Holiday Potatoes

[templebell]

Hi all

Came back from my holidays yesterday and went down to the allotment this morning.

I got my potatoes in late this year and so were a bit behind. Nice and healthy when I left - but now dropped and leaves are blackish.

Not sure if it been the weather whilst I was away or something more sinister.

Please advise on what it could be - and are they still usable.

Thanks

[Shetty]

Hi,
it could be blight or maybe windburn, what are your fellow allotmenters saying?
We just had 5 days of 50mpH winds and my poatto plants now look like they had the blight, but I am sure that it was from the high winds we had.

Some of my other plants show the same signs, though I know some potato varities can stand the wind better than others.

Any chance of some pics?

[templebell]

Hi

I was down there at about 7:00 this morning so no one else around - then it started raining so habven't been back today.

My thoughts are to cut the foliage down - I need to lift them anyhow. However, I'll take some shots if I finish work soon enough for future reference for people.


Thanks

[templebell]

Hi,

Only getting over there late so no decent photos. However, found pictures on net and I'm afraid its blight. As far as I can tell I need to cut all the foliage down to ground level (done) - dig up tubers, wash, inspect, burn the effected and use the good ones - store any extra and watch for rot appearing. Does that seem a reasonable way forward. Wish me luck

What is the correct way to store ?

[Shetty]

Originally Posted by templebell

Hi,

Only getting over there late so no decent photos. However, found pictures on net and I'm afraid its blight. As far as I can tell I need to cut all the foliage down to ground level (done) - dig up tubers, wash, inspect, burn the effected and use the good ones - store any extra and watch for rot appearing. Does that seem a reasonable way forward. Wish me luck

What is the correct way to store ?

Touch wood, I never had blight, But I always plant the Sarpo potatoes, which supposed to be as resistant as they can be.
I was told that if you have blight, you leave in the tubers for a while after cutting down the foliage, so the spores will die off on top of the soil, rather then getting into contact with the tubers. If you wash the potatoes they won't store very well, sorry don't know why that is, better ask somebody with more experience

[Mikey & Annie]

Whether it is blight or not, you could benefit from cutting all the foliage off and leaving the tubers in the ground to carry on growing, unless of course it is time to lift them.

We lost almost a full crop of maris pipers, but once the remaining ones were harvested, I found months later that a few that had been left - what must have been small tubers - had grown into quite large, healthy ones.