Potatoes are a staple crop in many diets the world over. Of course, here in the United States, we generally prefer our potatoes fried. Every grocery store in America has an entire aisle dedicated to our love of salty potato chips. And the frozen foods section boasts bag after bag of fried potato foods. French fries, tots, hashbrowns, home fries – we love our potatoes.
Despite how inexpensive they are at the store, more and more gardeners are choosing to grow their own potatoes. Growing potatoes is easy, allows you to skip the pesticides and gives you the freedom of choosing from a ton of different varieties.
But, like any other gardening venture, you’ll encounter growing issues specific to potatoes in your quest for homegrown spuds.
Not to worry! I’m going to cover the nine most common potato-growing problems you’re likely to run into. Be it pests, diseases or environmental issues, I’ll talk about each and provide solutions for them. Of course, this applies to your standard “white” potato; growing sweet potatoes is another topic!
You’ll be a spud-growing master in no time, so have your air-fryer prepped and ready because there’s nothing quite like a batch of homemade fries using potatoes you’ve grown yourself.
A Potato Primer
Before diving into potential problems, let’s recap the basics of potato growing:
Choosing Potato Varieties
Potatoes come in various types, each suited to different culinary uses and growing conditions:
- Early Varieties: These quick-maturing potatoes are ideal for harvesting early in the season. They don’t store well, so use them up quickly.
- Maincrop Varieties: Larger potatoes that take longer to mature but yield bigger tubers that can be stored for months.
- Specialty Varieties: Includes fingerling potatoes (my favorite) and colorful purple potatoes.
Select varieties based on your growing zone, available space, preferred harvest time, and, most importantly, what you want to make with them. They’re suited to different culinary uses based on their varying starch content and texture.
- For potato salads, waxy potatoes like Red Bliss or Yukon Gold are ideal—they hold their shape well after boiling and have a creamy texture.
- For crispy French fries, high-starch potatoes such as Russets (also known as Idaho potatoes) are preferred due to their fluffy interior when fried.
- Fingerling potatoes, with their thin skins and buttery texture, are great for roasting or adding to stews.
- Then you’ve got your all-purpose potatoes like Yukon Golds, suitable for mashing, baking, or making gratins.
The choice of potato can significantly impact the outcome of a dish.
Soil Preparation
Potatoes prefer well-drained, loose soil rich in organic matter; dig in some compost before planting. Keep your rows 12-18 inches apart with 3-4” between each seed potato.
Planting Potatoes
Use potatoes you’ve grown and chitted yourself or certified seed potatoes from a reputable source to minimize disease risk. Larger seed potatoes can be cut into smaller pieces, each containing at least one or two eyes (buds). Plant seed potatoes 3-4 inches deep, eyes facing upward, and cover with soil.
Watering and Fertilizing
Maintain consistent moisture, especially during tuber formation, but avoid overwatering to prevent rot.
You can side-dress potatoes with a balanced fertilizer (10-10-10) when the plants are about 6-8 inches tall and again after flowering.
Hilling
Mound the soil or mulch around potato plants as they grow to prevent tubers from being exposed to sunlight, which causes greening and bitterness. You’ll need to do this twice during the growing season.
Harvesting Potatoes
Harvest earlies when the potatoes are small and tender, typically 75-90 days after planting. Maincrop potatoes are ready for harvest 90-120 days after planting. Cure maincrop potatoes in a cool, dark, well-ventilated area for 1-2 weeks before storing them in a cool, humid environment to prevent sprouting.
Now that we’ve covered the basics let’s explore the most common problems that potato growers may encounter and how to manage them effectively.
Common Potato-Growing Problems and How to Fix Them
1. Potato Blight (Late Blight)
Probably the most troublesome of all potato issues is potato blight. This stuff spreads on the wind and rain and can remain dormant in the soil for years. It’s no laughing matter when it shows up in your neck of the woods, as it can easily wipe out an entire crop within days and stick around for ages.
Symptoms: Dark spots on leaves that spread rapidly, causing them to yellow, wither, and die. White mold may develop on the underside of leaves in humid conditions.
Management
Prevention: As always, prevention is the best medicine; unfortunately, despite your best efforts, sometimes potato blight is inevitable if it’s already in your area. You can mitigate it by planting blight-resistant potato varieties and ensuring your spuds are spaced appropriately with good air circulation. You can apply a copper-based fungicide in humid weather as a preventative.
Treatment: Remove and destroy infected foliage immediately. Do not put any part of these plants in your compost. Burn them or put them in the garbage. Unfortunately, if you get hit with potato blight, your potato season is over.
