My meager potato harvest

[vette-kid]

This is from one 30 gal grow bag. Not great, but not terrible. Some of them have what I can only describe as a scab looking marking on them. Hopefully they are still ok to eat skinned. Next year I plan to do them in a raised bed and see if they do any better. I had three or for potatoes per plant and I've got about this many Yukon golds and another bag to dig up still. It's a learning curve for sure, but hopefully I can find some good yielding varieties and increase production next season. I had a few seed potatoes left, so I planted those yesterday, hopefully I can get another harvest.

 

[Meadowlark]

The good news is that the potatoes are safe to eat if you peel away the scabed skin first. The bad news I guess is they don't look very appetizing.

I used to be plagued with terrible scab on potatoes long ago but actually haven't seen it in several years now because of certain practices as follows:

1) What was the ph of that grow bag? To prevent scab a ph level of around 5.2 is needed. Now my soil is about 6.5 ph and I lower it for potatoes by dusting the seed cuts and the planting hole in elemental sulfur. It helps tremendously.

2) Did the grow bag have recent manure or other fresh compost in it? Those items tend to promote scab so avoid them just in the potato row.

3) Did you use certified seed? Very important to avoid bringing the scab bacteria into your soil.

4) Did you keep the soil moist while potato growing? Dry soil favors scab growth.

5) Did you use scab resistant varieties? In my experience Yukon Golds are very susceptible to scab. I never use them. There are other varieties that are scab resistant but myself I don't worry about it any more because I follow strict practices as follows:

a) always practice rotation at least three years on potatoes.
b) always precede and follow potato crops with small grain cover crop such as Elbon Rye. My cover rye was turned under just before potato planting this year.
c) never follow potatoes with another root crop...many of them are scab susceptible.

By following these things, you can reduce scab significantly or in my case eliminate it entirely....I'll be harvesting mine soon in the next two weeks and I would be very surprised to see any scab...not braging just saying the above practices work! I've been doing them for over 30 years now.

Regarding your comment about planting more seed potato now...don't bother. Its too hot for another harvest and you need to fix the soil first.

 

[oneeye]

Those potatoes still look good to me. Wow super info. Meadowlark, so good to know, thank you for sharing those important details.

 

[vette-kid]

Thanks for the info! They definitely dried out a time or two. I'll pay not attention to that next season.

 

[headfullofbees]

Scab is harmless to humans, and is a fungal infection. There are scab resistant cultivars, & if you are going to practice crop rotation, it is far simpler to grow these than to mess about lowering your soil pH to 5.2, (which, by the time you harvest, is like to be down to 5, as most plant material is slightly alkaline, which is why gardeners often lime their plot every 3 years) only to have to raise it the following year, as nutrients to many plants, especially brassicas, cannot absorb soil nutrients at that pH level.

 

[vette-kid]

Here is our final harvest. This is four grow bags. Obviously not stellar output, but o did not change it the soil from last season, so that probably didn't help.

Also of note, the edges of the fabric grow bags tend to dry out. Fast. I notice the soil about four inches in was VERY dry while the center remained nicely moist. If I did grow bags again, I recommend ONE plant per bag directly in the center.

 

[Meadowlark]

Also of note, the edges of the fabric grow bags tend to dry out. Fast.

Not bad, not bad at all. The dry probably explains a lot of the scab.