How to stop potato blight Blight is a fungal disease that shows itself initially as blotched leaves, followed quickly by rotting stems and tubers and is likely to be the biggest obstacle to you getting a good harvest. It develops in warm, moist conditions, usually from midsummer onwards, and it can rapidly decimate your crop. 2012 may well have been invented to see how effective blight can be. To give yourself every chance of a clean, healthy harvest: If you can, water the ground not the plant; blight spores need to land on wet foliage to infect the plant Choose a well-ventilated site; a breeze is the best fungicide If blight strikes, remove all foliage and incinerate it immediately, wait for three days to allow the skins to set on the potatoes, then dig them up. You may get lucky Mulch the potato plants with straw to deter slugs Keep a tidy veg patch, free of hiding places, and keep earthing up the potatoes as they grow and you'll do much to keep slugs at bay. If they are still a problem, use whatever methods you favour - slug pubs, secateurs (oh the pleasure), nematodes or organic slug pellets If possible, harvest when the soil is neither bone dry nor soaking as this helps to prevent rot Always grow potatoes in a different patch from last year, to minimise the possibility of pests and diseases building up After harvest, dig up and incinerate every last scrap of foliage and every small potato to prevent infections being carried into the next year