the only way i canthink of is to heaTt it but unless you havnt got much thats unrealistick . ask bamboo or doctor bob . perhaps you can grow something in it that isnt effected bye blight .

thanks

your more than welcome ron .

No that I know of - remove all debris from the crop though, and next year, buy good stock potatoes, spray with Mancozeb (if its still available) in July as a preventative, and again if you see signs appearing on the foliage. Keep the crop well watered during dry spells - insufficient and irregular water supply encourages blight to strike.

It would seem that cold winters can kill off some spores, whilst they can remain in infected potatoes that remain in the soil from previous years. I would grow brassicas or legumes in the bed for at least two following years and perhaps look out for blight resistant varieties of potatoes. I have found that early potatoes are less liable to get blight than maincrop varieties and be prepared to spray with Bordeaux mixture as a prevenative.

Definitely do not plant potatoes in that be for at least 3 years. If you grew the potatoes in a container then put the soil/compost in your wheelie bin not your green waste bin.

Just to throw the cat amongst the pigeons - I believe blight is airborne, and I understand (if Bob Flowerdew - radio 4 - is right) that it comes up from the south west during the summer, which is why early potatoes don't get it but second/main crop might. I believe the recommendation was to remove all leaves/soil to the bonfire, or the top 3 inches of soil entirely to landfill, as MG says. Last year my tomatoes got it, but this year they didn't and neither did my potatoes, thank goodness. I dread wire worms more than blight!!

Avkq blight is airborne but can reside in the soil...

Indeed ... Soil needs to be removed too - top 3 inches recommended, as said above ... Totally agree with you ...

I still dread wire worms more than blight!!!

Just had a couple of thoughts ... Nosey Potter mentioned heating the soil ... so, would a blow torch do the job (small and convenient and quick), also, like roses ... a good thick layer of mulch will stop spores that have previously settled from leaves onto the soil, ripening and spreading into the air. The spores are not absorbed by the roots but are lifted airborne from the top of the soil back to infect the leaves again. That's why well mulched roses, get less black spot, and infected leaves have to be collected ... eureka!

id think it would depend on how much soil we are talking about .personaly listerning to all the comments above id dump the said 3 inches as it never hurts to add some good new rich compost to a vegitable patch and grow something for 3 years there thats not as suseptable to blight .

Which means all of the solanum family.

Sray with Jeys Fuliud !!! NOW

yes jeyes fluid is made to kill every germ but then break down and become bio friendly thow id still just not plant potatoes etc for 3 or so years and lose the top soil

I strongly recommend that you do NOT spray with Jeyes Fluid! This is not going to serve the soil at all...

Brilliant site - thank you Bilbo - as I thought! Mounding up would do the same job as mulching.

Thanks to everyone who responded
Ron612

Instead of solanum - tomato, potato, eggplant etc - try the peppers family. Have this year for the first time grown peperonccini - lovely raw in salads, without the seeds, on pizzas or whole with the pips for hot curry etc.

Pepperonccini are solanums, Ron needs to grow brassicas or legumes on that soil next year.

Peppers, tomatoes, potatoes and aubergine are all solanum, Avkg47 - I only know this because my arthritis is irritated by all 4 of those because of the lycopene content in the whole solanum family. So Moon Grower's advice to grow brassicas or legumes is accurate.

Avkg47 I've just spotted the second part of your comment our son, who is a master chef, has always told me very clearly not to remove all the seeds from sweet peppers as they can act as an irritant in the gut. Basically, and to get sightly graphic for a moment, our bodies can't digest the seeds and therefore they pass right through our system to be expelled... think of birds eating berries.

That's a bit confusing to me, Moon Grower - are you saying you should remove the pips (which is what I was told) or that you shouldn't? Only you say he's told you very clearly 'not' to remove all the seeds...

Sorry Bamboo lord knows why I typed the 'not'... All seeds should be removed from peppers as they act as an irritant.

As I said ... pepperonccini without the seeds ... when raw in salads.

Of course, as Moon Growe must be aware, these are NOT the same peppers as sweet capsicum, though they belong to the same family. Capsicum seeds are another problem, and ALWAYS need to be removed, whether raw or cooked.

The point being as you have said they belong to the same family so can't be grown where blighted potatoes were grown!

I don't understand - pepperoncini are simply a variety of capsicum anuum - if the seeds in the sweet pepper version are a stomach irritant, why would that not be the case with pepperoncini?