Potato blight !

[@northtoalaska2022]

Oh no! That really stinks about the blight. We are glad that you caught it before it went to your potatoes. These are fantastic tips for catching this. We have had an extremely wet Summer, too.

[@wyominghome4857]

We had blight turn up in our container grown Red Norland and Yukon Gold potatoes this year. Had a long wet spring. So far the russets look good.

[@ourkilkennyhomestead2006]

Hello and thanks for watching. Seems that many folks are getting it this year due to the wet and humidity. Did you manage to save any of your crop?

[@neilcarey2535]

Tough luck, suggest that you grow blight resistant varieties in future. We tried some of the ‘Sarpo’ varieties over the years and while not getting blight we decided that they tasted awful. The last few years we’ve being getting other blight resistant spuds mostly bred in the Netherlands, no blight in the years we’ve been growing them. Fruit Hill Farm, down in Cork are the suppliers, they have a web-site. Good luck, Neil

[@ourkilkennyhomestead2006]

Hello Neil. We grow alouettes which we originally bought from fruit hill farms 2yrs ago. This year's crop was seed from the 1st years crop. They're supposedly blight resistant 🤷‍♂️. Thanks for the taste tip on the sarpo's, hadn't grown them before and think we'll stay away from them now. Thanks for watching 👍

[@neilcarey2535]

@@ourkilkennyhomestead2006 Even tougher luck so. We've grown Connect, Carolus, Sevilla and Vitabella over the last few years blight-free. This year Connect, Sevilla and Vitabella and so far no blight. In the past we always got blight with the conventional varieties, Queens, Roosters, Rekords etc. In fact we stopped growing any potatoes until we experimented with the 'Sarpos'. As far as I am aware the fungus only over-winters in the tubers so the haulms will just rot away harmlessly but with a disgusting pong! Good luck, Neil

[@ashleyalexander7388]

Sarpo Mira is the variety I've grown for a number of yearss now. I buy seed potatoes in fresh annually. Their resistance allows the potatoes to grow to maturity before it starts significantly negatively affecting the plant itself. I've yet to try to replant potatoes saved from previous years.

[@ourkilkennyhomestead2006]

Hello from Ireland and thanks for watching.

[@gapeach1601]

I had blight on my tomato plants but was still able to harvest like you. I intend on putting baking soda, lime, and ash in the soil at the end of harvest (still harvesting) and turn it over, in hopes to balance the ph in the soil prior to planting next year. My understanding is to alkalize the soil so fungus can't grow. Do you think that will work? P.S. Creative Genius with the old washing machine!!!

[@ourkilkennyhomestead2006]

Hello and thanks for watching. Great news that you were able to still get a harvest from your tomatoes before they rotted. Baking soda, lime and ash seems to be the recommended (non chemical) treatment for the problem, hopefully it'll work well for you. All the best. 👍

[@fintan9705]

Horsetail tea is good for preventing blight, not sure of the exact process, but if you gather horsetail and stew it then strain off the liquid and dilute it down and spray it on your plants

[@ourkilkennyhomestead2006]

Hi Fintan, thanks for the tip, will most certainly give it a try next season as we've plenty of horsetail despite our best efforts 😁

[@sowgroweat6987]

Hi, don't want to come across as a know-it-all, but I thought Blight can only survive short term as a pathogen airborn after than it can only surviven longer term as a pathogen on living tissue, ie foliage and tuber, not in the soil. In other words the soil itself is fine to use as long as there are not rotting foliage or tubers. Also it is fine to compost foliage because the pathogen cannot survive in any composting process as long as no tubers get in. I have tested this myself by composying blighted foliage then growing Potatoes in that compost the following year without Blight occurring. Best wishes Mike.

[@ourkilkennyhomestead2006]

Hello and thanks for watching. If you'll have another look at the vid you'll see that the blight had spread to the tubers in ground meaning that it would survive for an extended period. So yes turning the soil is absolutely essential in this case as the spores will be killed by moving air like most mold/ fungi. I get that some folks are all about "no dig" but there are occasions where its beneficial to do so. Likewise with the compost heap, it's filled with material that the blight could survive on for an extended period particularly when getting the heap up to temperature is not guaranteed. The plan to turn the soil twice came from my father in law who's a 70yr old farmer with many years first hand experience of dealing with it here in soggy old Ireland. That's his method that was passed down to him through the generations, Its my pleasure to share the benefit of his wisdom with you guys. Once again thanks for checking out the video, hope you found it helpful and best of luck with your channel.

[@jean-paulcastellano9589]

thanks, learned a lot

[@ourkilkennyhomestead2006]

Most welcome and thanks for watching. Hope your off grid system is going well. 👍

[@bootangy]

still edible? i hope so

[@ourkilkennyhomestead2006]

Looks like they were pulled just in time. All will become clear over the course of the curing process. Thanks for watching.

[@bootangy]

ty!@@ourkilkennyhomestead2006