Paddys Blog and Blight Warning

Check out fellow Maynooth Allotmenteer Paddy Fada's Blog. He's got lots of great pics of his and others plots.

In other news a blight warning was issued on the 13th June and conditions conducive to the spread of blight will continue up until Wednesday 17th. With all this rain forecast for later I'm wondering whether to bother spraying. I have seen people spraying over the last few weeks and would be interested to know what concoctions are going on the spuds. Plain ol' Dithane or something more interesting...? I'll be spraying with diluted milk and a mixture of bi-carbonate of soda, washing up liquid and water. There's a good Horsetail recipe on the Irish Gardeners forum:

"Herbal teas concocted from common weeds/herbs such as nettle, horsetail (Equisetum arvense ) and comfrey can be sprayed on potato foliage to help prevent the spread of blight disease.

To make the horsetail tea you should ideally in early summer pick the green part of the plant, leaves and stem, excluding the root. You will need one kilogram (2 ¼ pounds) of equisetum to submerge in drum filled with 20 litres of rain water, stirring it daily over three or four weeks.

When the time comes, mix it in your watering can at a rate of ten parts water to one part horsetail tea, then water liberally onto your plants. Plants that show any symptoms of bight or other fungal type disease should be sprayed with this mix once every four days.

If in a rush to create a batch of horsetail tea, you can make up some by simmering 1/2 kilogram of the weed in a pot with 10 litres of rain water for about an hour. Once cooled it should again be mixed it in your watering can at a rate of ten parts water to one part horsetail tea."

And apparently a Burgundy Mixture of:

50 grammes of copper sulphate (bluestone)
60 grammes of sodium carbonate (washing soda) or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) in five litres of water

while not strictly organic is acceptable for use by alot of organic gardeners.

Anyone noticing any blight like symptoms on their spuds?