Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority, has reported this year’s first outbreaks of potato blight on farms in Wexford and Cork in late May.
All potato growing areas are being monitored by the potato inspectors of the Department of Agriculture as well as specialist potato advisers in Teagasc.
The Teagasc recording system tracks the initial outbreak of the disease with the aim of helping growers to implement preventative blight control programmes.
The average date of outbreak of blight for main crop potatoes is the latter half of July. However, for early crops in the south of the country, disease outbreak can be much earlier.
Once blight has made its initial appearance, the further development of an epidemic is dependent on the control programme, variety, growth stage and the prevailing weather conditions.
When late blight is first identified in an area, the information is entered on a map so that the location and date of the outbreak is obvious at a glance. The map will be up-dated throughout the summer and published weekly on the Teagasc website.