Topic: our potatoes look queer!

[persephone]

 
   

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We've just dug up our Charlottes, mainly because like most people on our allotments, we've developed blight. Most tubers are healthy, but they are deeply cleft, sometimes four or five times, looking a bit like hot cross buns! Any ideas why this is?
 

[Tee Gee]

 ??? Were they grown in pots?

Normally this happens when they are allowed to get too dry then get a belt of water. This is similar to Tomatoes splitting (same family)

But I wouldn't have thought they had gone short of water this year.

Sorry I can't be of more help!

[cambourne7]

I had 2 red potatoes do the same thing but this was because i planted sweetcorn near them and they grew next to them so as the potato and sweetcorn grew the cleft got bigger.

I found the following to be very disapointing

Second Early Potatoes - Saxon
Early Main Potatoes - Juliette & Lady Balfour

But the following to be great this season and will grow again

Early Main Spuds - Nicola
Early Main Spuds - Moulin Rouge

[saddad]

Remember that dry bit? April was it? Or have you had a dry spell since? Once the skins start to toughen a sudden increase in water causes them to split... some varieties are more prone than others..
 :-\

[Tin Shed]

We have just had some Juliette for supper tonight, Cambourne. They certainly aren't a large potato, but still remained nice and waxy after cooking and didn't boil away at all and were a good flavour. May do them again next year.

[Kepouros]

Probably a silly question persephone, but please humour me.  Were the clefts entirely sealed up, or were there any still open (like new cuts)?

And when did you plant them?

[persephone]

We planted them quite late, in April/May. the clefts are still open on most. They look like they've been slashed with a knife. I think we've had the same weather as everyone else here in Chester....soggy!

[saddad]

But not showing the flesh colour ie not speared with the fork when lifting...
 ::)

[persephone]

No, we didn;t spear them. It was very dry when we planted and we all know what happened this summer rain wise! Thanks everyone.

[torquil]

just had potatoes dinner yesterday, dukeof york (white) are good, also have lifted all and bagged up the rest as there is plenty slugs about.
    Have you tried kestrel second early. had good crop this year. will definetly be growing both again next year.               

[persephone]

These were Charlottes and we wouldn't do them again

[Kepouros]

I`m afraid that I`ve had to cobble this explanation together from what I know of the botany and physiology of potatoes and a bit of deduction, but it`s the best I can do.

It`s clearly nothing to do with the skins having dried or hardened, as there would have been no tubers there during the spring warm dry spell.

However, as a result of the prolonged wet weather, the water content of the tubers is undoubtedly much higher this year than normally, causing higher pressure inside the tuber. You may have noticed a recent thread on white spots on potato skins, which I suggested was due to the enlargement (caused by wet weather) of the lenticels (or pores) in the tuber skins allowing minute pressure leakages of dissolved starch from inside the tubers - if left in the air for a few hours these spots simply dry off and disappear leaving only the enlarged lenticel visible.

Charlotte is a particularly waxy potato, the flesh is less permeable to water, and this may have prevented the pressure being released in that way, so that the tuber would instead split to release the pressure, and because of the waxiness the tuber would have to split deeply to effect this, and possibly in more than one place.  Once the pressure was effectively released the exposed surfaces would begin to heal, and the skins would probably have eventually grown together again, just as does the human epidermis over a cut.  This would explain any tubers that show healed cuts.

[persephone]

Thanks very much for that explanation! Sounds quite feasable to me! At least it wasn't something we did wrong, being beginners at this. Thank you everybody for the advice.