Time to pull potatoes or be patient?

[MamaHawk]

Hey guys! I’ve got some potatoes that seem wilty or even damaged. Should I pull them now or wait a bit? How far along should I wait?

 

[Meadowlark]

Howdy @MamaHawk

They are approaching their natural end signifying that the tubers are ready. If mine, I would leave them awhile longer, let the new potatoes toughen their skin a bit and maybe even grow a little more...but your choice. When the tops completely die which, they will, I would dig them up.

If you see signs/reports of impending large rain event coming I would get them out of the ground pronto...otherwise they may rot. It can happen very quickly.

 

[DiggersJo]

Dig up a plant and see what is there...

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I had a bunch of volunteer potatoes I planted out in an odd strip. Three of them made pretty small plants and had died in the drought. I dug them yesterday and got enough for a meal or two from them. If you need potatoes dig them, if you don't leave them a bit longer, you might get more yield. Remember, they like warm and sunny up top, but cool and damp on the roots, as long as you can keep those conditions they will increase to the point that they have flowered and start going over. If they haven't flowered and look wilty they are more than likely a bit dry.

 

[Martin Mikulcik]

I've been digging mine this week, but they died to the ground a week or two ago. Yours still have growing left

 

[Gemma]

I leave mine in the ground till all the leaves die, but it's ok to harvest now

 

[MamaHawk]

I've been digging mine this week, but they died to the ground a week or two ago. Yours still have growing left

@Meadowlark That's what I was thinking - they're not quite dead enough yet. Alright, I'll be patient!

 

[Ruderunner]

Chuckle. Monty Python just popped into my head...

 

[DiggersJo]

Fork handles doesn't work when written down

 

[Oliver Buckle]

It's funny how that pun is the first of a whole string of them in that sketch, but it is the only one everyone remembers. As a gardener the comedy sketch that amuses me is from Porridge, where Fletcher hints at something buried in the garden in a letter to his wife so the police will come and dig it over for her.

 

[DiggersJo]

Perhaps it was because it was the 1st part of it, the rest is here on Youtube BBC archive.

 

[Sheal]

It still makes me laugh @DiggersJo. That sketch is 50 years old this year.