[devonbarmygardener]

...haven't I ??
I'm thinking so.

[Muls]

Frost damage ? From the other night when it snowed in Princetown?

[bravemurphy]

WOW that does like  blight, but the temps have been too low haven't they??

[devonbarmygardener]

I had frost damage a few years ago when I did a February planting of first earlies. Surprise surprise!
They went black then. And recovered.

This looks more suspicious...

[bravemurphy]

I am not an expert but surely it got to be frost the temps haven't got that high and humid for the dreaded blight yet, well I hope they haven't 

[Totty]

I think unless they are in an area badly effected with blight in recent years, you would be really unlucky to have a blight strike so early. We have had a couple of frosts around here in the last week or so, and I reckon it looks like the frost has just touched them.

Totty

[devonbarmygardener]

The potatoes in bags in the back garden are completely unaffected.
All the potatoes on the lottie, in bags and in the ground are showing these signs.

[DD.]

That is frost damage. There are a lot of spuds on our site that look exactly like that.

There have been no reported outbreaks of blight in the UK thus far this year, the weather has not been conducive to it. No doubt your plot is more exposed than your back garden.

[devonbarmygardener]

This is true about the exposure, but it didn't seem to get that cold here, although the high parts of Dartmoor got snow a few days ago.
If you're sure...  it has been very wet lately.

As for blight being in the soil Totty - I haven't put spuds in the ground for 3 years and the begs are new this year so I don't think I have any spores about. I've had no blight on the plot for at least 4 or 5 years now.

[DD.]

It's not just wet/humidity that's needed, it's minimum temperature for a certain period, for what is know as a "Smith Period" to occur in order for blight to propagate.

This needs 2 consecutive days where the minimum air temperature is at least 10C, and you get minimum of 11 hours with a relative humidity of at least 90%. This is yet to occur.

You will not have blight spores in the soil. It needs living plant material to survive on, one of the reasons why removing "volunteer" potatoes is important.

If you've not come across it before, this thread is essential reading. You'll notice that the blight map is blank.

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=56717.0

[devonbarmygardener]

I read about the Smith periods a few years ago (on here;) ) but I don't have a temperature guage or weather station at the lottie.
You've all made me feel a lot better.
I'd feel so bad if I started the years 'blight fest'

[DD.]

I keep an eye on my local independent amateur weather station, it's only a few miles from me and gives me a better idea of what's happening nearby than other reports can give.

Here's one for you:

http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/metnet

[mumofstig]

Yes, it's always surprising how much local climate differs from the official forecasts - even if you look at the localised met office ones 


My local one is literally just at the top of the next road 

[devonbarmygardener]

I keep an eye on my local independent amateur weather station, it's only a few miles from me and gives me a better idea of what's happening nearby than other reports can give.

Here's one for you:

http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/metnet

Well they got the rainfall at 2:33pm wrong as it was sprinkling in my garden at the time!

My Aunty Helen probably is a part of this - I'm sure she lectures in this department at Uni!

[seaside]

My allotment is also in Plymouth, DBG, in Central Park. It's a bit exposed, and I have two javelins looking somewhat like that. My peers and pipers are not affected. I think there was that one night when a bit of snow was around on Dartmoor when the frost cusp was hovering, and I tried to earth up as best I could but maybe left a couple of leaves showing. They should recover.
My cucumbers suffered that night in the greenhouse as well and they are still in intensive care.