Poor potatoes-collapsed

[macmac]

Two friends (adjacent plots)have a problem with some of their potatoes,they've put on little growth and now some of the foliage has turned brown and colllapsed.
Any suggestions?I mentioned frozen chips but nobody laughed ;)

[macmac]

[goodlife]

 ;D ;D... ::)
Have they done anything to the crop/ground since it emerged? Like adding fertilizer and not watering or not watering enough...just thinking along the line of scorch..even if they have applied fertilizer quite a while ago..as we haven't had much rain..the fertilizer could have been just lying on surface and if/when earhing up it could have been drawn against stems/foliage and damage it.
Something like manure could do that too if not mature enough..or grass clipping in too large quantities..as it does heat up quite readily..

[brownowl23]

blackleg? ive had a few of my earlies succumb this year.