Potato disaster

[heidifuss]

Hi there - hoping you have some advice.

We planted an early crop (homeguard) and maincrop (King Eds) this year.

The leaves on both crops have turned yellow and then shrivelled (this happened to the earlies a while ago and I put it down to the seed), but the same has now happened to the main crop. I don't think this is blight - there were no brown patches. Also the plants both produced potatoes, but they were very small (although edible).

Neither crops flowered.

We have been left with virtually no harvest.

I am wondering whether it is a soil deficiency, but we have grown spuds successfully in previous years

Would be grateful for any comments - thanks in advance

Heidi

[bluemoon]

Many people on our lotties seem to have had the same problem, with early die back and small crops (small as in the usual number of spuds, but tiny) they've put it down to the weather which has been very wet all summer. For some reason ours have been fine, we still have desiree and majestics in the ground, but because we'd heard other's had had problems we dug a couple of each up to check. The only thing I can think of is that our's went in late, but I don't know why this should have made a difference.

[terrier]

There's been so much talk this year of weed killer contaminated compost and manure I'm wondering if thats the cause?

[SlugLobber]

I was going to say exactly the same thing, Terrier. There's an article in Nag and Mutt about certain brands of pesticide and herbicide being taken off the market, while investigations are carried out. My fields aren't treated with either, so my crops have been fine. Anyone in Surrey is more than welcome to pony poo!!!

[heidifuss]

Thanks for your replies guys.

We grow our spuds in our garden organically so I don't think the contamination can be a problem..

In terms of the weather - we did put our spuds in quite early - so maybe that's a factor. We are sooo disappointed and obviously want to avoid this happening again which is difficult if we can't nail the problem. Haven't heard of anyone else with the same problem - so in a way it is good to hear we are not the only ones - and not a prob with our garden.

Any other ideas??

[SarzWix]

Thanks for your replies guys.

We grow our spuds in our garden organically so I don't think the contamination can be a problem..

The problem of contamination comes from manure - the herbicide can be applied to pastureland, animals can eat the grass, the herbicide isn't broken down in the digestive process & is still active in the manure. A lot of organic gardeners have been affected by this problem. Check out this link Green Lane Allotments - Click Here to ENTER | Manure contaminated with herbicide

However, the foliage would have shown signs of the damage, so I don't know if this is what's happened to your spuds.

It could be the atrocious weather last year is having an affect on the growth of the spuds this year? If the growing season was cut short by blight, or flooding or something last year, the seed might not have had as much vigour this year? I dunno, just a thought....

[terrier]

Heidifuss, when you say you grow organically, do you use only your own home made compost or do you buy stuff in. The problems on a lot of lotties are where people have bought in 'contaminated' compost and there is no way to trace where the contamination came from originally.

Sorry Sarswix,cross posted, you got in before me

[allotmentlady]

Is it anything to do with the seed potato itself?

[Two_Sheds]

The extra rain actually gave me a bumper harvest ... my Maris Peer 2nd early spuds were jacket potato sized !

The leaves are meant to turn yellow & shrivel up. No, it's not blight, which is black, wet & rotten.

Not all varieties produce flowers ... and if they do, it's no indicator of "readiness"

[heidifuss]

Thanks to those with sensible ideas/ advice.

I am putting it down to either the weather or the soil as these are the only two constants that both crops experienced. We haven't used any manure/ compost from outside our garden for the last couple of years so I don't think its the contamination you are all talking about. I never really thought how last years weather played a part so that's an interesting idea. I will definately put them in a different place next year and just hope for the best.

Thanks again
Heidi

[rustylady]

It's the timing of the rain that's crucial for spuds (and other crops). You really need it when the spuds are supposed to be swelling, and if it's been so dry the leaves die off before the tubers swell then no amount of rain after that will do any good.

[allotmentlady]

my seed potatoes all had blight and I got nothing.........out of 120 seed potaotes planted, nothing at all, so disheartening.

[heidifuss]

That makes sense rusty lady - the rain this year hasn't been constant - but in bursts with lots of dry periods of low cloud and cold weather.

Allotment lady - it is so disheartening when you work hard and spend money and get no return. I have learned after several years growing that some years are good and others are not - if you grow a variety of things - you should get some decent crops. - This year my onions and beetroot have been the best out of my crops, but beans, courgettes, sweetcorn and toms have all been very slow due to slug damage and lack of heat. I have had success with all these in previous years. Learned a few more lessons for next year - anyway so good luck to you too.

Heidi

[percy charlie]

lack of water can also do this even with lots of rain if the soil is sandy where you are it wont retain that much moisture so if so add in lots of compost and manure over the winter ready for next year also try not to plant a main crop too early i find some varietys are better planted late, my grand dad never planted king eds till mid may and got great sized potatoes but never dug them up till 2 weeks after leaves had fully died off and continued watering the ground during this time. i founf my red duke of york have done well and carlingford.
hope this helps pc

[Farmer_Gyles]

my spuds so far have been fine - lots of small ones for salads, lots of normal size ones for anything else
but i did have one plant where the leaves died off and when i dug the spuds up, they were mushy ..... any idea what caused that?