I used to think that potato blight was only of relevance to a study of Irish History. This is very far from the truth, it was a problem throughout Europe, parts of Germany were badly hit as was the Isle of Man and parts of Northern England. But above all the virus is still active to this day.
There is more than one form of blight. The one that seems to be a regular visitor to Baldock allotments is not the one that caused the potato famines, it is “Late Potato Blight” that also attacks tomatoes. The “Late” is a confusion it may well have been Late where it was named, but it’s not late in Baldock.
This is the scenario: you are congratulating yourself on the perfect potato crop, then one day you breeze into the allotment, the first reaction is “what low life let his rhinoceros roll in my potato patch”. The tops have collapsed, the leaves are shrivelling. If you don’t intervene now the blight will find it’s way into the tubers and they will rot and you will have lost the crop. The remedy is to remove the diseased foliage as soon as possible and burn it, don’t put it on the compost. Tomatoes fare even worse than potatoes the lost yield can be of the order of 60%..
There was a move in 2015 by the commercial potato growers to get a ban on amateurs growing the crop. The measure didn’t get very far, not a great vote winner, but it does illustrate the seriousness of the issue.
Bordeaux mixture is recommended as a preventative, it is available from the shop. We have a small stock. It has now been banned. There are substitutes available but are they as effective who knows?
Such were the problems last year both on the Clothall Common and North Road sites that the General Committee have added blight resistant varieties to the range offered.
Gardening magazines
Did you know we have a box of gardening magazines at the shed? They are there for members to borrow, read and return at their leisure.
If you have any old ones you no longer need, feel free to drop them off in exchange.
Please note however that as space is always at a premium BALGA reserves the right to periodically dispose of any magazines in the box to keep the shed tidy.