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Potato blight- what do I do next?

Mary221Mary221 Posts: 4
in Problem solving
Sadly I've lost all my Albert Rooster potatoes to the dreaded blight.  (The adjacent row of Maris Pipers are fine).  Do I need to do anything to the soil now I've dug the potatoes out?  Will the soil be okay to plant other vegs next year?  Guidance greatly appreciated.

Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    It will be fine for other veg, but do not grow potatoes in that soil for at least three years. I would only grow blight resistant types such as the Sarpo series in future.
  • ZeroZero1ZeroZero1 Posts: 577
    I had potato blight last year. I did nothing. This year no potato blight. I think the general advice is remove all top growth and burn, but I suspect this will do very little. 
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    fidgetbones said:
    It will be fine for other veg, but do not grow potatoes in that soil for at least three years. I would only grow blight resistant types such as the Sarpo series in future.
    It's best to avoid all the Solanaceae family for the three years, (although potatoes are the ones you're most likely to be growing) - so tomatoes, aubergines, peppers and chillies as well. Tomatoes are the most susceptible of those but any of them could be affected. 

    If it's a bad year for blight though, you won't avoid it, even if you are scrupulous about crop rotation, so blight resistant varieties are the way to go.
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    ZeroZero1 said:
    I had potato blight last year. I did nothing. This year no potato blight. I think the general advice is remove all top growth and burn, but I suspect this will do very little. 
    I think the lack of blight has more to do with hot dry weather than what you did or didn't do with your potato plants last year
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • ColinAColinA Posts: 392
    I was lucky this year with no apparent blight even though I got warnings from the blightwatch website I also made up my own Bordaux mixture from lime and copper sulphate and that helped
  • Mary221Mary221 Posts: 4
    Thanks so much for replying.  I'll try the mixture for next year.
  • BobFlannigonBobFlannigon Posts: 619
    raisingirl said:
    ZeroZero1 said:
    I had potato blight last year. I did nothing. This year no potato blight. I think the general advice is remove all top growth and burn, but I suspect this will do very little. 
    I think the lack of blight has more to do with hot dry weather than what you did or didn't do with your potato plants last year
    This is true, however this year has been abnormally dry (in most places).  Blight will usually stay in the soil over winter so it's likely that next year will be wetter and the blight will probably come back.  It all depends on your aversion to risk!
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