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Old 06-09-2010, 10:37 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Bob Hobden Bob Hobden is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,056
Default Dig them up and burn them?



Nick wrote

Jake wrote:

Whoa there neddy! The RHS recommend burying or burning; they say
"don't compost". If there's a danger in adding blighted
tomatoes/potatoes to your compost heap, might there not be a similar
danger in adding them to the green skip at your local tip? Someone
might well end up with the compost product.


That is true. What isn't is the advice. It's crap.

In the UK, blight does not current form viable, durable spores, and
is transmitted over the winter ONLY in live plants. Composting
blighted material is perfectly safe. There are some very solid
reasons for this - they may not remain true forever, but composting
will not change when and if it ceases to be the case.

Quite, I compost my blighted Tomato and Potato plants if I get any and
always have done, never caused me a problem the following year. The only
thing I will take to the dump is actual blighted potatoes and I don't put
them in the green waste recycling either they go in the general waste. (as
instructed by the operatives)

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK