Problem: blight in potatoes

[Joel_BC]

Help!

My situation:
Well, I've been planting organic gardens for 30 years, since I was pretty much a kid. I've planted poatoes in nearly every one of those gardens. Burbank Russets, while usually not the only variety I've planted in a year, were ones I've relied on. A good size, scab resistant, all-round standby variety.

My woes:
This past year (2011), late blight came through our valley. It had been a problem for some people in the previous year, though not a problem on our place. Our 2010 potato crop was very good. This year blight hit our potatoes and pretty well ruined the crop.

I have neighbors, a five minute walk from here. They have 30 organic acres, and up on their sand bench they've been raising potatoes (usually maybe 8 - 12 varieties in a given year). Both they and I experienced late blight killing plants, starting in the Burbank Russets, and moving out from there. I had just two varieties this year, Russets and Norlands - both died before most of the tubers were much more than hens' egg size. Countless other people experienced blight attacks in our region.

The blight is airborne. Our weather seems to have shifted in the region, and now seems to be more conducive to blight attacks.

My question:
Do you know of potato vareities that have notable blight resistance? (A question, really, for people who know they are living in blight-prone localities.)

 

[Beekissed]

I found this link that you might find helpful:

http://www.extension.org/pages/1836...t-of-potato-and-tomato-phytophthora-infestans

Keep us posted as to what you find and your results with them?

 

[Joel_BC]

I found this link that you might find helpful:

http://www.extension.org/pages/1836...t-of-potato-and-tomato-phytophthora-infestans

Keep us posted as to what you find and your results with them?

Hi. Thanks, BK. Yes, besides the good cultivation/management advice (whch I've already run across elsewhere), they did recommend three specific varieties.

 

[BarredBuff]

Joel, I need some tips on growing potatoes organically and having big ones! Please!

 

[Joel_BC]

Joel, I need some tips on growing potatoes organically and having big ones! Please!

Well, what I've found is that potatoes like a soil that is rich but well-drained, and like a patch of gound that gets full sun. They thrive on a well-drained soil that is rich in nitrogen and potassium. A soil that is somewhat acid (like pH 6 - 6.5) is good, as it helps to avoid scab. Scab is a cosmetic condition on the skin, though it does not affect the edible quality of the a potato.

If your patch is too alkaline, you can reduce the pH in the soil (that is, acidify the soil) by scratching powdered sulphur into the soil.

Organic gardeners & farmers use a number of different things to put nitrogen into the ground, including alfalfa meal and feather meal. Find out what's available to you locally. Potassium can be amended with supplements like greensand.

Potatoes need plenty of water in spring and early summer, but you should back off on the irrigation in the late part of their season.

Growing large potatoes depends partly on cultivation practices, such as what I've described, but also partly on the variety of potato. So read the description of how the tubers will turn out, before you purchase your seed potatoes.

Hope this helps, BB.

And I hope that those here who know about blight-resistant potato varieties will share info with me.

 

[BarredBuff]

Thanks, Joel. Rabbit manure okay for nitrogen?

 

[Joel_BC]

Thanks, Joel. Rabbit manure okay for nitrogen?

I don't know why it wouldn't be. (I forgot you were raising rabbits.)

 

[FarmerJamie]

I'd like to play along, too.

Definitely need a game plan going in

- how you plan to use them
- how you plan to store them, etc.

I plant several varieties - I like some early producers (love fresh 'taters, ham, and fresh green beans) mid-summer. Some for culinary delight (yukon gold, fingerlings), and storage-oriented, like a russet.

Joel, how much experience do you have with the "lazy man" planting? Where you set the seed potatoes in a trench and gradually cover with straw as the plants grow (a'la tire stack growing).

I have clay soil, which has improved a long way since I first started on this property. My yields are "okay", but I know I can do better.

 

[Joel_BC]

I'd like to play along, too.

Definitely need a game plan going in

- how you plan to use them
- how you plan to store them, etc.

I plant several varieties - I like some early producers (love fresh 'taters, ham, and fresh green beans) mid-summer. Some for culinary delight (yukon gold, fingerlings), and storage-oriented, like a russet.

Joel, how much experience do you have with the "lazy man" planting? Where you set the seed potatoes in a trench and gradually cover with straw as the plants grow (a'la tire stack growing).

I have clay soil, which has improved a long way since I first started on this property. My yields are "okay", but I know I can do better.

I''ll start another thread about "growing potatoes"... I'd like to see this one return to the matter of dealing with blight.

 

[Marianne]

I posted on the wrong thread!
Anyway, doesn't blight stay in the soil for a couple of years? I have fought blight on green beans for a number of years. The first year I just left garden debris in the garden. Wrong thing to do. Ever since then, I have picked off every leaf that didn't look healthy, bagged them and put them in the burn basket. The green beans looked better this past year, but it looked like it's moving to where I had the potatoes planted - OR so I thought. I picked off a few 'iffy' leaves from the potatoes. I don't know if that's a good indication of blight on spuds or not.