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Blight

Would really like some help. We had a few pots with potatoes, beans and tomatoes which all developed blight this year. Can I re-use the peat in the garden to grow bulbs and flowers or is it better to throw into the compost bin?

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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,138

    I'd spread it over the garden now and fork it in in the spring.  Hopefully we'll get some sharp frosts this winter to kill the bugs and blights.

    Blight spores  travel on the air, so what little there is in the soil will be negligible compared to what's in the air next year.  Keep plants well apart to allow air to flow through rather than stagnate around them.

    By the way, your beans won't have had the same condition as the potatoes and tomatoes.


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ladygladyg Posts: 3

    Really wanted it for bulbs and plants now. But if beans didn't have blight I could use that peat for garden. Just assumed they had the same thing as they died off at similar time. Thank you Dovefromabove for your reply.

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,138

    It would be ok for bulbs if you only want them to last for the one flowering season and then discard them.

    If you want to use it for plants or bulbs to keep for more than one year I'd enrich the soil with Fish Blood and Bone, a slow release organic fertiliser, as the tomatoes, potatoes and beans will have used up most of the nutrients int he compost.

    Personally I find it better to use fresh compost for tubs and pots, and use spent compost as a mulch or add it to the compost heap.

    image


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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