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johnnycoleman

Potatoes

johnnycoleman
9 years ago

Some of my potatoes have shriveled up like their roots were cut off. No discoloration, just shriveled up leaves. Any ideas?

Comments (8)

  • slowpoke_gardener
    9 years ago

    I don't know anything about you potatoes, but I like your tractor. I wonder how many tractors made today will run for 50+ years?

  • johnnycoleman
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    My tractor is the same age I am. (63)

    When it breaks, I'll have it repaired. The new ones just don't plow as well in our hard clay.

    Ford 8N NOT FOR SALE!

    Here is a link that might be useful: My garden tools

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    9 years ago

    Johnny,

    Nice tools!

    With the potato plants that shriveled up, did the leaves shrivel while green or did they blacken and then shrivel up?

    Dawn

  • chickencoupe
    9 years ago

    OOOh.. nice new green paint jobs!

  • johnnycoleman
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Dawn,

    They shriveled while green. There was no discoloration.

    It looked like the roots were cut off. However, I pulled two of them out and the roots looked normal.

  • johnnycoleman
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    ChickenCoupe,

    They work so well I decided they are worth painting.

    That planter is great! I even have the original books on them.

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    9 years ago

    Hmmm. Do you have voles or field mice or something that could have eaten them off at the soil line? I would have asked about cutworms, but cannot imagine cutworms would be bothering potato plants this late in the year.

    Since the foliage didn't discolor, I wouldn't think it was a disease.

    Did all the plants get hit the same day or night? Or, is it a sort of ongoing thing?

    I'm trying to remember if I've ever seen the same sort of thing happen to my potatoes, and I don't think I have. Usually if my foliage shrivels, it turns other colors either first or simultaneously, which helps with a diagnosis of the problem.

    Today I found a nasturtium plant eaten off right at the ground. The plant wasn't eaten. The roots weren't eaten. It was just sawed right off just above the soil line. I'm guessing a little field mouse or a vole wanted water from the plant stem, so I put a pan of water in the garden hoping that if water is all it wants, it will drink from the pan....or fall into the pan and drown. I don't care either way if it puts a stop to the plant death. I couldn't find a cutworm in the soil anywhere around the plant. It would be so much easier to garden here if the wildlife would work with us instead of against us.

    Oh, and I meant to ask: are all the potatoes with problems in the same area close to one another? Scattered around? One variety or more than one? I hate that you've lost those and hope you don't lose more.

    Dawn

  • johnnycoleman
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Dawn,

    The potato plants were in a six foot strip. The plants all went down the same day.

    I'm guessing you are correct. I did find one dead critter the day after I hilled my potatoes the second time. My row hipper (see tools) killed it and left it in the area between rows.

    Those raised rows must be a big temptation for subterranean critters. It is so fluffy and easy to dig through.

    Okra loves those raised rows too.

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