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| Hello! I tried to find answers with the details I'll set forth in a bit. No luck. I am hoping my potatoes are just dying off and are ready to harvest. But I'm a newbie. So here are details. -Planted around mid-Feb, organic soil, 18 gal pot I want to say I planted these seed potatoes in mid-Feb. I'm in Northern Calif. They are Yukon Gold seed potatoes. On the package it says, Early Season Harvest, 65 days Harvest (got them at Home Depot). I planted them in an 18 gall. pot with just organic soil and I have no idea where to buy straw so I just used more dirt to hill them. I watered every other day, when the soil felt dry (too much watering?). They did well. The pic of nice green leaves were in Mid-Apr. Then around end of April I noticed brown spots. I didn't do anything. Then it got worst. Then the leaves started to wilt, droop a lot. I never saw the plant flower. Naturally, I became a little down at my neglect for the brown spots. I think it's brown spots, but I don't think it's blight. I read potato blight has concentric rings. But maybe it's a diff type of blight...? So I harvested a few potatoes this morning to see if they look diseased. I didn't count the exact days of how long the potatoes have been growing. But 65 days puts it around early-March. I'm pretty sure I planted the seeds around then or before. However..the potatoes look beautiful! It's just that the skins are thin. Which someone mentioned means they are immature... I ate a few for breakfast. They taste wonderful. So you can see my confusion. Questions: Thank you! I love growing my own food! Just started this Feb! :) :) Mid-April (looks healthy!) Wilting/droopy Brown spots 2 Harvested this morning:
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This post was edited by Nascent_Bud on Sat, May 17, 14 at 12:57
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| Been there, done that. Grown in containers, worried about the lack of flowers, and thought some disease had taken them when they started to look bad. My Yukon golds were just like that. You don't have disease, they're just done growing. They really are early varieties. Many varieties of potatoes only have a few or no flowers. If you can stand to do it, the skin on your potatoes will toughen up a little if you let all the foliage die before digging them up. Then you need to let them "cure" in a cool, dark place. But why would you want to do that? They are at their tastiest with thin skins and freshly dug up. Once the plant starts to die, the potatoes won't get any bigger. Farmers who want to store potatoes over winter worry about curing, but you don't need to. The brown spots aren't any serious disease, like blight. Just insect damage, maybe a bit of bacterial or fungal disease. But if your potatoes look like that, there's nothing to worry about. Caveat: I'm no potato farmer. I've just grown about six different varieties in tubs and barrels over the past four years and learned through trial and error. All the potatoes I grew tasted great. The harvests weren't big, and neither were the potatoes. But I've never had a store bought potato that tasted so good. |
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| Definitely not blight but maybe septoria leaf spot. Those plants aren't ready to die back yet, they still have time to keep growing and producing. |
This post was edited by ltilton on Sat, May 17, 14 at 19:26
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| If the potatoes were planted in February in 9b I would think it is unlikely they will produce any more spuds or bulk up significantly. They need cooler temps to do that, and they also are short season plants that have been growing for about three months. I could be wrong, but that fits my experience. |
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| It appears to me that your plants needed more nitrogen. But probably it is too late at this stage. According to your sample harvest, your potatoes are almost there. They are very much like their cousin, tomatoes. It take roughly from 90 days to 120 days from seeding to harvest, depending on the variety. I also do think that those leave have some kind of fungal disease . I would just clip all the affected ones. On the other hand, since they have reached their maturity, there should not be a reason to be alarmed. I would just let them be there as long as possible. When the stems get woody and brownish then it will be the sign that there is no benefit getting to the roots from the foliage. |
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- Posted by Nascent_Bud 9b (My Page) on Sat, May 17, 14 at 18:59
| You all are fantastic! Thanks for the informative answers. And yes, Ohiofem, I have never tasted potatoes that good before! I was very pleased with the flavor and texture. |
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