Blight - inheriting someone else's problem

[ottawagardener]

The place we are moving too has a big vegetable garden and I noticed blight in the potatoes the first time I was there. They had moved onto the tomatoes now (I was there yesterday). These two crops were growing beside each other.

I plan on not growing any major crops in this garden space next year or at least none which might have major disease issues or issues that I had observed.

However, I have never experienced much bight - leaf spot yes - on my home garden tomatoes. I have seen it in my tomatoes at the allotment but always got a harvest before the plants croaked.

So other than planting the solanums at the other side of the field entirely, and removing volunteers/wild nightshades nearby, is there anything else I can do to minimize or dare I hope to eliminate the blight?

I will happily cover the spores, not plant nightshades there, and tunnel the tomatoes too.

Telsing

[robertb]

Remove the top growth from the spuds, and either burn it or at least get it covered. That'll stop it spreading infection, and hopefully rescue the potato crop. Ruthlessly eliminate volunteers next spring, as this is how the disease survives.

I've noticed that infection is very local. It's all over my allotment site, but a single spud a few yards from an infected patch will often be left unscathed, and woody nightshade is flourishing up the lane, while it's vanished from my hedge. I don't know whether that has any implications for the gardener.

Everything depends on your local climate, and what strains of the disease you have. Our original strain was relatively benign, or maybe we'd just developed varieties with some resistance, but the new strain we have now, Blue 13, is affecting crops far more, to the extent that some people are giving up on maincrop potatoes.

[bluelacedredhead]

Telsing, Here's a few natural suggestions for treating the soil after cleanup.


www.gardeningtrip.com/2009/01/109/

[johno]

That's a good link, blue. I tried the cornmeal a few times and it looked promising - even for tomatoes. I think a regular spray schedule would work surprisingly well.

[bluelacedredhead]

Prolly would Johno!
I actually was searching for info on sulphur, because dusting with sulphur is often done to prevent the spread of disease through seed potatoes.

But all of these remedies are inexpensive and sound like they should work.