What to do with blight diseased plants.

[boggybranch]

Most everyone, here in the U.S., don't compost OR burn blight diseased plants for fear of spreading the disease. I recieved my monthly news letter from an allotment gardening author (from his blog site) talking about how to deal with potato blight (in the UK). They, definitely, handle it differently, in some respects......especially the disposal of the effected plants.


http://www.allotment.org.uk/vegetable/potato/potato-blight.php

 

[hoodat]

I have to admit I compost mine. I look at it this way. If the plants caught blight it's already in my soil and whether or not I compost is not going to make any difference. I hate to waste good compost material.

 

[boggybranch]

Just done a search on the subject on the world wide web, from a number of sources, I found the following......burn, don't burn, bag and bury 2 feet deep, bag and put out with the garbage, compost, don't compost, spray affected plants with herbicide and allow the dead foliage to lay on the ground so that the sun's ultra-violet rays will kill the spores.

My conclusion.......Everyone is flying by the seat of their pants on this issue. Soooooo, I'll be bagging and putting out with the garbage. I HATE diseases spread by spores and would rather be safe than sorry (even though I hate to lose composting material, too).

 

[vfem]

I just throw it in the trash can and off it goes. I don't burn as it can be in the air, and I don't bury as it likes to be in the dirt. As my garden is a slew of raised beds all over the place, just because its in the dirt of one bed, it doesn't mean it is in all my beds. So I just rotate my crops and whatever at this point. In August I will 'solarize' at least 2 beds I have because of blight and downy mildew issues... and fruit rot! Grrrrrrrrr

I'm with ya Boggy, ready to lose my mind!!!! ARGH!!!