Pale Green/Yellow Potato Leaves

[bjblackmore]

Hi,

I've planted 6 potato plants in my small veg plot, they sprouted about 14 weeks ago, so I harvested 2 of the plants last week, (didn't want to harvest all 6 in one go, as it would be too many for us to eat), which gave lovely new potato sized tubers. I was going to leave the other 4 plants a few more weeks, mainly so we eat what I've already harvested, but also to let them grow a bit bigger, and see if we can get some baking spuds!

However, over the past week I've noticed the leaves have started to go a pale green/yellow colour, with some brown spots on, and the stems look like they are wilting. Below is a comparison between the existing crop, on the left, and my second crop, (which I planted in large plastic tubs, not in the ground) on the right, which came up about 4 weeks ago. As you can see from the pic, the second crop have much darker green healthier looking leaves.

What would be causing this unhealthy look? I've read it could be drought, but I've watered them regularly, and used a miracle-gro liquid plant food once every 2 weeks, and we've had a fair bit of rain here in the south west.

Does it look like a mineral deficiency, or some kind of blight? Or something else?

Many thanks

Ben

EDIT: I've just read SarzWix's thread on 'Is It Blight?' and watched tattieman's youtube 'How to test for BLIGHT' video, I guess I need to test for blight as my next step, to see if it is/is not blight!?

[shirlthegirl43]

That isn't blight. I reckon your spuds have done their job and the haulms are now dying off. You can cut them off and dispose of them then harvest the spuds as you need them. Or you can cheat and harvest all the spuds then store them in fresh, dry, multipurpose compost so that they taste like just-harvested.

[SarzWix]

Yup, as Shirley says, the tops are probably just dying off because the potatoes are ready. What variety are they? If they're earlies then 14 weeks is as long as they're likely to grow for.

[bjblackmore]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the replies.

These were earlies, I can't remember exactly which variety, (the misses threw out the original seed potato bag) but they were early/first crop, from the local B&Q, possibly arran pilot?

That's good news! I was dreading blight, this is my first year with a veg patch (took lots of begging to the misses to get her to hand over a flower patch) and I'm still learning all about what is/isn't a disease, and whats just a dying plant ready for harvesting.

Thanks

Ben

[Flummery]

Arran Pilot is a lovely spud. Dig up a root or two and try them!

[bjblackmore]

Hi Guys,

Decided to pull up 3 of the remaining 5 plants (had 1 more than I thought), and got a fairly good crop!

All spuds seemed to be healthy, no sign of blight, and a good spread of sizes. I'll leave the last 2 plants for another week, just to give us chance to eat these!

Ben

[SarzWix]

Nice Well done!

[Incy]

That isn't blight. I reckon your spuds have done their job and the haulms are now dying off. You can cut them off and dispose of them then harvest the spuds as you need them. Or you can cheat and harvest all the spuds then store them in fresh, dry, multipurpose compost so that they taste like just-harvested.

OOh thanks for the tip Shirl. I didn't know you could do that

[SlugLobber]

I had to chuckle at the dirty V clean shots, tee hee! Some of my potato plants have done the same and I think they're well beyond the 14 weeks.

Stupid question, though. Will the tubers grow any more? Will it be harmful to leave them in situ with the foliage removed, or will they eventually rot?