What is this on my new potato plants

[Anton]

All my new potatoes (several rows) are doing fine except the odd-looking one I spotted yesterday (see pictures - it is the plant in the middle of the three). Any idea what is the cause please? Any advice? Should I dig it up and destroy it?

If it's blight, it's really early! And there's been no rain for weeks. If they all catch blight now there is now way of saving the plants, because they haven't even flowered yet!

[peacegarden2024]

flowing has nothing to do with potato production.

looks like heat and slug damage.

[Anton]

Thanks a lot for reply. You might well be right. I dug up the offending plant and the root looks as though it has been chewed a bit (see pictures). (What do you mean flowering has nothing to do with potato production?).

[Jungle Jane]

That looks a bit like blackleg,I had it on one Lady C potato plant years ago,amongst others that were ok,some varieties are more susceptible than others,what variety are they?

[Jungle Jane]

Yeh I really think it is so when I had it (on the potato plant) I left it in there & just cut off the plants top growth,I didn’t try & dig out the potato…

[Penellype]

I think it looks like blackleg too - I have also had it on Lady C, which seems rather susceptible to it.

[peacegarden2024]

(What do you mean flowering has nothing to do with potato production?).

what I mean is the flowering of potato plants has nothing to do with the plant
producing potatoes. many varieties don't flower but they produce potatoes.

[Anton]

Thanks for all the comments. I thinks the potato is a variety (French) called Anome (I planted four different sorts). Well, I am a bit relieved it's not blight. Not sure it's blackleg as it's only the root that is black.

[Anton]

Yeh I really think it is so when I had it (on the potato plant) I left it in there & just cut off the plants top growth,I didn’t try & dig out the potato…

You just left it in the ground, Jungle Jane? And then what. You just had no potatoes on that plant?
(By the way is there anyway of getting an instant notification of posts on this site?)

[Bren In Pots]

(By the way is there anyway of getting an instant notification of posts on this site?)

Anton click your name in the top right,
then ‘user settings’
click ‘profile’
scroll down to notifications
Pick what notifications you want.

hope this helps

[Jungle Jane]

Blackleg does cause the black root like that,when you google symptoms it sounds like the pointy leaves too….
I grow in bags & containers it would’ve been destructive to all the roots/potatoes if I tried to fish out the problematic potato,I figured when harvesting I’ll just check them,all were fine but that single potato plant can’t of produced anything getting rid of all the leaves that early on so I think there probably wasn’t any potatoes from that plant…

[Anton]

Were there a couple of tiny potatoes clustered around the root.

[Jungle Jane]

I don’t think so but I can’t remember exactly,if there was they wouldn’t have grown to anything edible with the roots & growth missing. Happened about three or four years ago. There usually is a couple of tiny potatoes attached to the root when you pull it up with potato growing.

[Anton]

Thanks for all these replies (thanks for the tip, Bren in Pots). There were some tiny potatoes on the plant I pulled up.