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Potato problems!

Sambucus JanSambucus Jan Posts: 15
in Fruit & veg

I've just dug up my second earlies (Maris Peer), and some of them seem to be badly misshapen, with others almost like conjoined twins!

Even more strange, some of the 'twins' have lovely smooth pale yellow skins on the one side, whereas their partner is scabby and brown looking - all on the same spud! (Several single spuds are also completely mottled and rough.)

They have been grown in a plastic tub with drainage holes in the bottom about 3 feet high, in regular garden centre multi-purpose compost, and fed (once in a blue moon....) with proprietary tomato feed (following Alan Titchmarsh's advice years ago that they don't know they're not tomatoes….!!)

Have just boiled some of them (without their assorted skins) and whilst they 'went to mash' within 15 minutes, they taste pretty good in any event, mashed with a knob of butter.

Any ideas why they are deformed and mottled please?? 

Posts

  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    I do not grow Potatoes in tubs but in open ground it is always said that fresh manure or compost will encourage scab, which may be the mottled effect you describe. It spoils the appearance but not the taste as you say. The misshapen ones are usually caused by hard or stony ground, in a tub it may just be they were restricted by the sides of the container. Potatoes are hungry thirsty plants I know many people do grow them in tubs & bags but I think they do better in open ground if you have space for them.
    AB Still learning

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