[sunshineband]

I accept therefore that early blight is a greater problem than it was (and I will write to the RHS but as I'm not a member I don't expect much response).

Does early blight affect tomatoes?

'Fraid so 

[Headgardener22]

Then why do the RHS make their statement (in their August Newsletter)? It seems that they are making us feel safer than we really are.

Why don't you write and ask them 

I wrote and this is their answer


Many thanks for your enquiry.  You are perhaps right for the commercial potato crops where many key cultivars are rather susceptible, and they are grown in broad acres under very high fertility, overhead irrigation and there has been a switch from broad spectrum fungicides to materials with a more selective late blight-specific mode of action. The commercial media has reported an increased incidence of early blight in Europe and perhaps the UK, but it is not yet approaching the significance of late blight.
 
However we have no evidence that this is the case for home garden crops where fertility is lower, irrigation less intense, a wider range of potato cultivars are grown usually in a mixture in a small space and copper fungicides (which have a broad mode of action) are applied against late blight.  Rotations have to be shorter in gardens of course which would tend to increase incidence of early blight. There is unfortunately no data on early blight resistance in the wide range of cultivars grown by amateurs, no doubt related to the relative historical unimportance of this disease in Britain, but it is likely that they are less susceptible than the processing cultivars, used in the potato product industry, that are known to be very susceptible.
 


I suppose the next questions are:

Are we experiencing more early blight than before?
Which Varieties are affected?
Should we get the Potato Council to record early blight as well

(Or is it just a bad year)

[sunshineband]

At least you had a prompt reply.

I think that the extreme weather conditions, combined with widespread late blight last year , and therefore possibly more opportunity for infection via uncleared crops or dumped infected tubers (as on our site  ) has resulted in earlier incidences of late blight.

Early blight got a bit overtaken, so it might be difficut to ascertain it's real impact this year.

Personally I would like the PC to record early blight as well, but I feel that this might prove too much for them to keep up with.

[mumofstig]

Last year early summer was dry, and conditions meant little blight, til later in the year

It's been wet everywhere all blooming summer, this year,  so more blight and earlier

[sunshineband]

Last year early summer was dry, and conditions meant little blight, til later in the year

It's been wet everywhere all blooming summer, this year,  so more blight and earlier

That's the one 

[angelavdavis]

How long did people wait for a pack from the Potato Council?  I responded to Gary with my address info on 24 July but have still not received anything in the post.

I have four bags of festering blighted haulms on my plot that I would rather were disposed of!

Thanks

[Salmo]

I got one within a few days. Perhaps you should email them.

If the haulms are already bagged they may be too far gone as they soon become a nasty mess.

You may be able to take samples from other plots on your allotments which would be usefull to them.

[angelavdavis]

Thanks Salmo, I will send Gary another email.

[Growster...]

Just had a warning of a full Smith Period a few minutes ago...

West Kent area, but may also be elsewhere local!

[mumofstig]

full smiths or no full smiths periods - the allotments here are full of blight, it's moving slowly atm cos the wind is dessicating the affected leaves 

[Salmo]

Smiths period in PE8. Just watch that blight accelerate now!!

[arugula]

I hadn't received a warning for a week or so, but have on two consecutive days now. A few weeks ago, there were warnings four days in a row.

[angelavdavis]

Just had a warning of a full Smith Period a few minutes ago...

West Kent area, but may also be elsewhere local!

Growster, my phone has been going bananas with Smith warnings again for the last three days (including today which was hot and sunny!).

[sunshineband]

And here RG30, I have just cut down the haulms on my maincrops potatoes, as there were too many blighted leaves to risk leaving them now until Friday, which is when I shall be back down at the plot 

[Growster...]

Just had a warning of a full Smith Period a few minutes ago...

West Kent area, but may also be elsewhere local!

Growster, my phone has been going bananas with Smith warnings again for the last three days (including today which was hot and sunny!).

I noticed a load of blighted haulms in a neighbour's compost heap yesterday, Angela.

Paaah! My lot (he said smugly, although it was a precautionary chop-down of spud haulms), went into a bag, got tied in and dumped on the council yesterday. I looked in the bin wearing goggles and a diver's helmet, and the whole lot had swidged to a slimy, gooey pulp, so it was out with the Dettol yesterday...