Potatoes are a staple crop in lots of diets the world over. After all, right here in the US, we usually choose our potatoes fried. Each grocery retailer in America has a whole aisle devoted to our love of salty potato chips. And the frozen meals part boasts bag after bag of fried potato meals. French fries, tots, hashbrowns, dwelling fries – we love our potatoes.
Regardless of how cheap they’re on the retailer, an increasing number of gardeners are selecting to develop their very own potatoes. Rising potatoes is straightforward, means that you can skip the pesticides and provides you the liberty of selecting from a ton of various varieties.
However, like every other gardening enterprise, you’ll encounter rising points particular to potatoes in your quest for homegrown spuds.
To not fear! I’m going to cowl the 9 commonest potato-growing issues you’re prone to run into. Be it pests, illnesses or environmental points, I’ll discuss every and supply options for them. After all, this is applicable to your commonplace “white” potato; rising candy potatoes is one other subject!
You’ll be a spud-growing grasp very quickly, so have your air-fryer prepped and prepared as a result of there’s nothing fairly like a batch of do-it-yourself fries utilizing potatoes you’ve grown your self.
A Potato Primer
Earlier than diving into potential issues, let’s recap the fundamentals of potato rising:
Selecting Potato Varieties
Potatoes are available numerous sorts, every suited to totally different culinary makes use of and rising situations:
- Early Varieties: These quick-maturing potatoes are perfect for harvesting early within the season. They don’t retailer effectively, so use them up shortly.
- Maincrop Varieties: Bigger potatoes that take longer to mature however yield greater tubers that may be saved for months.
- Specialty Varieties: Contains fingerling potatoes (my favourite) and colourful purple potatoes.
Choose varieties based mostly in your rising zone, out there area, most popular harvest time, and, most significantly, what you wish to make with them. They’re suited to totally different culinary makes use of based mostly on their various starch content material and texture.
- For potato salads, waxy potatoes like Purple Bliss or Yukon Gold are perfect—they maintain their form effectively after boiling and have a creamy texture.
- For crispy French fries, high-starch potatoes similar to Russets (also called Idaho potatoes) are most popular because of their fluffy inside when fried.
- Fingerling potatoes, with their skinny skins and buttery texture, are nice for roasting or including to stews.
- Then you definitely’ve received your all-purpose potatoes like Yukon Golds, appropriate for mashing, baking, or making gratins.
The selection of potato can considerably influence the result of a dish.
Soil Preparation
Potatoes choose well-drained, free soil wealthy in natural matter; dig in some compost earlier than planting. Maintain your rows 12-18 inches aside with 3-4” between every seed potato.
Planting Potatoes
Use potatoes you’ve grown and chitted your self or licensed seed potatoes from a good supply to attenuate illness danger. Bigger seed potatoes could be lower into smaller items, every containing no less than one or two eyes (buds). Plant seed potatoes 3-4 inches deep, eyes dealing with upward, and canopy with soil.
Watering and Fertilizing
Preserve constant moisture, particularly throughout tuber formation, however keep away from overwatering to forestall rot.
You possibly can side-dress potatoes with a balanced fertilizer (10-10-10) when the crops are about 6-8 inches tall and once more after flowering.
Hilling
Mound the soil or mulch round potato crops as they develop to forestall tubers from being uncovered to daylight, which causes greening and bitterness. You’ll want to do that twice throughout the rising season.
Harvesting Potatoes
Harvest earlies when the potatoes are small and tender, usually 75-90 days after planting. Maincrop potatoes are prepared for harvest 90-120 days after planting. Treatment maincrop potatoes in a cool, darkish, well-ventilated space for 1-2 weeks earlier than storing them in a cool, humid atmosphere to forestall sprouting.
Now that we’ve lined the fundamentals let’s discover the commonest issues that potato growers could encounter and find out how to handle them successfully.
Widespread Potato-Rising Issues and Tips on how to Repair Them
1. Potato Blight (Late Blight)
Most likely probably the most troublesome of all potato points is potato blight. These items spreads on the wind and rain and might stay dormant within the soil for years. It’s no laughing matter when it exhibits up in your neck of the woods, as it may simply wipe out a whole crop inside days and stick round for ages.
Signs: Darkish spots on leaves that unfold quickly, inflicting them to yellow, wither, and die. White mould could develop on the underside of leaves in humid situations.
Administration
Prevention: As at all times, prevention is the very best drugs; sadly, regardless of your finest efforts, generally potato blight is inevitable if it’s already in your space. You possibly can mitigate it by planting blight-resistant potato varieties and making certain your spuds are spaced appropriately with good air circulation. You possibly can apply a copper-based fungicide in humid climate as a preventative.
Remedy: Take away and destroy contaminated foliage instantly. Don’t put any a part of these crops in your compost. Burn them or put them within the rubbish. Sadly, if you happen to get hit with potato blight, your potato season is over.
