Information and discussion for successfully cultivating potatoes, the world's fourth largest crop.
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July 12, 2013 | #1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ohio
Posts: 4,350
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My potatoes are rotting....
We have had 16 days of rain. 5 inches since last Saturday *double sigh*, but now that the weather is clearing up I see the one plot of potatoes ( mostly Red Norlands)is looking sad. I started to dig a few of them and they are rotting. Is this normal due to the excessive amount of rain we have had? Last summer's drought produced more than this summers well water garden. This garden seems a little clayish compared to my other plot. It was amended with leaves and chicken manure last fall, but I did not fertilize them this spring when I planted them or after that either. OR am I looking at a disease if the excessive water isn't what is causing it?
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carolyn k |
July 12, 2013 | #2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Southeast Kansas
Posts: 878
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I would think that it's probably because of all the rain. Were your plants still actively growing and green? If they were and showed no sign of disease before I'd double the chances that it's from all the wet.
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July 12, 2013 | #3 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ohio
Posts: 4,350
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Thanks, I just wanted another opinion. I haven't grown them for more than a couple years and haven't seen this happen yet. We normally don't have 16 days of rain in a row....The weeds are unbelievable. They either pull right out or break off like lettuce, but there are an extraordinary number of them...everywhere. I have kept these rather clean of weeds, but I think they are struggling due to the wet. It is rather disappointing as I have 2 50ft rows here.
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carolyn k |
July 12, 2013 | #4 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cincinnati
Posts: 907
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I agree with the rain. My potato plants were nice and green with flowers just starting to bloom. After a good amount of rain, I am left with yellow and brown plants without much hope of a harvest. I didn't check under the soil, but I would imagine the tubers that started to form are rotting just like yours.
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July 12, 2013 | #5 | |||||
Crosstalk™ Forum Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: 8407 18th Ave West 7-203 Everett, Washington 98204
Posts: 1,157
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I lived in Kansas and Ohio and I remember the years of high rainfall in June/July and saying things like the idiom...
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Anyway...the ground was soggy from all the wet and the Pontiac potatoes were the worst...rotting in the soil. The Norlands, Coblers, Kennebecs, Early Ohios, were bad but not nearly as bad as the Pontiacs. Some of my seedling potatoes fared better but at the time I did not know why. The potatoes in wet heavy clay but black prairie soil stuck to the potato tubers and one had to lay them out to dry...but many didn't dry since they were rotting...what was the deal? Looking back I know the problem was .... Quote:
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I continue to test for rot resistance by allowing many of my varieties to undergo storage in situ all winter. Those coming out the wet soil here in Western Washington have to have remarkable tolerance to "wet rot" and I keep finding new clones for breeding due to that tolerance. Not much I can say to help anyone with the rot problem but remember to hill up the potatoes to keep the tubers above the standing water zone. |
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July 13, 2013 | #6 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ohio
Posts: 4,350
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I was afraid to plant them and hill them up. After last year of rain once during the Summer, I dug a trench and planted them deeper than "standing water level, which would be non existent in this area, but there are springs in the ground in the back yard", but this is a garden on a slope and I have seen so much water from the rain that it actually was eroding the soil off enough to expose the tubers. So, no matter what I did this year it wasn't a good fit for the weather. As to the pink rot, I don't believe there is a change in the color of the potato out in the open air, they are all just rotty.
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carolyn k |
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July 13, 2013 | #7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2011
Location: bald hill area thurston county washington
Posts: 312
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I found I am having this problem in a wet area near an irrigation leak. Luckily only lost a few.
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July 13, 2013 | #8 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2011
Location: bald hill area thurston county washington
Posts: 312
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They were reds.
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July 13, 2013 | #9 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Mid-Ohio
Posts: 848
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I planted shallow this year and so hilling put the bottom of the trenches below the tuber zone. My fingers are crossed. Some brussels sprouts at the end of a row wilted but they were on the down hill side of the row. I know where I need another drainage ditch though.
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