[boosh]

Has anyone got any alternative methods for blight control, I sprayed last year with a chemical but i don't really want to go down that road this year, but if needs must.....
The trouble we have on our site, a few plot holders don't spray but if and when there spuds or toms get infected they just leave them in the soil to rot. So we have a recuring problem.
Any ideas more than welcome 

[8doubles]

As far as i know when blight is about it is Dithane or die.

Nobody wants to use chemicals but if it is a matter of spray or lose the lot spray at the first inkling of trouble.

[mumofstig]

or spray with bordeaux mixture, the other option.

[corynsboy]

Grow your toms in a green house and your spuds in bags on the patio at home and hope for a long hot summer.  Or you could only buy blight resistant spuds and hope for a long hot summer.

Bordeaux Mixture is copper sulphate and hydrated lime so it's potentially pretty toxic.  However, Bordeaux Mixture a prevention rather than a cure which is rather satisfying because it keeps you gardening.  I always feel that, if I'm out with my bug gun or picking caterpillars off my cabbages, that if I'd been smarter or more organised sooner I would not need to be doing this. 

It's a long as it is wide in my opinion.  Work around the problem or try to prevent it. But as I lost over half my tomato crop to blight last year and I want to grow my toms and spuds outside,I'm off to the garden centre this morning to buy some Bordeaux Mixture.

[zazen999]

Protect with plastic over blue plastic hoops; it's wind bourne and if you can stop the wind getting to it then it can't affect it.

[sunshineband]

I've not grown open ground spuds in a public site for years and so have not had to consider blight prevention.

How often does bordeaux mix have to be applied to act as a preventative?

[mumofstig]

Bordeaux Mixture is copper sulphate and hydrated lime so it's potentially pretty toxic.  However, Bordeaux Mixture a prevention rather than a cure

Dithane is also only preventative, not a cure  


As for the poly....have you actually found it works zazen?

[boosh]

Thank you all for the advice,  it seems spraying is the only answer, Have never used Bordeaux Mixture,! has this got any advantages over Dithane or is it just personal preference,
Not very keen on the plastic tunnels, i would think it could get to hot under there for the spuds and the minute you open them up you stand a chance of the blight spores getting in.
the same go's for greenhouse toms, which i am growing. You open up to let air circulate and reduce the temp (on hot days when they arrive) so blight could find a way in.

[mumofstig]

the Dithane was reformulated for this year and now has copper in it the same as bordeaux mix, so wouldn't think there was much difference between the 2.
Bordeaux mix is classed as organic, the 'old' Dithane was non organic, but I don't know how they rate the new formulation.

[Aidy]

Blight will not re-occur as it needs a living plant, once the plant is dead it will not lie dormant in the ground, it is air bourne.
Personally I don't use anything, and as far as I am aware no one else using anything on our site either.
Crop rotation will help, I believe it may be possible to have contaminated spuds that are left in the ground that can pass the late potato blight spores.

[madcat]

The spores need live tissue to overwinter - which can be infected potato tubers in the ground or in the compost heap, and any volunteers that appear from infected plant matter in the spring.  So if Boosh's neighbours abandon blighted pots or toms, as my neighbour does, chances are the fungus will make it through the winter and be available to multiply and spread on the wind if conditions are right.   

Get yourself set up on blightwatch.co.uk , then you won't be spraying unnecessarily.

[boosh]

Thank you all for the advice and tips, will checkout Blightwatch.co.uk, Bordeaux mix sounds a better option. 
One thing a plot holder did say to me, if your outdoor toms are in a shelterd postion ie protected against the southerly and westerly winds they stand a better chance of not getting blight if its about, wind breaks could be appearing on the allotment. 
 

[PAH48]

Blight will not re-occur as it needs a living plant, once the plant is dead it will not lie dormant in the ground, it is air bourne.
Personally I don't use anything, and as far as I am aware no one else using anything on our site either.
Crop rotation will help, I believe it may be possible to have contaminated spuds that are left in the ground that can pass the late potato blight spores.

As Aidy has said.....and I'm in total agreement with him...
2 yrs back we had blight on our site...I as advised ...eer! on this forumn or maybe another..advised other plotters ...as and when you notice blight on your tats...chop the hallums to ground level...leave the spuds in the ground /soil till their time is up...dig 'em up....
It worked....
Rotation ....rotation...rotation.....blight is airbourne...

[goodegg]

rotation is no use to prevent blight as its air bourne it arives with the wind and there is no cure for blight all you can do is spray dithane as soon as you or plots around you get it and you need to spray every two weeks at least till crop is ready to dig cutting the haulms off ten days before you dig and burn them.

[Paul Plots]

rotation is no use to prevent blight as its air bourne it arives with the wind and there is no cure for blight all you can do is spray dithane as soon as you or plots around you get it and you need to spray every two weeks at least till crop is ready to dig cutting the haulms off ten days before you dig and burn them.

If we are talking about spuds I'm not sure I agree.... I don't use any sparys as it would be too costly and too time consuming.

If there's a sign of blight the potato tops are off and the spuds left in for 14 days and then lifted blight free for storage. 

The "no spray way"..