2. Potato Scab
Symptoms: Rough, corky patches on potato tubers that may be superficial or deeper. Happily, these only make for funky-looking potatoes. They don’t affect the taste. But if you’re looking to grow perfect potatoes or you’re wondering why your spuds are wonky, this could be it. It’s a microorganism that often hitches a ride on infected seed potatoes. (This is a good reason to use Fawn’s Potato Slip Growing Method.)
Management
Prevention: Plant scab-resistant varieties. Maintain soil pH around 5.5-6.0 and avoid over-fertilizing. (She’s going to say it again, I just know it.) I recommend you get your soil tested each year. (You just couldn’t help yourself, Tracey, could you.)
Treatment: Remove affected tubers at harvest. Rotate crops and avoid planting potatoes in the same soil for a few years. However, if you have a very small garden, crop rotation is moot.
3. Potato Virus Y (PVY)
It sounds scary. Potato Virus Y.
Symptoms: Leaf curling, stunted growth, yellowing, and distorted leaves. Potato virus Y will significantly put a dent in your harvest.
Management
Prevention: Plant certified disease-free seed potatoes. This will help with all manner of potato issues. Control aphids (we’ll get to them in a bit), which transmit the virus, with insecticidal soap or neem oil.
Treatment: Unfortunately, there is no cure for PVY. Remove and destroy infected plants as soon as possible to help prevent the virus from spreading.
4. Potato Cyst Nematodes
Symptoms: Stunted growth, yellowing leaves, and reduced yield. Root cysts containing nematode eggs may be visible on roots.
Management
Prevention: Rotate crops regularly. Again, this really only works well if you have a larger garden. Look for certified nematode-free seed potatoes.
Treatment: Solarize soil by covering it with plastic in summer to kill nematodes. Consider planting trap crops like marigolds or brassica crops, which can help reduce nematode populations in the soil.
5. Colorado Potato Beetles
Symptoms: Colorado potato beetles cause noticeable damage to potato plants. Suddenly, you’ll notice skeleton-like leaves from these munching menaces. Their orange-yellow eggs and striped larvae are commonly found on the undersides of leaves.
Management
Prevention: Plant early to avoid peak beetle populations. Maintain healthy soil and plants through proper care to reduce plant stress and susceptibility.
Treatment: Integrated pest management, the fancy agricultural way of saying, “Hit ‘em with everything you’ve got!” is the best approach. Handpicking beetles and larvae, using row covers to prevent adult beetles from laying eggs, and applying natural predators like ladybugs are all useful on their own but work best together. Monitor plants regularly for early signs of infestation to get ahead of them.
6. Wireworms
Symptoms: Small, round holes in potato tubers caused by wireworm larvae feeding.
Management
Prevention: Keep your soil clear of debris and weed regularly. Wireworms thrive in undisturbed soil.
Treatment: Apply beneficial nematodes or milky spore to the soil to control wireworm populations naturally.
7. Aphids
Symptoms: Small, pear-shaped insects on new growth, causing distorted leaves.
Management
Prevention: Check your plants regularly for signs of aphids. Encourage natural predators like ladybugs or lacewings.
Treatment: Spray affected plants with insecticidal soap or neem oil to control aphid populations.
8. Potato Leafhoppers
Symptoms: Curled or yellowing leaves, reduced growth, and stunted plants due to leafhopper feeding.
Management
Prevention: Again, check your plants often for early signs of leafhoppers.
Treatment: Apply insecticidal soap or neem oil to control leafhopper populations. Remove and destroy severely infested plants.
9. Poor Soil Drainage
There’s nothing quite like the smell of rotting potatoes. While it’s worse coming from your cupboard from that bag of potatoes you forgot you had. It’s no picnic when it comes from your garden. It means all your hard work was for naught.
Symptoms: Waterlogged soil, yellowing leaves, and stunted growth due to root rot.
Management
Prevention: Amend soil with organic matter to improve drainage. Plant potatoes in raised beds or skip the soil altogether and grow them under straw.
Treatment: Improve soil structure with compost, leaf mold or other decaying organic matter. Ensure proper spacing and avoid overwatering.
Growing potatoes is awesome because when they’re ready, it’s like a treasure hunt in the dirt. Knowing what common problems affect potato plants and having effective solutions means you can optimize your dirt treasure hunt and enjoy a bountiful crop of spuds.
Remember to check your plants regularly and choose disease-resistant varieties, and you’ll do just fine. Happy potato growing!
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