Disasterous Potatoes!!!

[MrLeek1]

I could cry...

To make it worse (having forgotten my password and given up fighting with the password reset option) - well, I dug my spuds up today.

Most of them I do in sacks. They performed really poorly, but they all look healthy. I had a spare seed potato which I planted into one of my beds. The harvest from that seed potato was amazing in terms of yield.....but they don't look especially nice!!!!



Covered in scab at the least....i think! I cut open the two I singled out and the flesh looks good. But they look horrific! I can't see the logic in saving them.....

Any explanations? Still learning the ropes when it comes to gardening - but I've never had such a disaster before!

[Two_Sheds]

Most of them I do in sacks.
Covered in scab .... Any explanations?

Ack, they look nasty.

What medium did you use in the sacks? Bought compost, or garden soil?

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...to-scab-3.html

[WendyC]

Thought my feet looked bad after a summer in flip flops!

[Kirk]

What is the soil like, Alkaline ?
Has it been dry ?
What variety of potato was planted ?

Really sounds like Common Scab.
Strangly it is allowed for infected seed potaoes to be sold, so certified seed may have been the original source.

[MrLeek1]

It's Maris Pipers and I've been using shop bought compost to fill the bags up.

- The low yield in the potato bags/sacks I'm putting down to not enough water. The bottom third of the bag was VERY dry soil. What I got from there were perfect quality spuds with only a tiny bit of scab - they just lack in size.
- The ones in the pictures came from a single seed potato - same batch as the other ones. That was planted in the garden beds I've been building up over the past year or two.

The only thing i can put down the state of the spuds in the picture is that last year I emptied the potato bags onto the garden beds. There's shop-bought compost in the beds as well plus manure etc., but essentially I've grown spuds in the same soil for the last 2 years.

Only stuck that seed pot in the ground as I didn't want to put 4 in a sack. Next year I'm only putting in 2 seed potatoes into each sack.

[Bigmallly]

Next year, I'd be tempted to grow them elsewhere if possible as it's advisable not to grow consecutively in the same soil.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Maris Piper is well known for having very poor resistance to scab, I would try another variety next year. I find Picasso is an excellent main crop spud that does well in dustbins and the like. They are also said to have good pest and disease resistance.

As to the poor crop I think you are spot on with your suggestion about lack of water. If there was a lack of water whilst the spuds were swelling then they errr wouldn't.

Next year ignore rain if you are growing in sacks, the haulm is a wonderful umbrella and even if it pours down you will still need to water. I would think that's why your spud in the ground did better than the others.

Potty

[Aberdeenplotter]

Sarpo Mira, the blight resistant potato also seems to be resistant to scab

[Littlefox2000]

Just taken a little look at my potato sacks and I think I might have been tardy...a couple of spuds are showing and one or two have been nibbled by slugs. I think I needed to earth up in the sack even though they're quite full. Blardy slugs. I've put extra pellets down.


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[MrLeek1]

Thanks for all the posts. I'm taking heart from the fact that I got a very good yield from that single seed potato, despite the fact that every spud was covered with scab.

Decent soil + 2 seed pots in each bag + LOTS more water (should!) = good quality spuds.

Any advice on avoiding over watering?

[Potstubsdustbins]

As already posted ignore rain when the haulm is grown, it just won't do the job, just when the tubers need it most. Anyway it gives the neighbours something to talk about when you are watering in the rain.

As to over watering, providing your drainage is up to scratch and not blocked it will not be an issue. During the last warm spell (remember that) I as usual used a 2 gallon bucket on my dustbins, 1 full bucket per bin every 2 days. I leave a 4inch gap between the top of the bin and the top of the compost so that I can pour in a full bucket without waiting for the water to be absorbed, that way I know its getting right down into the bottom of the bins.

Potty