[pompeyboy61]

Blight on our site at Gosport , Hampshire plus reports on other sites in close proximity . Postcode is PO12 .

[oldman65]

for blight control spray go to ebay and type in blight control spray
and see what comes up.....might not be totaly legal but if it works   good luck

[Aunt Sally]

These forums cannot recommend the use of any illegal treatments.  They are banned for very good reasons.

The best treatment for blight is prevention

Thompson and Morgan have some good advice

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/how-to-stop-potato-blight

John has lots of good advice on this site too

http://www.allotment-garden.org/?s=Blight&submit=Go

[Goneterseed]

Interesting comment on the Thomson and Morgan link.................

If plants become infected they should be removed and destroyed (not added to the compost heap).

As opposed to another thread on here in which one of the members placed the diseased haulms in the compost bin.

[Aunt Sally]

I would never compost them

[GrannieAnnie]

I would never compost them

Me neither!  They might have been lucky, but when I get any signs of blight, I remove the diseased bit and shove it right down the bottom of a black used compost bag.  Fold over the top several times, then it goes down to the tip.

I'm sure the heat in their compost bins is hot enough to get rid of the spores!

[oldman65]

point taken auntsally but both thomson and morgan and john say spray will help to control
which is very odd as there is no legal spray on sale

[18Forts1999]

Noticed there is blight on my plot in Derbyshire  -  postcode DE56 area.

[John]

point taken auntsally but both thomson and morgan and john say spray will help to control
which is very odd as there is no legal spray on sale

Not really - when that article was written there were a number of fungicidal sprays available - although I did say the list was diminishing. Whilst there may be no sprays available to the unlicensed now, in theory, in practice there are quite a few easily found via Google.

[Salmo]

Interesting comment on the Thomson and Morgan link.................

If plants become infected they should be removed and destroyed (not added to the compost heap).

As opposed to another thread on here in which one of the members placed the diseased haulms in the compost bin.

Blight spores only survive on live material so in theory there is no reason why they should not go on the compost bin and well buried so that spores do not escape to infect other crops nearby. The spores will not survive to carry over to next year. If tubers are included they could carry over infection.

That brings us to the importance of not putting infected tubers in the compost. That is a big temptation when the crop is infected at digging. Carry over by tubers is one of the major sources of infection both on allotments and on farms.

[Goneterseed]

If blight spores only survive on live material, how do they survive whilst being blown along with the wind across miles and miles?

[John]

Blight spores only survive on live material so in theory there is no reason why they should not go on the compost bin and well buried so that spores do not escape to infect other crops nearby. The spores will not survive to carry over to next year. If tubers are included they could carry over infection.

2 points - first, the haulm is alive in the sense that the cells are functioning for quite some time after being cut. Second, spores float through the air so they must live for some time and remain viable to develop even when not on any material.

I'd certainly not compost infected haulm - a bonfire is, I think, the most effective and ecological solution. The dustbin style incinerators get very hot if fueled with wood which minimises smoke upsetting the neighbours.

[Salmo]

If blight spores only survive on live material, how do they survive whilst being blown along with the wind across miles and miles?

If they do not reach suitable live material within a short time they die. When they land on a leaf of a suitable host the leaf needs to be wet for them to develop. They cannot survive the Winter without living in live material such as discarded tubers.

[green_lolly]

Blight is on our site in Cheshire (CW8) 

[Sparkyrog]

Blight on my second earlies and maincrop Taunton TA4