Potato Problems - potatoes showing first signs of blight...what to do...

Yesterday I noticed a problem with my main crop potatoes.. . signs of potato blight.

My late crop potatoes were showing early signs of blight on the foliage. The plot next door has potato with the leaves blackened and flopping over. What I decided to do ....


Firstly I removed the foliage on the potatoes and destroy it; some people burn it - you must not compost the leaves and stems affected.

Secondly I dug up the potatoes making sure that all of the potatoes were removed from the ground.

Some people remove the foliage and leave the potatoes to grow on. I decided not to as the potatoes were ready to harvest anyway and the plot nearby had the foliage still on the potatoes and it was very badly affected by blight.

Luckily the potatoes I dug up are so far unaffected . As I have acted at the early signs of the potato blight disease on the potato foliage, I hope the potatoes will remain unaffected and we can use them quickly. So far they are fine to eat, but I will use them as soon as possible and not store them over winter.

Next year I shall make sure I do not plant potatoes in the same area that they were in this year
 i.e. remembering to plant by  the crop rotation rules.

As an added precaution this year I will try not to move the soil from the potato area to other parts of the vegetable plot.

Remember to check any tomato plants you have for blight as they also suffer from this problem.

Here is a link to a blog with a photo and useful  information about potato blight...
this site also has another page with more details about blight.           link.         But  please visit my allotment journal again soon.