UK: Tips on tackling the tuber blight threat to potato crops

Higher than anticipated blight levels in Scottish potato crops last season means more disease than usual is appearing in seed and ware stocks, warns one expert. Growers will need to be on their guard to reduce potentially significant threats to crops about to be planted, advises Stuart Wale, consultant and researcher at Scotland’s Rural College. “Levels of blight in Scottish seed are not overly high, but we did get quite a significant amount of haulm blight in crops last year. I think growers were caught out by the rapid growth. However, a good harvest helped potatoes go into store dry, though I did get called out to look at a lot of soft rots in stores, many of which turned out to be blight.” Full report