Trouble In Potato Paradise

[GoDawgs]

There's trouble in potato paradise. Last week one of the Kennebec plants got dug out as it was dying at a pretty good clip. And now a second one has succumbed a few plants down the row from that first one. It seems that the stems are rotting and getting gooey at and below soil level.





I said one plant but there were actually two there. When I asked Pickles (who planted them and is Keeper Of The Taties) about that she said she had dropped an extra small seed potato in there so that accounts for two plants in one hole! At least the potatoes on them were OK and gave us a look at where the rest of them are in the maturing process.

Pickles did some online research and found that maybe black leg is the problem and can be caused by a lot of cool, wet weather. We've had that in between 3-4 day stretches of 80's and we're in it again now. It was getting too late to get deeper into the subject so that will happen today. Has anybody out there had this problem before?

The Yukon row has a different issue with pinprick sized black dots on all of the leaves.



I looked that one up and it seems to be, appropriately, Black Dot disease. It's something that can affect roses too. Fortunately neem oil was suggested as an alternative to commercial chemicals and I already have some neem so as soon as the rain moves out I will spray the potatoes and surrounding beds. That won't be until Sunday though.

[PlainJane]

Yikes, I hope you still get a potato harvest.

[Seven Bends]

Sorry to hear about your potato troubles! Hopefully the stem rot problem will stay confined to only a few plants. In 2020, I had something similar occur. A few of my potato plants went from looking beautiful to looking nearly dead in just a few days. Inspection revealed gooey, rotting stems down near the soil surface. I didn't see the characteristic black or dark coloring of blackleg, so I never figured out if that was the culprit or some other stem rot. No foliage symptoms. I removed the affected plants (including roots and baby tubers, which looked fine) and a little of the surrounding soil just in case. I think in total I lost about four plants out of maybe 15 in the row. Another row on the opposite side of the garden wasn't affected. The remaining potatoes seemed to store fine, no unusual rot or other issues.

The problem came on suddenly a few days after hilling for the first time. I didn't have enough good soil to hill, so I hilled them with stuff scraped up out of the aisles, which was a mix of soil and partially decayed wood mulch. I don't know if something in the decaying mulch caused the problem, or if the wood chunks damaged the stems and provided an entrance path for pathogens, or if the decaying mulch held too much moisture against the stems, or what. Could have been merely coincidental.

[worth1]

It's always something isn't it.
I saw some spots on one of my tomato leaves yesterday and we had an amputation.

[bower]

I had something awful like the black leg, first time I planted potatoes here on this land. Every plant turned completely black, no taties that time. I didn't try planting any potatoes in the ground here again for a couple decades - until just a couple years ago. You have my sympathies!

[GoDawgs]

... In 2020, I had something similar occur. A few of my potato plants went from looking beautiful to looking nearly dead in just a few days. Inspection revealed gooey, rotting stems down near the soil surface. I didn't see the characteristic black or dark coloring of blackleg, so I never figured out if that was the culprit or some other stem rot. No foliage symptoms. I removed the affected plants (including roots and baby tubers, which looked fine) and a little of the surrounding soil just in case. I think in total I lost about four plants out of maybe 15 in the row. Another row on the opposite side of the garden wasn't affected. The remaining potatoes seemed to store fine, no unusual rot or other issues.

Boy, your problem sounded just like mine! The foliage was fine except the lowest leaves which started turning yellow and the yellowing slowly crept up the plant. Gooey and rotting at the soil level and below. The small potatoes attached to the plants looked fine so I'll save those for supper. The other potato row is across the middle walkway from this bed. They're the ones with the black dots. I've never had problems with potatoes like this. Always a first time, I guess.

[Seven Bends]

... In 2020, I had something similar occur. A few of my potato plants went from looking beautiful to looking nearly dead in just a few days. Inspection revealed gooey, rotting stems down near the soil surface. I didn't see the characteristic black or dark coloring of blackleg, so I never figured out if that was the culprit or some other stem rot. No foliage symptoms. I removed the affected plants (including roots and baby tubers, which looked fine) and a little of the surrounding soil just in case. I think in total I lost about four plants out of maybe 15 in the row. Another row on the opposite side of the garden wasn't affected. The remaining potatoes seemed to store fine, no unusual rot or other issues.

Boy, your problem sounded just like mine! The foliage was fine except the lowest leaves which started turning yellow and the yellowing slowly crept up the plant. Gooey and rotting at the soil level and below. The small potatoes attached to the plants looked fine so I'll save those for supper. The other potato row is across the middle walkway from this bed. They're the ones with the black dots. I've never had problems with potatoes like this. Always a first time, I guess.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPgoWxT1PMc

[GoDawgs]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPgoWxT1PMc

One of my favorite quotes! I miss Gilda and all her characters. She was one of a kind.