically about the Early strain , c/w pictures http://plant-disease.ippc.orst.edu/disease.cfm?RecordID=886
This one covers both Early and Late
http://www.hort.uconn.edu/ipm/veg/htms/bltpot.htm

GB

So mine just have a bit of frost then. I couldnt work out what was wrong as it looked that little bit different from blight. Although I have only seen blight when it wiped my toms in the greenhouse in our last place so I wasnt sure if it would look the same Confused

chook

Mine were about 8" high when they got whacked right down to the ground - they are just starting to come back up. Damn, the one year I actually managed to get them in at the right time...

chook

greentree

Luckily I saved mine. Covered them in straw. Some of the leaves that were poking out got burnt. Also I had a row of late spuds only an inch high that were severely damaged but they are young enough that they should come back.