[rowe1311]

In our church garden, our maincrop potato has been affected by blight.  I have only just noticed it.  We were going to leave the potatoes to harvest on 22nd Sepetember when we are having a fun day. 

I was wondering whether I could leave them in the ground until then and still harvest them on that day.  There won't be an issue of storage as I imagine all the potatoes will be taken home that day.   If it is okay to leave them in, would it best to take the foliage off and leave the tubers in the ground, or keep the foliage on?

Angela

[Alastair-I]

Strip and burn the haulm now, and leave the spuds in the ground at least a fortnight before lifting to allow the spores to die.  If it hasn't progressed too far you should get at least some sort of crop.

[rowe1311]

The blight doesn't look too bad.  The potatoes on the surface seemed okay.  Would it be better to take haulms off now and put them undercover to dry out (it is very wet today) before burning, or would that spread the disease?

[Alastair-I]

The blight doesn't look too bad.  The potatoes on the surface seemed okay.  Would it be better to take haulms off now and put them undercover to dry out (it is very wet today) before burning, or would that spread the disease?

Cut the haulms and put them by the bonfire ready for when you light it.  But cut them off now.

[HHH]

The blight hit us on 16th July. I cut the stems right down to the ground straight away and took the haulms off site for disposal.

I was worried that, according to the majority of advice here, and according to the Blessed Monty Don, that I would have to lift everything at once and use it or lose it. Instead I took the halfway house option: over the last 6 weeks I've uplifted a little at a time, used some and stored the rest.

Neither at the start of this operation, nor up to last week when I lifted the last maincrops (Navans) have I seen any evidence of blight affecting the tubers themselves. I've had the expected minor slug damage, but the spuds I have left, dry and stored at home, seem to be in very good condition. Yields have been up to standard, though the size of the last-sown variety was disappointing. If not for the blight I would probably not have dug these until early-mid August.

What have others done, and have you had the same experiences? I'd be interested to find out.

[djbnat]

I followed the recommendation of cutting of the haulms and leaving the tubers in the ground for 2 weeks before lifting and I have to say it all worked out ok.  Apart from the expected reduction in yield (size not quantity) the crop, when lifted and sampled (after cooking of course!!!  ), looked fine and tasted great.  Just my experience, maybe I was lucky  .

[mumofstig]

I was worried that, according to the majority of advice here, and according to the Blessed Monty Don, that I would have to lift everything at once and use it or lose it.

I think you'll find that few of us agreed with Monty's advice, and it's not the advice usually given on the Forum.
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=97491.0

John's advice here
http://www.allotment-garden.org/grow-your-own/vegetables/potatoes/blight