Why are my potatoes dying?

[Vadim T.]

Hey everyone,

First time poster. I have (had?) these beautiful potato plants and now they're dying out of nowhere. Please help!

Backstory: sprouted from common potatoes from the store (maybe 50/50% idaho white / red russet?). Planted into small bucket then transferred into big 55-gallon opaque-white drums. Been slowly filling up with good top-soil until the buckets reached the top. Very wet spring in Springfield, Massachusetts (Western MA). The plants were doing amazingly but then out of nowhere the leaves started curling up and yellowing and drying out. This started to happen around mid June when the weather started to get extremely hot.

Since then (say July 1?) I've mulched them, in case it's heat-related, though there's not much more I can do. They're mostly in full sun. I also fertilized them in case it's a lack of fertilizer (10-10-10, slightly more than recommended on package) since I never fertilized them at any point. 2-3 of the 10 plants have sprouted some small new leaves since then. 2-3 are definitely on their way to dead if not dead already.

Any advice? I don't see any blackening of the stem. Pictures are below. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Beth_B]

Hi.

Sadly, that looks like early blight (google it) which is a soil-borne fungus; a couple of years ago it wiped out my potatoes. It's also hard on tomatoes and other nightshade type plants.

 

[headfullofbees]

Having looked closely at your photos, it seems that there is chlorosis on the leaves PRIOR to the rot, which suggests that the chlorosis is causing the rot rather than the reverse, so it may not be early blight.
Two possible alternatives:
1) When did you plant them?
If it's the case that they have had time to grow all the way up the barrels, and put on that foliage, it may just be that they are ready.

2) If they're not, it's might be (since you've already fertilised them) magnesium deficiency, so add one handful Epsom salts to a gallon of water, and give it to each barrel.