"Nick Maclaren" wrote
"Bob Hobden" writes:
|
| Yes, it's safe to compost blighted plant material, provided that
| you ensure that any potato tubers in it do not survive composting
| and, to a lesser extent, the blight spores are not spread from the
| material on the compost heap.
|
| I would not take the chance, it's simply not worth the risk composting
any
| diseased plant material.

As a statistician, that sort of thing makes me despair!

You bend over backwards to minimise a negligible risk, but I will bet
a guinea to a farthing that you completely ignore much more serious
ones.

For example, even just with composting, you should never compost
UNCOOKED plant material that has come from outside and might have even
been in contact with plant material. Yes, that does mean cooking any
paper bags or cardboard that you have bought vegetables in before
composting them :-)

And you shouldn't do any gardening in the same clothes that you have
handled external plant material, or without washing your hands.

As far as blight is concerned, you should search and destroy all
other plants of the Solanaceae in your garden, both in the winter
and frequently during spring. In fact, it would help to do it in an
area around your garden, though that is a trifle illegal :-)

Seriously. Those are all greater risks.


I appreciate that Nick, I know I am being illogical and unscientific but all
my life I've had experts tell me things only to do about-turns a few years
on, so in the case of diseased plant material where the possible long term
contamination of my soil is at stake I will always be cautious.

Besides which, knowing my luck, I'd get the mated strain that can
overwinter.
--
Regards
Bob Hobden