|
Post by lavandulagirl on Aug 22, 2009 18:48:08 GMT -5
Jeez, Michel... I'd hate to go walk that row to take those photos. How much time do you have left in your growing season up there?
|
|
|
Post by canadamike on Aug 22, 2009 19:13:06 GMT -5
I would say a month or so, then light frosts kill the plants and you can harvest up to late October, which was kind of my plan.
You are right, it is sickening, 3,000 feet of potatoes mostly dead or dying. But as I said, we are also doing research, and some of Tom's are showing remarkable resistance. Sunshine is there still...
But I was organized so my harvest would be sold in a market by friends, now, this year, I have lost 2 acres of commercial corn, and almost all the potatoes I could sell, my main crops to pay for the research.
It is weird: the more research I do, the more the stuff I discover is the answer for the future, but is is costing me, in money and salary ( I work on commission only, and five months out of the book do not pay much) , many tens of thousands of dollars a year. In the last 2 years I have totally lost the crops that could finance the work and bring me back to some financial soundness.
It hurts a lot, and desperation is kind of looming, but then these extraordinary cultivars that thrive despite everything still excite me.
Honestly, I doubt that many have put so much of their own money and carreer in research and exploration like I did, nor gambled it on a few acres of crops that died 2 years in a row. I am not alone in this, many farmers here are living the same thing, but they have a union and crop insurance and grants...at least around here.
It is getting unbearable on me..,
Sorry for saying it, but gosh does it make me feel good to vent a bit...
|
|
|
Post by silverseeds on Aug 22, 2009 20:02:14 GMT -5
michel I am very sorry to hear that. I hope you have a better year next year. your research is important. I surely hope you can figure something out.
|
|
|
Post by mnjrutherford on Aug 22, 2009 21:09:54 GMT -5
Perhaps the knowledge gained will outweigh the cash lost? Only time can tell I suppose. I regret your loss.
Forgive me for asking, but if you were to dig the plants, what would the potatoes look like? I'm curious because that is exactly what our potatoes looked like when we dug them and the potatoes are fine. It's been about 2 months since digging and they are tremendous.
|
|
|
Post by grungy on Aug 22, 2009 21:31:05 GMT -5
Michel, have the potatoes formed tubers of any size yet? If so cut back the tops and let the tubers cure as is for at least a couple of weeks.
|
|
|
Post by tatermater on Aug 22, 2009 21:40:34 GMT -5
Canada Mike called me to tell me the bad news-good news. Obviously, the bad news is the horrific damage from Late Blight. The good news is the row of one of my varieties withstanding the blight in Michel's third photo.
I looked up the 21 TPS lines sent to him last year. Since Michel does not have that information on the pedigree of the clone looking so splendid with the robust foliage and flowers galore-----I thought, Wow! That looks like #6 for all the world. However, #12 is a less likely explanation.
The reasoning for my suspicions as to who's the daddy is from my photographic memory of the ancestral lines that went into the breeding for the last 6 years here in the PNW. Since I am in an area with repeated outbreaks of Late Blight especially after most of the commercial fields are moved down, I know a little about what it takes to get blight resistance. First of all, I have used fully one half of all the so-called Late Blight resistant clones from around the world. I have real world experience with the devastation and have bred the best of the best into fertile lines for yet another round of breeding. Each of the two possibilities that Mike shows in picture 3 has a blight resistant grandparent. Each of the lines are second cousins.
More to come on the interest of resistance later!
Tom Wagner
|
|
|
Post by tatermater on Aug 22, 2009 21:44:18 GMT -5
Thinking of a good name for that potato: Let It Be
Tom Wagner
|
|
|
Post by silverseeds on Aug 22, 2009 22:21:53 GMT -5
Sound great tom. I think this type of work is amazing. Hope to do a few things myself. Let it be would be a great name.
I know it wasnt Ideal but I just bought every type of organic potatoe I could and planted them this year. I found one that was barely touched by grasshoppers, despite plants literally on both sides and all over the yard being eaten o the ground, so no real work was involved but I was pretty excited.
I hope you all find that right combination of dna for this and any other thing you work on. This is important work. I wish all of you the best.
|
|
|
Post by PatrickW on Aug 23, 2009 13:18:04 GMT -5
I'm sorry about your blighted plants Mike.
Those pictures are really amazing!
When the tops of the plants look like that, the best thing is to cut them off -- then this is important, let the potatoes stay in the ground for at least two weeks before digging them.
If you dig them too soon, they will see okay at first but after a few weeks they will also become blighted and rot.
Jo: You lucked out!
|
|
|
Post by orflo on Aug 23, 2009 13:52:33 GMT -5
I seem to be fairly lucky this year, some varieties are still there and growing well, off course the sarpo varieties are strong, two solanum phureja varieties didn't suffer that much (but it's too dry for them to grow), some 'papa mululu' plants are still there, solanum chacoense, demissum, and stoloniferum didn't really suffer a lot.... It's strange, things seem to turn around, a pretty normal date for blight to arrive over here is june 15-june ,30; I once had late blight on May , 27.... It's sad, Michel, to see so many things destroyed, the strange thing is, when I took a look at the pictures , that the stems aren't affected and having brown spots, is that correct? Or is that just one variety (I'm not talking about the totatlly brown stems in the first pic , off course) ??
|
|
|
Post by canadamike on Aug 23, 2009 16:10:36 GMT -5
it is just a matter of time orflo. Or maybe there is some resistance there, i don<t know yet, we will see. Believe me, some have loads of brown spot on the stems....
|
|
|
Post by mnjrutherford on Aug 23, 2009 16:20:38 GMT -5
So, what are we learning here? Can the damage be consistently mitigated on a regular basis if you deal with it in a specific manner? Does it seem that even though blight can't be eliminated it does not have to be deadly? If so, then has Michel's sorrow and loss of a season become a boon for the rest of us? I'm trying to see a silver lining to a cloud that would surely depress me beyond words if I were in your shoes Michel, but is that realistic?
|
|
|
Post by silverseeds on Aug 23, 2009 16:23:18 GMT -5
well seems to me if this blight is as bad as it is being portrayed, having a blight resistant variety, is an amazing thing. Lets hope all goes well. michel heres to better luck next year
|
|
|
Post by michaeljohnson on Aug 24, 2009 0:41:32 GMT -5
The weeds look remarkably healthy though -in the photos ;D
|
|
|
Post by canadamike on Aug 24, 2009 0:47:12 GMT -5
yes, we have not been able to weed since July first, it rains all the time, and I never touch the plants. I feel pretty sure it has helped me because I now no farming friends of mine got it before me, I suspect it was here too but I did not help it by hurting the plants. Here, to prove you I am a clean gardener and can also wash dishes at home : Taken close to the end of June:
|
|