[shokkyy]

Presumably just about every shop bought potato will have been sprayed for blight plus other diseases, and an anti-chitting spray if they`ve been stored?

Unless you buy organic

[Gandan57]

Presumably just about every shop bought potato will have been sprayed for blight plus other diseases, and an anti-chitting spray if they`ve been stored?

Unless you buy organic

                                                                                       

Ah yes, "organic" produce that looks absolutely perfect, with no blemishes whatsoever!

 

[potatogrower]

i'd grow blight resistant varieties like nadine, cara and one more springs to mind sarpo or something similar, i'm sure there are more. i try to stay away from chemicals, as i am not sure how much they cost, as surely the annual cost would mount up so i'd like to be organic where ever possible.

[DD.]

Resistant is the word - not blight proof.

A quarter of a sachet of what was Dithane can cover a large area. Cost is minimal if you only make up what you need.

[Paul Plots]

Resistant is the word - not blight proof.

A quarter of a sachet of what was Dithane can cover a large area. Cost is minimal if you only make up what you need.

Not full-proof but it hasn't been banned yet. 

[vron]

Hi, we try not to use anything chemical if we can.

The maincrops we grow are maris piper and king edwards, we like these as they are such good tasty all rounder.  
Knowing they are not very blight resistant, we decided last year to join the blightwatch site and monitor
where and when the outbreaks occurred.
Having recieved several close calls in 2010, we thought long and hard before deciding to spray.

There were 2 reasons for this:

1)  The maincrop were planted out late on 19/5/10.  

2)  We decided that if we were hit by blight, and our crop suffered or were lost, we may well have to buy
from the supermarket, which we know spray their potatoes, unless they are organic.  
So for us it was the lesser of 2 evils, and at least we could control when, and how many times they were sprayed.

We were then alerted to blight being in our area (the maincrop had only been in 11 weeks)  
So we sprayed on the 3/8/10 and again on the 16/8/10, (again the maincrop had only been in 13 weeks)  
We lifted them at 16 weeks and had a beautiful crop of perfect potatoes of various sizes.  
While our allotment site was being hit by blight.

As much as we do not like to use such sprays on our potatoes, we were not prepared to have all our
work ruined.
We do not use any chemical sprays etc on any of our vegetables, but are trying sb plant invigorator for
the first time this year.

  

[DD.]

Resistant is the word - not blight proof.

A quarter of a sachet of what was Dithane can cover a large area. Cost is minimal if you only make up what you need.

Not full-proof but it hasn't been banned yet.  

Not fool proof either!

[Scotch Thistle]

2)  We decided that if we were hit by blight, and our crop suffered or were lost, we may well have to buy
from the supermarket, which we know spray their potatoes, unless they are organic.  
So for us it was the lesser of 2 evils, and at least we could control when, and how many times they were sprayed.
  

After reading all the comments up to this point, i was happy that i would not spray and take my chances, follow the blight watch site and cut foliage at the first signs of trouble near me, to let me harvest what i can.

After vrons comments however, i can see the point in controlling what gets sprayed, and when. Cant say i'm too happy but i guess it really is the lesser of two evils.
 

[Kristen]

After vrons comments however, i can see the point in controlling what gets sprayed, and when. Cant say i'm too happy but i guess it really is the lesser of two evils.

I'm don't grow organically (in the strict sense), but I can't remember the last time I used chemical control on anything in the veg patch

But I would use chemicals in order to prevent total loss of a crop.

A key issue for me is that I would then know what chemical had been used, and how long before harvest.  That's a lot more provenance than buying loose spuds etc from the supermarket.

[Paul Plots]

Resistant is the word - not blight proof.

A quarter of a sachet of what was Dithane can cover a large area. Cost is minimal if you only make up what you need.

Not full-proof but it hasn't been banned yet.  

Not fool proof either!

I don't know.. It comes with constructions doesn't it? 

[Salmo]

If you buy organic potatoes there is a very strict control on what they can be sprayed with.

Commercial organic growers have exactly the same problems as allotment/garden growers. If they see blight in their crops they cut the tops off. If blight comes early their yields are reduced. Hence you usually pay more for organic.

If you do not like applying chemicals you have to be prepared to cut the tops off early. It is no good waiting until half the leaves are infected.