Kitchen Garden Forum

I have recently dug my Desiree potatoes and found a couple of the large ones with interiors hollowed out from one end and full of slime. They are not the seed potatoes as they are identifiable. I've tried to ally this with soft rot, black leg or blight, but the symptoms don't match. A fellow allotment holder suggested slugs but their presence was not obvious or evident.
I'd be grateful if anyone has any idea what this is so that I can combat for next year.

It sounds like 'hollow heart' to me, Southbrook. It is caused by stress, usually when a dry spell is followed by a wet one. The unfortunate thing is, the potato (mostly the larger ones) looks perfectly normal from the outside and it's not until you cut into your baked potato that it shows up, not nice. Maybe Desiree is more prone to hollow heart? We have certainly had it in the past but I can't remember which variety it affected.

No 'cure' then, just regular watering next year.

Thanks Monika. That would make sense. We did have a dry spell this year and I could have been a bit more proactive with the watering. That would also explain why I didn't see it with the Earlies.
Thanks again.