Watch out for Blight

So upon checking my potatoes today i was shocked to find that the leaves had started to develop a nasty black edge. I immediately took one off and had it checked to make sure it is blight. Potato blight is easily identified when the edges of the leaves turn black or there are grayish-brown blotches on the leaves or stem. This really is not the time of year to be usually worrying about it, and also the fact that i sprayed them around 10 days ago for the first time, i thought i had it covered.

What Causes Potato Blight?

Potato blight is a fungus which also affects plants in the same family such as tomatoes. It is an airborne disease and is most commonly a problem when the weather is warm and humid. It can travel miles being carried by the wind and there is little you can do if the weather conditions are optimally around 10 deg C and 75% humidity.

Treatment

As i mentioned already i sprayed the crop around 10 days ago, so i thought i was covered but i think it had been developing prior to this. Using spray will therefore only slow the disease from spreading. I seem to only have it in the early stage so what i can do is continue to spray them every 10 days and also make sure that i remove and dispose of the infected leaves properly. I was able to buy chemicals from the local farm chemical dealer in Portadown, who breaks it down into smaller bottles for home producers. Be aware that these chemicals are not cheap and a 250ml bottle will cost at least £20.

Prevention

1. Any infected material is to be binned or burnt
2.Make sure that your potatoes are well earthed up to protect the tubers
3.If possible in smaller production, water from the base by inserting plastic bottle with the bottom cut off into the ground between plants
4.Make sure you harvest all potatoes so as not to leave any infected tubers
5.cut off any infected foliage and burn immediately to reduce further spread.

Well there is my work cut out for tomorrow. I will post pictures and video of the results!