I've been thinking about this for a few years now but not really done anything; it’s really easy to get side tracked with bright colours, different shapes and tastes etc. But with LB being a devastating annual ‘event’ here, it’s a direction I want to take. There has been some superb breeding work by the real deal pro's, something to look up to and in a small way aim for.
The last few years I’ve grown a couple of varieties that have good resistance and it is amazing to see how they are either not touched by LB as it sweeps through the rest of the plot or you see brown marks on the leaves to indicate its presence but it never fully develops. I've noticed that spores don’t seem to be produced and the plants remain mostly unaffected and just carry on growing.
LB tuber resistance would be harder to monitor as it would only really be seen at or following harvest. I’m currently of the thinking though that if the tops have remained healthy then the chances of LB being present in the underground crop would be small? Although if any were infected, it would be fairly easy to separate the crop of any plants showing blighted tubers at point of harvest. I suppose some potatoes could be dug early and LB introduced?
My plans for 2015
To grow several Blight resistant varieties and use them to make crosses to feed into a genepool.
Sow TPS from any Blight resistant varieties I already have and trial them, purely survival of the fittest clone or cones go forward.
Monitor with Sarpo Mira and non resistant varieties, perhaps a blight rating table on how a variety performs against blight might be handy
Simples!!!
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