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melissel

Potato vines turning to mush--bug or breakage?

melissel
10 years ago

Every few days I look over my potato beds and find another vine broken at the soil level and turned to mush on the inside. I can't tell if the problem is breakage (and then the inside of the dying vine turns rotten) or insect damage (like SVB damage). Is there a pest that attacks potato vines the way SVBs attack squash vines? I haven't seen any larvae when I've tried to look closely in the rotted vines, but there's so much mush and nastiness, I might not be able to see them.

We have had crazy weather over the last week or so, with lots of wind and rain, so it's possible the weather was too much for them. And the potatoes are tall plants now (in full flower) in a raised bed, with the soil level up to about 12 inches, but we haven't figured out how to support them above that level (please feel free to throw out ideas on that as well if you have 'em :-p).

What do you think? Bugs or breakage? If it's breakage, what can I do do to avoid it?

Thanks in advance.

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