Holes in seed potatoes - advice please

[kathyd]

Having spent ages the other day planting most of my seed potatoes straight from the bag, I tipped the remaining few out yesterday to count them and noticed holes in several of them. Some tiny, and a couple of bigger ones. I am NOT happy! I'm rubbish at growing potatoes, but so far the one thing I haven't had is something making holes in them! Please can anyone advise me on:

1. What might have made the holes
2. If there's anything I can do to minimise any potential damage
3. If I'm likely to have introduced yet another pest into the garden on a long term basis
4. Whether I should be digging them all up again and binning them (PLEASE say no...)

Done my best with the pics, but was tricky with help from the cat who suddenly became unusually affectionate when she saw the camera...

[darcyvuqua]

Wire worm?

[fishpond]

I reckon slugs and wire worm.
Maybe not active though, so cut a few open and have a look, if no sign, let the cuts dry for a few days and plant as normal.

[Bill HH]

From the pictures it looks to me like the inside of the holes has healed up and skinned over. Unless you found any live worms or grubs it could be this is old damage and the culprits have either gone or been sprayed. So no I wouldnt dig em up.What I would do is send those pics to the supplier with a nasty letter.

[rustylady]

Did you buy your seed potatoes, or have you saved them from a previous crop?

[kathyd]

Thx for your suggestions ppl - I bought seed potatoes RL, I've not managed to grow any of my own worth saving yet!

I didn't find anything crawling inside, no, just some mucky black stuff which I thought might contain eggs or something? I'm completely ignorant about potatoes (probably why I can't grow them... hmm!).

I might try to send a nasty letter, but then again I'm not sure my francais is up to it yet! I'll see if there's a address on the bag and consider it .

Thx

[rustylady]

I would leave the ones you've already planted - I'm sure they will be fine.

[kathyd]

Thank you! That's just what I wanted to hear! Now I can worry about all those leggy seedlings I've not had time to deal with yet instead

[Knight of Albion]

It looks like 'old' damage to me, rather than 'new' damage i.e. active. I wouldn't worry about it. Leave them be, care for them as normal and they should produce a nice crop of healthy, tasty new potatoes.
Full of natural goodness! What could be better?!

I noticed that too. The seed potatoes this year are an uninspiring lot, mostly small ones ...but the size of the seed potato doesn't effect the size of the crop, so again nothing to worry about.

(I couldn't help noticing how few packs the shop had sold....In economic hard times like these you'd think they'd be flying off the shelves...)

[Knight of Albion]

PS: Keep the label though - just in case. There will probably be a 'quality' guarantee on there somewhere.

I don't know about a 'nasty' letter, probably a nice, dignified letter explaining your grievance will get you further if the crop fails. (In any case, in the few instances were seed potatoes are defective for whatever reason it's usually because the shop hasn't stored them correctly, rather than any fault of the supplier.) Though I doubt it will. If they've chitted, you'll be okay.

[kathyd]

Thx Mr K - I didn't 'chit' them intentionally, I'd actually decided to try without chitting for a change! But they mostly chitted themselves. (I'm sure there's a joke in their somewhere...). So fingers crossed, 3rd time lucky eh??

I suspect that in hard times, lots of people just plant their own from previous years, or ones that have sprouted from the supermarket to be honest. I actually find them quite dear to buy, at least over here, but maybe I've just become a skinflint since we 'retired' early! And as for the price of special potato fertiliser, don't get me started on that one! Lol .

[Martin H]

I agree with others that the damage is old and healed up, won't be a problem.
Some of them look like damage from couch grass spears.

[kathyd]

Couch grass damage eh? Well I guess they may get more of that here..! Tricky stuff to get rid of isn't it?