GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

David Hill · 12-07-2012, 08:54 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

On 12/07/2012 19:37, wrote:
In article ,
Ros Butt wrote:

Have just returned from a few days away and found my Sharpes Express all
blighted. I've dug up three plants today and cut off the haulms of the
other four for the present. The potatoes I've dug up look okay, but tonight
scraped a couple of potatoes I had dug up about a week ago and found one
was blighted although they also looked okay when dug up, so I don't think
what I've dug today will last more than a few days.

As I doubt they'll be edible whether I leave them in the ground much
longer, or dig them up to use in what will be more than a weeks time, I
wondered about freezing them in some way, rather than waste them, but can
only find conflicting views re freezing. Has anybody any experience of how
to avoid wasting them in this situation? (even if for soup).

I wouldn't worry. Blight does not typically transfer down the stems,
so only the surface tubers will be affected immediately. It does
transfer slowly from them, but the chances of them all turning to
mush in the next week or so are low. But don't try to store them.

Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

certainly not in poly bags