The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: Sudanpan on May 29, 2011, 05:03:11 pm
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We are having a go at potatoes for the first time this year :)
We have 1st earlies and 2nd earlies, then my Mum bought me 4 of the potato bag planters as a birthday present ;D
We ended up planting them all out at about the same time (next year we will do a bit more staggering!) and had our first harvest yesterday from a couple of the 1st early plants - 700g from 2 plants and they were very scrumptious ;D ;D
Anyway I'm scared stiff of Blight after horror stories about it from a colleague at work. Should I be worried this early? I've just cut back 3 plants that had what I thought were dodgy looking leaves - is there anything else I should/need to do?
Thanks for reading the ramblings of a Newbie :wave: :wave:
Tish
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Potato Blight and fly strike in sheep happen at the same time, when the weather is warm and humid, night temps above 10C and no wind.
Don't forget that you don't have to dig up the whole plant to get your first taste. If you scrabble around under several plants you will find a few tubers which are larger than the rest - take those and leave the plant to crop on.
Don't panic too much about blight - even if the tops are badly affected you will get some sort of a crop, although it's best not to store the tubers for long. If you are really worried or there is a high incidence in your area, next year choose blight resistant varieties. 1st and 2nd earlies are usually cropped before blight becomes too much of a problem. Tomatoes can get blight too and that's much more of a disaster for me as I'm a total tomato addict :love: ::)
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Many thanks for the info - have pushed down my panic feelings and looking forward to continued harvesting of our tatties ;D
Tish