Potatoes: How To Protect The Crop From Late Blight

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

The joy of harvesting the first harvest of young potatoes can be overshadowed by the fact that one of the diseases dangerous for the storage of the crop will be found in the beds. And such a destructive disease for tubers as late blight can be brought to the beds even during the harvesting of potatoes. If its presence on the tops is obvious, then the tubers will declare defeat only after 15-20 days. When infected specimens enter the repository, there is no good expectation. Hard brown spots will cover all stored potatoes in a short time, and all that remains is to throw them away, because the rot penetrates deep into the tuber. Is it possible to save potatoes from such a fate?

There is no place for infected tops in the beds

Surely many people know that crop rotation helps to protect the site from late blight, or at least prevent its spread. But what if the traitorous specks nevertheless appeared on the plants of your garden? In these cases, it is necessary to take urgent measures in a short time.

The peculiarity of the disease is that it primarily affects the tops, and already through it gets to the tuber itself. Therefore, when single diseased plants are found, you need to get rid of the focus of the disease by cutting the tops as low as possible to the ground and removing them outside the garden.

If phytophthora nevertheless penetrated into potatoes, then in the process of harvesting, having dug up these tubers at the same time with the rest, it is not surprising to spread the infection to healthy potatoes. Therefore, tubers from those plants on which late blight was noticed are taken out of the ground at the very last turn. Moreover, such potatoes should also be stored separately.

Criteria for the selection of seed potatoes

Also, when harvesting, you need to carefully monitor that there are no infected tubers in the ground. This is especially true when seed tubers are selected - there should be no spoiled specimens in their nest. This is one of the most important aspects of preventing late blight in the next year.

Another important criterion by which the suitability of tubers as planting material is determined is the size of the potato. If this applies to early varieties, then the tubers should have a mass of at least 50 g, and better - more. When it comes to late ones, smaller potatoes are also suitable for reproduction.

If late blight affected more than single plants, and the phenomenon became widespread, then before digging out the tubers, you need not only to mow the tops, but also first spray it with a solution of copper sulfate. To do this, take 20 g of the substance for 10 liters of water. It is clear that such planting material is not suitable for reproduction. And it is not recommended to grow potatoes here in the coming years.

Preparing tubers for storage

Before laying the dug out potatoes for long-term storage, you need to arrange a small quarantine of 2-3 weeks so that the infected tubers can manifest themselves. To do this, they are left to dry in a dry, dark and well-ventilated shelter. Do not throw potatoes in the garden or leave them in the open-air yard in the sun for a long time. Under such conditions, solanine is produced in the tubers, which makes the potatoes turn green, becoming unsuitable for food.

When sending for storage after quarantine, the crop should be sorted out so as not to miss specimens with signs of the disease. They will need to be taken out of the site and hidden in a pit, covered with bleach.

In the storage room, you need to monitor the temperature so that it does not rise above + 5 ° C. It must be remembered that the warmer it is in the storage, the more favorable the conditions for the development of phytophthora mycelium in tubers become.