Potato problems

[Hi_Hoe]

Hi everyone.

Firstly, Id like to say a big hello to you all - this is my first post, but i've been lurking around for a while! :D

Secondly, i wonder if i could pick anyones' brains! See, Im a little worried about my tatties. I went down the lottie this avo and noticed three of my plants had started to get black leaves  :o  Obviously, my first thought was the dreaded B word, but then I thought frost damage? (although surely frost damage surely would have affected all my tatties, not just 3? Plus, we didnt get much of a frost here anyway?) I did have a quick google image check but TBH i couldnt tell either way! I did read an earlier post where some members were commenting on recent frost causing damage, but absolutely nothing else on the plot seems affected - as i said, no real frost here.  ???n i guess in hindsight a quick piccy would have been beneficial! ::)

Now im no expert on blight as i've never had it before. Is it to early in the season for it?

Anyway, i pulled the affected plants up to be on the safe side but if it is blight, am I likely to lose the lot? And what would be my next step?

Perhaps im being silly and should see how things go? Could be frost damage after all!!

Thank you kind people..!

[Hi_Hoe]

[cornykev]

Frost damage I'm afraid, as far as I'm concerned we had no frost, but a few of the lads on the lottie got frosted, not all of them as u said, but it seems to have affected the lowest ones, mine are pretty well up or earthed right up so I was OK, I noticed the of the lads runners were nearly all frosted, I did tell him it was a bit early for them.    :(

[Hi_Hoe]

Thanks for replying, Cornykev!

Your most probably right! I should have brought a few leaves home safely and compared with online images just to be sure in my own mind - lesson learned i guess! It does seems odd that only a few were affected though, but if thats normal, i'm happy! (I wont be planting runners out just yet too! LOL)

:)

[manicscousers]

Hiya, Hi_hoe, welcome to a4a  ;D
Whereabouts are you?

[cornykev]

They do recover though, they are normaly set back a couple of weeks, check the new small leaves at the top of the plant they should be OK then you know you'll get new growth.   :D

[Hi_Hoe]

Ah that sounds cool enough! Glad i didnt destroy the plants - surely i could replant them?!
And thanks manicsousers. - im over in Rotherham - i shall update my profile accordingly!  :D

[chriscross1966]

Some varieties seem worse affected than others... plus when it's a marginal frost call then you're into local microclimates on an almost square foot basis... my lottie's too windy to have caught the frost.... karmic payback for the wind wrecking my polytunnel I suppose.... I can't imagine anyone having blight showing in a new crop of spuds at the moment except in a laboratory .....

[Chrispy]

I wonder if you have the same as me....
My plot is on quite a slope, but it levels up near one end, and it is where it levels off, (there maybe even a little dip) where the cold collects and just did a tiny bit of frost damage.
Is your plot uneven, or anything else that my have made the cold sit in one place?

[Hi_Hoe]

I wonder if you have the same as me....
My plot is on quite a slope, but it levels up near one end, and it is where it levels off, (there maybe even a little dip) where the cold collects and just did a tiny bit of frost damage.
Is your plot uneven, or anything else that my have made the cold sit in one place?

Hi!

Yeah good thinkin' - my plot does slope SSE and levels off at the bottom. I guess the very bottom in theory would hold any frost?! (which is where the tatties are _ Doh!) Having read all the replies im starting to wonder if these 3 plants were earthed up as good as the rest? Will have to get onto the wife about this - she was the one who earthed up!!! *blame shifted- ahem*! Everything does seem so to make sense now i think it thru!  ::)

Thanks everyone - Ive learned summat here and i guess experience prevails over all. (my wife is now giving me evils......)! :-[

[Digeroo]

Looking round the site the frost here was very random.  Some people had lots of damage and other people had a few picked off here and there. 

[staris]

mine got hit by the frost a couple of days ago, this happened last year and it just takes them a couple of weeks to get back to normal.

[cornykev]

Check out  "This Mornings Frost"  in Basics Hi Hoe.     :(