[rictic]

Hello all.

We've all heard of blight but what causes it?

Keep the faith.

Rictic.

[barbarella]

I believe it is a fungal spore which floats around in the atmosphere and when the temperature and humidity conditions are right, the little bs home in on your spuds and toms.

[pushrod]

I believe it is a fungal spore which floats around in the atmosphere and when the temperature and humidity conditions are right, the little bs home in on your spuds and toms.

correct - (Phytophora infestans if my memory serves me well)

[Yorkie]

To bolster the info already provided, here's the RHS link which includes the causes of blight

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?PID=217

[Muddylou]

Thanks for asking the question Rictic and also the link Yorkie,
you learn something everyday.

[DD.]

Always worth repeating.

For next year - read, mark, learn & inwardly digest these links.

Smith Period


Blight Watch


Blight Maps

[polly nator]

But Blightwatch website is not working at the moment, Ity throws up error messages as soon as you even try to open a page. I have emailed them but its been going on for about three days now. I have been unable to access the page showing the records for my own postcode.

[gillie]

I can get into the blightwatch site OK, but the postcode facility seems to have disappeared.  I notice that you have not been able to access it since the beginning of the month and I wonder if they have wound up that service for the year. 

Gillie

[DD.]

Links work fine here, double checked before I posted them.

[polly nator]

DD - were you able to get into the personalised postcode records section? I can see the main pages although an error message  about log-in pops up before any attempt to log in has been made.
I didnt think they were stopping the postcode service from beginning of month as suggested because they do hold statistical records for September in previous years.

[polly nator]

oh, forgot to mention the faulty site isnt the potato council one that you posted (which works fine) - its the www.blightwatch.co.uk that I am having trouble with.

[DD.]

I don't get an error message, but it tells me I've got a username & password mismatch.

[polly nator]

Yes thats right. It gives ou that message even before entering login info. It also puts up this message on every other page on the site. Try to log in and it doesnt recognise you.
Big shame because it is such a very useful site.

For anyone who hasnt tried it, you can register your postcode and get fully daily report on blight conditions - humidity/temp etc. By carefully using the info I have managed to avoid the blight on tomatoes whilst my daughter and son in law  who live one and a half miles away have been badly affected.  I am not that keen on spraying but have done so a  little this summer. By keeping check of the conditions I have managed to time spraying and keep it to a minimum

[DD.]

The fact that I'm the only one on our site who has tomatoes speaks for itself. I also only sprayed when I got the first warning & only as I deemed necessary according to the prevailing conditions afterwards.

As suggested earlier, it may have closed for the season!