Kitchen Garden Forum

My mum has just asked me for help as she says her potatoes are wilting. Only two plants are affected so far, the tops were floppy and when she pulled them up, the haulms under the soil were all mushy.

Ideas anyone?

Dear Chantal,
look up black-leg.
Regards Sally Wright.

Hi Sally

I suggested Blackleg to her last night and she said the haulms weren't discoloured so it couldn't be that; I'm not so sure but I've never had anything other than blight on mine.

However, when looking at pictures of this on Google, the damage can clearly be seen above the ground and the damage to her spuds is all below ground. I wonder if they'd just earthed them up?

I'll give her a call and get more info.

Thanks

Dear Chantal, myself and O.C have been suffering from a colapse of foliage and also non emergence of the potatoes themselves, these have been mostly on the ends of the rows.
So we have had a little dig down, and every root that is affected, has had huge ants nests round each one.
We are wondering if the ants are biting round the stems to keep the area clear, but i have never come across this before.

Blimey, that's a new one on me too OH!

I had a chat with my mum early this morning and have sent her a link to a site about Blackleg so she's reporting back.

I'll mention the ants to her this evening

I was just about to post a panicky query about this myself!
Just one potato plant in the middle of a row has totally collapsed and the stem just underground looked sort of manky.
I`ll look up `blackleg` thanks.
Oh dear oh dear oh dear.......

I`ve had a look and the blackleg thing doesn`t seem right.
The plant top is just collapsed but there`s no sogginess. If anything it looks dried up. The root looks sort of shredded.
Can`t find anything in my book of words but I`ve got another nine rows of spuds around the dead one and I`m getting very nervous.
Wish I had a digital camera then I`d show you.

If it IS blackleg, get onto the supplier because blackleg is carried by the tuber and you may have received infected tubers. I did a few years ago and got a full refund (from D T Brown).