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!