2. Potato Scab
Signs: Tough, corky patches on potato tubers that could be superficial or deeper. Fortunately, these solely make for funky-looking potatoes. They don’t have an effect on the style. However if you happen to’re trying to develop good potatoes otherwise you’re questioning why your spuds are wonky, this may very well be it. It’s a microorganism that always hitches a trip on contaminated seed potatoes. (It is a good cause to make use of Fawn’s Potato Slip Rising Methodology.)
Administration
Prevention: Plant scab-resistant varieties. Preserve soil pH round 5.5-6.0 and keep away from over-fertilizing. (She’s going to say it once more, I simply realize it.) I like to recommend you get your soil examined annually. (You simply couldn’t assist your self, Tracey, may you.)
Remedy: Take away affected tubers at harvest. Rotate crops and keep away from planting potatoes in the identical soil for a couple of years. Nonetheless, in case you have a really small backyard, crop rotation is moot.
3. Potato Virus Y (PVY)
It sounds scary. Potato Virus Y.
Signs: Leaf curling, stunted progress, yellowing, and distorted leaves. Potato virus Y will considerably put a dent in your harvest.
Administration
Prevention: Plant licensed disease-free seed potatoes. This may assist with all method of potato points. Management aphids (we’ll get to them in a bit), which transmit the virus, with insecticidal cleaning soap or neem oil.
Remedy: Sadly, there isn’t a remedy for PVY. Take away and destroy contaminated crops as quickly as potential to assist stop the virus from spreading.
4. Potato Cyst Nematodes
Signs: Stunted progress, yellowing leaves, and lowered yield. Root cysts containing nematode eggs could also be seen on roots.
Administration
Prevention: Rotate crops frequently. Once more, this actually solely works effectively in case you have a bigger backyard. Search for licensed nematode-free seed potatoes.
Remedy: Solarize soil by overlaying it with plastic in summer time to kill nematodes. Take into account planting lure crops like marigolds or brassica crops, which might help cut back nematode populations within the soil.
5. Colorado Potato Beetles
Signs: Colorado potato beetles trigger noticeable harm to potato crops. Immediately, you’ll discover skeleton-like leaves from these munching menaces. Their orange-yellow eggs and striped larvae are generally discovered on the undersides of leaves.
Administration
Prevention: Plant early to keep away from peak beetle populations. Preserve wholesome soil and crops via correct care to scale back plant stress and susceptibility.
Remedy: Built-in pest administration, the flamboyant agricultural method of claiming, “Hit ‘em with every part you’ve received!” is the very best strategy. Handpicking beetles and larvae, utilizing row covers to forestall grownup beetles from laying eggs, and making use of pure predators like ladybugs are all helpful on their very own however work finest collectively. Monitor crops frequently for early indicators of infestation to get forward of them.
6. Wireworms
Signs: Small, spherical holes in potato tubers brought on by wireworm larvae feeding.
Administration
Prevention: Maintain your soil away from particles and weed frequently. Wireworms thrive in undisturbed soil.
Remedy: Apply helpful nematodes or milky spore to the soil to manage wireworm populations naturally.
7. Aphids
Signs: Small, pear-shaped bugs on new progress, inflicting distorted leaves.
Administration
Prevention: Test your crops frequently for indicators of aphids. Encourage pure predators like ladybugs or lacewings.
Remedy: Spray affected crops with insecticidal cleaning soap or neem oil to manage aphid populations.
8. Potato Leafhoppers
Signs: Curled or yellowing leaves, lowered progress, and stunted crops because of leafhopper feeding.
Administration
Prevention: Once more, verify your crops usually for early indicators of leafhoppers.
Remedy: Apply insecticidal cleaning soap or neem oil to manage leafhopper populations. Take away and destroy severely infested crops.
9. Poor Soil Drainage
There’s nothing fairly just like the scent of rotting potatoes. Whereas it’s worse coming out of your cabinet from that bag of potatoes you forgot you had. It’s no picnic when it comes out of your backyard. It means all of your onerous work was for naught.
Signs: Waterlogged soil, yellowing leaves, and stunted progress because of root rot.
Administration
Prevention: Amend soil with natural matter to enhance drainage. Plant potatoes in raised beds or skip the soil altogether and develop them beneath straw.
Remedy: Enhance soil construction with compost, leaf mould or different decaying natural matter. Guarantee correct spacing and keep away from overwatering.
Rising potatoes is superior as a result of once they’re prepared, it’s like a treasure hunt within the grime. Realizing what widespread issues have an effect on potato crops and having efficient options means you may optimize your grime treasure hunt and luxuriate in a bountiful crop of spuds.
Bear in mind to verify your crops frequently and select disease-resistant varieties, and also you’ll just do high quality. Blissful potato rising!
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Together with Sunday ramblings from our editor, Tracey, in addition to “What’s Up Wednesday” our roundup of what’s in season and new article updates and alerts.
