A second plant wilted today (far from the first plant). If there is any other explanation other than voles, I'd love to know. If voles is the most reasonable explanation, then I'll go with some of the remedies I just found on another thread. (with Juicy Fruit gum inserted into the tunnels being the most interesting.)

Adding more info after doing some more research:
the leaves are still nice and green, as is the stem -- no signs of black rot or fungal diseases that I can see.
The top leaves wilted first.

But don't take the "missing seed potato" too literally as that is common with even healthy plants depending on the size of the seed to begin with. Small ones tend to just mush out of existence.

And don't "wait on blooming" either as it often never happens.

So my main question would be were there also potatoes where you pulled up the plant? If they were gone too then, at least in my garden it is almost always raccoons, skunks and/or squirrels digging them up.

Dave

Thanks, Dave -- good to know about the mushing out of existence -- yes, these were small seed potatoes. And when I pulled it up, there were no potatoes at all.

So I won't wait for the flowering that might never come! These are 60 day potatoes (Yukon Red Gold) so in another couple weeks I guess I'll just check to see if they "made." Hopefully the voles won't hit too many of them. In the mean time I'll at least put briars into any holes I see.

Go figure, but they seem to lose interest in my garden in midsummer. If I hold some potatoes and green them up really well and plant in mid-June they leave them alone and I get some late potatoes.

Juicy fruit doesn't work, ditto gummy bears. When I find their runs, I poke stout sticks in them, which at least makes them work harder. When you find a major corridor, you can excavate a hole, place a snap-type mouse trap baited with apple in it, and cover with a board. You can trap a lot of voles this way.

Floral -- I threw a little Dr. Earth in when planting (new to me, I used to pour a little fish emulsion in, but decided it was probably best not to wet them). That's it on feeding. Oh, and they were covered for a month w/ AG 19 so maybe they were reaching a bit for sunshine? But, I'm short, so thigh high may be shorter than you're imagining :)