One bed of potatoes, on the ground and not in a built up raised bed, has developed brown freckles. I believe that it is caused by magnesium deficiency caused by lack of compost, which slows down loss of nutrients and the constant rain has leached the soil. Tomorrow I will, rain permitting, do a foliar spray with epsom salts in solution. If raining then I will have to use a watering can
I almost panicked but that is the only bed and no other potato on site has any sign of blight. Anyone else?
What sort are they, Strawberry, our lady chrystl have a few brown spots but they will be ready for pulling soon so the plants are just going over, I think :)
Could it be this:-
So called Early Blight or target spot (Alternaria solani), sometimes seen in June or July, is often mistaken for true blight (Phytophthora infestans). Early blight has dark brown angular spots in between the leaf veins. The spots are concentrically zoned. Remove the individual diseased leaves by hand and destroy to prevent it spreading. It can also be controlled by spraying with a fungicide such as "Fruit and Vegetable Disease Control".
Most people ignore early blight.
I am pretty sure it is mg deficiency as it is the only bed which has not had added compost but also good to hear that early blight can be ignored. We have just finished digging lady christi up, two of the plants had tumbled anyway so they were ready. We started eating them four weeks ago and now have quite a few in the fridge. Lovely spuds too, no blemishes and taste like butter.
I think we`ll be growing them every year as they were trouble-free apart from fleecing from time to time. Up now and leeks in, so a good use of the bed
Strawberry how long were your Lady Chrystlin the ground please. We planted some on 29th March &B some at home on 18th April. The ones at the plot should be ready soon but OH now well enough to go just yet.
They take about 75 days and then the leaves started going. I love those potatoes