When speaking to my father the other day I asked him if he saw the list of vegetables I'll be growing. He said it might be a shorter list to write what I'm not growing. One thing I'm not growing is potatoes.
My property sits upon what, until about ten or so years ago, was for many, many years a potato farm.
Now, when I try to grow my organic potatoes, they seem to get every disease a potato can get. Most commonly, they get potato scab which (I read) doesn't affect yield, but it does affect marketability.
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| Potato Scab |
Ugly, isn't it? I believe that so many years of potato production created a soil with organisms inhospitable to organic potatoes.
Luckily, there are some local fellow farmers who organically grow the most beautiful heirloom and common potatoes. They'll sell their potatoes at the Coudersport Farmer' Market. I'll be buying from them!
Hmmm...I have seen some potatoes like the one in the first picture recently, I think at the grocery store! Yikes!
ReplyDeleteToo bad about your soil being inhospitable to potato growing.
My potatoes were like that last year. Well, now I have a name -- what do I do about it?? I AM planting potatoes next year!
ReplyDeleteThats awful Sharon.....well like you said you are blessed to have some farmers you can work with maybe you can trade some of your honey!
ReplyDeleteHi. Just wanted to let you know Goggle is going away at the end of this month. To keep our follower and not lose our favorite blogs .We will have to join the Linky Party. Heidi has one on her site. http://mysimplecountryliving.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteI don't want to lose any of my blogs,I enjoy visiting you guys to much. I hope you will join. Oh and follow me. Almost forgot that part.I am no.227 on the list Thanks.
I found this information on several different plant sites. Perhaps it may help you so you can grow potatoes in the future. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteRotating crops in 3 year cycles can inhibit potato scab infestation, because while potato scab can live in soil without potatoes for long periods of time, it does not often survive in the presence of plants that it does not infect, like corn and alfalfa.
Thank you all for the information and commiseration. I'm happy that I have a farmers here that grow beautiful potatoes so that I don't have to!
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