Battling Potato Beetles

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Dealing with Late Blight

Phytophthora infestans is a water mould, that causes the serious disease of the potato, late blight or potato blight.

The early stages of blight are easily missed, and not all plants are affected at once. Symptoms include the appearance of dark blotches on leaf tips and plant stems. White mould will appear under the leaves in humid conditions and the whole plant may quickly collapse. Infected tubers develop grey or dark patches that are reddish brown beneath the skin, and quickly decay to a foul-smelling mush caused by the infestation of secondary soft bacterial rots. Seemingly healthy tubers may rot later when in store.

"Discovery of the Potato Blight" by Daniel MacDonald (1821-53)

The potato blight caused the Irish Potato Famine in 1845-49 which, it is estimated, caused over 1,000,000 to starve death and forced a further 2,000,000 to emigrate.

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