Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi
A few of my potato plants are looking very sickly with the leaves curling up and turning yellow. They were planted 30th March 2021. Do you think this could be blight (isn't it a bit early for that?) or vericullum wilt?
The other plants that were planted 18th April seem very healthy but I've noticed a few of the lower leaves are also turning yellow.
What do you advice I could do please.
Thanks for any help you can give
Best wishes
Kath

Hi Chloe
This sounds like potato blackleg. Its a bacterial infection and there is nothing you can do to save the plant. June is the time when it makes its appearance.
You must remove the infected plants and dispose of them carefully - don't put them in your compost heap. Nearby plants will probably be OK.
If its any consolation to you you haven't done anything wrong - the infection was in the seed tuber and is just now making itself known.
Regards
John

You can usually tell if it's blackleg from looking at the stem which will be rotting - it's not called 'blackleg' for nothing. Some years ago I had two or three plants suffering from it and contacted the seller who sent me a voucher for the value of the potatoes. It wasn't that I was after compensation, but I thought they should know that some of their seed potatoes were affected.