Composting tom & potatoe plants
 

Is it alright to compost the waste from the tom & potatoes plants(obviously
lots of potato top growth to get rid of)as long as it hasn't been caught by
blight yet?

--
Thanks Keith,Nottingham,England,UK.

Yes



"keith ;-)" wrote in message
...
Is it alright to compost the waste from the tom & potatoes
plants(obviously
lots of potato top growth to get rid of)as long as it hasn't been caught
by
blight yet?

--
Thanks Keith,Nottingham,England,UK.

"keith ;-)" wrote in message
...
Is it alright to compost the waste from the tom & potatoes
plants(obviously
lots of potato top growth to get rid of)as long as it hasn't been caught
by
blight yet?

--
Thanks Keith,Nottingham,England,UK.

"Andy H" wrote in message
...
Yes


So if you think it has blight then burn?
Thanks Keith

The message
from "keith ;-\)" contains these words:

So if you think it has blight then burn?

Yes.

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

In article ,
Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message
from "keith ;-\)" contains these words:

So if you think it has blight then burn?

Yes.

Why?

As I have posted before, blight is NOT carried by resistant spores
in the soil, but in living plants (both weeds and wildlings). Just
precisely how does burning help?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:
In article ,
Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message
from "keith ;-\)" contains these
words:

So if you think it has blight then burn?

Yes.

Why?

As I have posted before, blight is NOT carried by resistant spores
in the soil, but in living plants (both weeds and wildlings). Just
precisely how does burning help?

Any remaining spores are destroyed. Unless you are very careful the
drying leaves you've thrown on the heap can release many more spores.

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

In article ,
Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:

So if you think it has blight then burn?

Yes.

Why?

As I have posted before, blight is NOT carried by resistant spores
in the soil, but in living plants (both weeds and wildlings). Just
precisely how does burning help?

Any remaining spores are destroyed. Unless you are very careful the
drying leaves you've thrown on the heap can release many more spores.

And why does burning help? It is at least as likely to make things
worse, by the rising hot air spreading the spores.

Yes, I agree that using a flamethrower might help, because you are
burning in situ, and not distributing spores as you collect the
haulms, but I really don't understand why you think collecting them
and then burning them is any better than collecting them and then
composting them.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:
In article ,
Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:

So if you think it has blight then burn?

Yes.

Why?

As I have posted before, blight is NOT carried by resistant spores
in the soil, but in living plants (both weeds and wildlings). Just
precisely how does burning help?

Any remaining spores are destroyed. Unless you are very careful the
drying leaves you've thrown on the heap can release many more spores.

And why does burning help? It is at least as likely to make things
worse, by the rising hot air spreading the spores.

Asbestos spores?

Yes, I agree that using a flamethrower might help, because you are
burning in situ, and not distributing spores as you collect the
haulms, but I really don't understand why you think collecting them
and then burning them is any better than collecting them and then
composting them.

Because you're far more likely to spread spores by convection from a
warm compost heap and over a longer period.

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

In article ,
Jaques d'Alltrades writes:
|
| And why does burning help? It is at least as likely to make things
| worse, by the rising hot air spreading the spores.
|
| Asbestos spores?

Sigh. Unless you soak the haulms in liquid oxygen before lighting
the fire, there will be a long period when there is merely warm
air passing by them.

| Because you're far more likely to spread spores by convection from a
| warm compost heap and over a longer period.

That implies that you are leaving them on top of the heap and
relatively dry - even then, I rather doubt your claim.

While it is POSSIBLE that composting haulms spreads more spores
than burning them, it is EQUALLY LIKELY that burning them spreads
more spores than composting them. In the absence of any data
indicating which, I am not going to make a judgement.

But this is all more-or-less irrelevant, anyway, unless you have
a small number of badly blighted plants early on in the season.
In general, any blight infection will affect all susceptible
plants in an area. There is no point in burning blighted haulms
at the end of the season, because it does not overwinter in that
form - and THAT is what the traditional recommendation is to do.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:
In article ,
Jaques d'Alltrades writes:
|
| And why does burning help? It is at least as likely to make things
| worse, by the rising hot air spreading the spores.
|
| Asbestos spores?

Sigh. Unless you soak the haulms in liquid oxygen before lighting
the fire, there will be a long period when there is merely warm
air passing by them.

Bigger sigh. The idea is that you put them *ON* a fire, not light one
under them. Come on now - use a little common-sense, please.

| Because you're far more likely to spread spores by convection from a
| warm compost heap and over a longer period.

That implies that you are leaving them on top of the heap and
relatively dry - even then, I rather doubt your claim.

The last thing to be thrown on my heap stays on top until the next last
thing is thrown on.

While it is POSSIBLE that composting haulms spreads more spores
than burning them, it is EQUALLY LIKELY that burning them spreads
more spores than composting them. In the absence of any data
indicating which, I am not going to make a judgement.

Can't agree. But not having anything blighted to hand, I'm not even
thinking of setting-up an experiment.

But this is all more-or-less irrelevant, anyway, unless you have
a small number of badly blighted plants early on in the season.
In general, any blight infection will affect all susceptible
plants in an area. There is no point in burning blighted haulms
at the end of the season, because it does not overwinter in that
form - and THAT is what the traditional recommendation is to do.

I've read that last paragraph three times and am still none the wiser as
to its meaning.

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

In article ,
Jaques d'Alltrades writes:
|
| Sigh. Unless you soak the haulms in liquid oxygen before lighting
| the fire, there will be a long period when there is merely warm
| air passing by them.
|
| Bigger sigh. The idea is that you put them *ON* a fire, not light one
| under them. Come on now - use a little common-sense, please.

Which implies that you have a large supply of material to keep the
fire going vigorously, while you put the haulms right into the centre
in small enough quantities not to damp the fire. All right, the
remark about the liquid oxygen was an exaggeration, but an effective
sterilising fire isn't an easy thing to manage, and most gardeners
are not in a position to arrange one.

| While it is POSSIBLE that composting haulms spreads more spores
| than burning them, it is EQUALLY LIKELY that burning them spreads
| more spores than composting them. In the absence of any data
| indicating which, I am not going to make a judgement.
|
| Can't agree. But not having anything blighted to hand, I'm not even
| thinking of setting-up an experiment.

Do you have even a scrap of actual evidence for your claim? I know
of none that even indicates whether domestic incineration is more
or less likely to spread spores than composting.

| But this is all more-or-less irrelevant, anyway, unless you have
| a small number of badly blighted plants early on in the season.
| In general, any blight infection will affect all susceptible
| plants in an area. There is no point in burning blighted haulms
| at the end of the season, because it does not overwinter in that
| form - and THAT is what the traditional recommendation is to do.
|
| I've read that last paragraph three times and am still none the wiser as
| to its meaning.

There are two circumstances when you might want to destroy possibly
blighted haulms. One is ones infected fairly early on, but that
is usually ineffective because (in general) the infection that
caused them to become blighted will have infected every other
plant. And the other is cleaning up at the end of season, and
that is pointless, because blight doesn't overwinter in haulms.

Clearer?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.