Potato Blight

Ann-Marie O\’ Byrne asked 16 years ago
Hi Gerry, last year I had potato blight. I dug up the potatoes and covered the ground with a layer of manure and newspaper, then black plastic last autumn. That ground is still covered and I wonder if there is blight still in the ground. What can I plant there?

1 Answers

Gerry Daly Staff answered 6 years ago
Potato blight is transmitted by wind-borne spores and it is only carried over winter on living tissue. So it is not in the soil, unless there are living potato plants in that piece of ground, which is unlikely since you have covered it so thouroughly.

But it is not necessary to go to that trouble, simply removing the affected potatoes removes the source of infection, but of  course, it can blown in on the wind again each summer.

FacebookTwitterWhatsApp