Growing potatoes near tomatoes

[Old School]

I saw somewhere in one of the companion planting lists that potatoes should not be planted near tomatoes. I forgot about this until well after I had planted my new raised bed garden. I have a row of Yukon Gold potatoes right in the middle of some Cherokee Purple and another row of Sungold cherry tomatoes. Guess we will test this theory out big time now
Anyone else tried this out or have any further reasoning why one cannot grow them next to each other? I am guessing it has to do with pests. Surprisingly, now I see potato plants grafted together with Tomato plants. Hmmm...

[KarenO]

Disease issues would be the main concern
KarenO

[zipcode]

Yeah.
I know this first hand. Growing in areas where everyone is growing potatoes, I had huge problems with late blight (the weather was also a big factor of course). The potato is actually much more susceptible to early and late blight and will get infected first providing huge pressure and the disease is also carried on the tubers.

[Old School]

I have had to prune the potatoes a bit already as they are shading my Sungolds which I direct sowed from seed. The Sungolds are on left of center in photo. This is my first time trying potatoes. I have planted a row here in ground to test out difference between potted (I am growing two pots of same potato at garden I do at work) and in ground. Now, I fear the blight :0

[brownrexx]

Late Blight does not usually hit me in PA until August. Maybe you will have harvested your potatoes by then.

Although I do think that it is going to get pretty crowded when the tomato plants get bigger.

[Nematode]

Originally Posted by Old School

I saw somewhere in one of the companion planting lists that potatoes should not be planted near tomatoes. I forgot about this until well after I had planted my new raised bed garden. I have a row of Yukon Gold potatoes right in the middle of some Cherokee Purple and another row of Sungold cherry tomatoes. Guess we will test this theory out big time now
Anyone else tried this out or have any further reasoning why one cannot grow them next to each other? I am guessing it has to do with pests. Surprisingly, now I see potato plants grafted together with Tomato plants. Hmmm...

It's likely that "near" could mean distances larger than found in most of our gardens.
I don't worry about it and have had no known ill effects.

They share some pests, but if you follow that logic it leads to dont plant tomatoes near tomatoes, which is well ...ridiculous.

[Old School]

I thinned the potatoes quite a bit today to allow more air circulation around them and the tomatoes. The Sungold will no doubt need some pruning along the way. They get quite tall and bushy. I try to keep the bottom 12 inches of each plant clear of any branches for better air circulation and less chance of splashing disease onto the plants. As I noted this is my first time trying potatoes and my initial layout of the garden was up in the air when I put the potatoes in. They ended up being a bit bigger than I imagined which is causing some of the issues. I expected them to get maybe 2 feet tall but obviously they are exceeding that. The tomatoes are fully expected to grow taller than the potatoes and minimize this issue...hopefully
All the while the bell and jalepeno peppers are languishing on the left watching with amusement as they stretch their branches