Hi All
Just a question to ask if dog wee can kill the foliage on potatoes ??? as an allotment neighbour has had a dog running on her allotment and some of her potato foliage has died back. It is not the every one that has been affected but just a few. It cant be frost as the whole lot would have been affected ::).
But we have just got an alcoholic Di****ed that has taken a plot in his friends name and lets his dog run all over a neighbouring plot doing its business and digging up.
Hope you can shed some light on the situation
Thanks
Debbie :)
Im not sure if the wee on its own will kill the foliage (I think persistant peeing on the same plant eventually will kill the leaves), but if it was sunny afterwards then it could be scorch. I think girlie dogs wee is more acid, which is why it burns lawns.
Best to wait for a dog owner to reply mine are both girls, sorry I cant be more help.
But your alcoholic neighbour......is there not a "Dogs on leads" policy at your site. If not, it shouldnt matter. If its a nuisance a complaint in the right direction also saying to the commitee that its not his plot either should do the trick. Im not one for dobbing anyone in, but its unfair to everyone else who abides by the rules.
Good luck
Quote from: debjay on May 22, 2008, 19:56:11
It cant be frost as the whole lot would have been affected ::).
sorry but it could be the frost, over our whole site this week we have frost dammage, i have lost the tips of some but not all of my potatoes, like one has been got then the next few are ok, same with cougettes and beans,
some people have just lost one or tw potatoe plants in the middle of a whole block!!!!
lbb
Frost damage can be unbelievably local; I once had one end of a row of toms badly affected, with the other end untouched. I can't see them dying back just because they'd been weed on once.
Little brown patches on the lawn where the doggy waters it!
Frost damage, air frost or ground frost is distinctively different to acid burns on potatoes.
The frost darkens the foliage, just like hot water would if it is poured on greens.
What ever the cause, potatoes do usually recover, we are harvesting the root bit not the top bit.
I would be more worried about cabbage and lettuce if there is a piddly dog about.
my dog has been a pain and wee on my potatoes and it has not affected them at all, I have no blocked it off to be safe lol, but theya re still growing bautifully
Spuds have much deeper roots than grass. On a lawn, the grass will be growing in dog pee when it's had a good watering, so the whole plant is sitting in undiluted pee, roots and all, and has no access to water with a normal concentration of dissolved matter until it gets a good lot of rain, or a thorough watering. On potatoes, it's only the leaves which are affected, as the roots go too deep for the pee to reach them undiluted.