Topic: scab on potatoes

[hippydave]

is there any way to limit the amount of scab you get on pots or is there any varity there resits scab, i have grown picaso,sarpo and kestrel and they all have scab. they were well manured and kept well watered but the scab is particulay bad on the sarpos. I want to try to get some jackets next year but the scab at the moment makes this impossible.

[Flighty]

The second early Cosmos apparently has good resistance to common scab.

[caroline7758]

A few of the ones I dug today had scab, mostly Desiree. Does it affect eating and storage?

[cornykev]

I've never had scab on my Kestrels and I've never grown the others so can't help you there. Lime causes scab but I'm sure you never added any, so I'm not sure but it can only be the soil I'm guessing. It does affect the storage eat these first.   :-\       ???      ;D ;D ;D

[hippydave]

i dont find it affects the eating but have found that it can shorten the storage life of the pots the scab just peels off when cooking. Will try the cosmos and see if it makes a differance. i havnt added lime and put in plenty of well rotted manure.

[Geoff H]

I don't put the manure over the whole potato plot. I take out a deeper trench than normal then line the trench will well rotted. I bed the seed potatoes in the manure. i read about in years ago, I think the manure is supposed to cushion the growing tuber and prevent sand grains scratching the skin. Certainly I have a very low incidence of scab despite growing on a light soil with plenty of sand.

[Barnowl]

I've read that scab is most likely to form if the soil is allowed to dry out when the tubers are first forming - certainly that would fit in my case but not yours, hippydave.