Where have you experienced blight ? DId you spray?
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Michael196 Rank attained: Silver Birch Tree


Joined: 24 Jul 2008 Posts: 194 Location: WEXFORD
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Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 11:58 pm Post subject: Where have you experienced blight ? DId you spray? |
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Thought I would start this thread.
I am in wexford and in this past wet weekend, my crop of G wonders sucumbed to blight.
They had not been sprayed at all this season,
Damage was severe in about 20% of the crop with haulms flattened. All the foliage was removed today ready for destruction. Crop in the ground looks ok at the moment , as i am planning the 2 week hold off before digging to see the state of the spuds.
where are u ? Are u blighted ? did you spray ? |
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Sive Rank attained: Chlorophyll for blood
Joined: 18 Apr 2008 Posts: 1731 Location: Co.Wexford
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 9:08 am Post subject: |
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I'm in Wexford too, and my better half sprayed our potatoes last week for the second time this season, and so far they seem fine.
I tune in to the Met Eireann website every day, to check the weather, and you get very clear blight warnings there. They give you advance warning, and also advise which days will be suitable for spraying. It's worth keeping an eye on that site. |
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James Kilkelly Rank: Site Admin

Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 2173 Location: West of Ireland
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Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 10:51 am Post subject: |
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Sive wrote: |
I tune in to the Met Eireann website every day, to check the weather, and you get very clear blight warnings there. They give you advance warning, and also advise which days will be suitable for spraying. It's worth keeping an eye on that site. |
Just to let you all know.... blight warnings direct from Met Eireann are flagged on the homepage of the forum here as well.
Myself, I'm trialling a few Sarpo's "blight free" potatoes.
Not a touch of spray, and not a touch of blight on the foliage so far.
What the crop will be like may be a different  _________________ Gardening books.
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Liparis Rank attained: Orchard owner

Joined: 23 Sep 2007 Posts: 651 Location: Co. Meath
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Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 2:33 pm Post subject: |
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I'm between Oldcastle and Kells. Homeguard, Queens and Kerr's pink. All cropping lovely for the past 4 or 5 weeks, no spraying done, no blight (touch wood so far) no blackleg which hit 50% of my crop two years ago and about 10% of my cop last year.
Bill. _________________ Earth is the insane asylum of the Universe.
http://www.species-specific.com/orchid-forum/ |
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Fiachra Rank attained: Hazel Tree

Joined: 04 Jan 2009 Posts: 31
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Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 12:24 pm Post subject: |
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Hi,
I live in North Cork -it's my first year growing potatoes.A few weeks ago my British Queens looked like they might have blight so I cut the foliage off about 1 inch from the ground. The potatoes are perfect so it might not have been blight. I didnt spray with anything and only used nettle tea as fertiliser. I have kerrs pinks and sarpos growing in a different part of the garden. I cut one lot of foliage off because of black/brown spots but the rest look ok at the moment. I bought dithane a while back but I hate the thought of having to use it! |
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Sean Ph'lib Rank attained: Ash Tree


Joined: 11 Dec 2008 Posts: 201 Location: Co Kerry
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Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 1:48 pm Post subject: |
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I have Shetland Blacks and Orlas, both of which produced only short stalks, but no blight. My British Queens are all eaten, and had no blight. I have a bed of Champions, which have stalks over five feet, and no blight yet. I have Sharpo Axona, which is from my own seed saved since last year, stalks five feet high and completely blight free. I also have some Sarpo Mira, from seed donated by a neighbour, which has worrying black spots on the foliage - it might be blight - but I'm waiting to see if they succumb. Anyway, total spraying is: nil.
Incidentally, GPI, don't worry about the quality of Sarpos: I dug some yesterday and they were fabulous - and they're not even properly ripe yet! (they're late maincrops, remember.) |
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James Kilkelly Rank: Site Admin

Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 2173 Location: West of Ireland
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Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 12:31 pm Post subject: |
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Sean Ph'lib wrote: | GPI, don't worry about the quality of Sarpos: I dug some yesterday and they were fabulous - and they're not even properly ripe yet! (they're late maincrops, remember.) |
Good to hear.
I heard they are getting a bad dose of blight in The U.S.
Seems to have caught them unawares.
Maine Potato growers battle late blight July 25, 2009
Rob Johanson drove down a dirt path along a 5-acre field of potato plants and pointed to a scorched hole in the middle.
Plants surrounding the burned earth were spindly with brown, irregular spots on their leaves from late blight fungus.
Johanson's farmhands walked the fields with backpack propane burners destroying diseased plants covered in lesions.
Martin Draper, a senior plant pathologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said the rate of infection has been "explosive."
The disease has spread to every state in the Northeast and the mid-Atlantic.
Read more here................ http://www.potatopro.com/Lists/News/DispForm.aspx?ID=2841 _________________ Gardening books.
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Gautama Rank attained: Silver Birch Tree

Joined: 29 Aug 2008 Posts: 172 Location: Cork
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Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 11:56 am Post subject: |
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Fiachra wrote: | Hi,
I live in North Cork -it's my first year growing potatoes.A few weeks ago my British Queens looked like they might have blight so I cut the foliage off about 1 inch from the ground. The potatoes are perfect so it might not have been blight. I didnt spray with anything and only used nettle tea as fertiliser. I have kerrs pinks and sarpos growing in a different part of the garden. I cut one lot of foliage off because of black/brown spots but the rest look ok at the moment. I bought dithane a while back but I hate the thought of having to use it! |
I've come to the conclusion that blight paranoia is worse than blight. I was in my allotment one day and a couple walked by. One of them pointed at potato plants and said "blight.... blight... blight...". So far as I could see, none of them had blight. They'd blackleg, scorch and some were simply fully mature.
I've also noticed it on this site. Photos of potato leaves with brown spots, then a "diagnosis"... blight.
Also, a friend of mine saw brown spots and cut the halums away. Then was told later "nope, that wasn't blight".
I would recommend diagnosis before applying a remedy.
As for Dithane, I used it last year whilst my neighbours all got blight. After all the work I'd put it, it was the lesser of two evils. |
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