Met Éireann has issued a potato blight advisory across the country.

The advisory is now in effect from today (Friday, May 29) and will remain in place until 12:00p.m on Tuesday (June 2).

Potato blight

The national meteorological service said that weather conditions conducive to the spread of potato blight will develop in many areas from Saturday afternoon until Tuesday morning.

Potato blight is a plant disease caused by a fungal-like organism called Phytophthora infestans.

The potato blight pathogen spreads rapidly in humid weather in the foliage of potatoes and tomatoes, causing the foliage to decay and the potato/tomato to be infected, Met Éireann said.

Farming commentary

In its latest farming commentary, Met Éireann said the last seven days were much drier than average.

The coming week will be more unsettled with most areas expected to have above average rainfall, generally ranging between 20mm and 60mm.

It was much warmer than average over the last seven days too. 

The coming week will be much cooler than last week but will still be close to or above average, ranging between 12° and 14°, highest in the east of the country.

Mean soil temperatures will remain well above normal.

Drying and spraying

Drying conditions will be good today (Friday) with dry weather, sunny spells and light to moderate winds.

Over the weekend and early next week, drying conditions will be limited with spells of rain and showers.

There will be opportunities for spraying today with dry conditions and light to moderate winds.

Spraying opportunities will be limited over the weekend and early next week due to more frequent rainfall.