Yellow potato vines? What's wrong?

[ThatsMyPurseIDontKnowYou]

I came back from vacation to find that 2 of my potato towers had some vines that had turned yellow. Not all of them.

The other 2 are doing amazing.

Any idea what could be wrong?

 

[oneeye]

I came back from vacation to find that 2 of my potato towers had some vines that had turned yellow. Not all of them.

The other 2 are doing amazing.

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View attachment 109359


Any idea what could be wrong?

Dig into one and see whats going on inside the tower.

 

[ThatsMyPurseIDontKnowYou]

Dig into one and see whats going on inside the tower.

I'm gonna give it a few days. My guess is, because the 2 that are looking better are more shaded, the 2 that turned yellow may have dried out more when I was gone for 12 days and not watering. I am back to watering them heavily every day, I'll see how they do, but if they continue to yellow, I will do that. I just wasn't sure if it was a disease or something.

 

[ThatsMyPurseIDontKnowYou]

Update: I went to a yard sale today and they had one of those root waterers that has a 4' long metal spike you can drive into the ground to water a tree. Got it for $1.

The tater towers were definitely dry, despite the last 3 days me soaking them with the hose over and over. I put that thing down in there and ran it for about 10 minutes per tower until I saw water coming out the bottom.

Now I understand why some of the howto videos I watched they put a PVC pipe down the center. Now I get it. Do that, and you can drill holes every few inches, fill up the pipe and it slow waters your tower. I'll be adding that next year.

I think the issue was no matter how much water I poured on the top, it wasn't getting down into the center of the mass of dirt.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Sounds right, I have a bunch of potatoes in bags and some of the inaccessible ones at the back didn't get enough water and look just like that.

 

[Ruderunner]

Potato towers? Now that's interesting. Did you make or buy the cages?

I've tried similar with old tires stacked but had poor results. This year I'm experimenting with cardboard tubes around plants and filling them with mulched leaves as they grow. The tubes are only about 16" tall but free.

Well, free with the purchase of a 12 pack of Corona.

 

[ThatsMyPurseIDontKnowYou]

Potato towers? Now that's interesting. Did you make or buy the cages?

I've tried similar with old tires stacked but had poor results. This year I'm experimenting with cardboard tubes around plants and filling them with mulched leaves as they grow. The tubes are only about 16" tall but free.

Well, free with the purchase of a 12 pack of Corona.

Was just some fencing I had laying around.

 

[oneeye]

Potato towers? Now that's interesting. Did you make or buy the cages?

I've tried similar with old tires stacked but had poor results. This year I'm experimenting with cardboard tubes around plants and filling them with mulched leaves as they grow. The tubes are only about 16" tall but free.

Well, free with the purchase of a 12 pack of Corona.

I remember when growing out of tires was kind of popular. The problem is the tires hold heat will cook the plants. Plus the plant roots can't transpire gases. However the main problem is the toxic chemcals the tires release into the soil. I really like the cages above they are very cool to me.

 

[ThatsMyPurseIDontKnowYou]

I remember when growing out of tires was kind of popular. The problem is the tires hold heat will cook the plants. Plus the plant roots can't transpire gases. However the main problem is the toxic chemcals the tires release into the soil. I really like the cages above they are very cool to me.

Yeah they seem to be working well. The real test will be in a few months when I find out if I got many potatoes.