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  • Blight(?) on my potatoes :(

    From Dan Purgert@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jun 19 16:08:35 2023
    Checking on my potato plants this morning, it seems they might've been
    in the early stages of some kind of infection. Some of the leaves are
    starting to have little black spots all over.

    Pruned all this infected(?) growth back ... hopefully that helps, and it doesn't turn out that the severity of the pruning stresses / weakens the
    plants further, there's still months to go before they're supposed to be "ready" :(

    Any ideas if I might have a chance to salvage the plants?

    --
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  • From songbird@21:1/5 to Dan Purgert on Mon Jun 19 22:26:23 2023
    Dan Purgert wrote:
    Checking on my potato plants this morning, it seems they might've been
    in the early stages of some kind of infection. Some of the leaves are starting to have little black spots all over.

    Pruned all this infected(?) growth back ... hopefully that helps, and it doesn't turn out that the severity of the pruning stresses / weakens the plants further, there's still months to go before they're supposed to be "ready" :(

    Any ideas if I might have a chance to salvage the plants?

    i have no idea about potatoes other than some vague
    knowledge.

    have you grown potatoes in that same space before?
    do you rotate your plantings to avoid diseases being
    able to persist?

    has it been hot and dry or wet and cool or ?

    did you apply compost or use some other amendments
    or fertilizers or sprays?

    it has been rather dry here, if i'd not been able to
    water i'd not have much of a garden at all right now.


    songbird

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  • From Dan Purgert@21:1/5 to songbird on Tue Jun 20 09:16:19 2023
    On 2023-06-20, songbird wrote:
    Dan Purgert wrote:
    Checking on my potato plants this morning, it seems they might've been
    in the early stages of some kind of infection. Some of the leaves are
    starting to have little black spots all over.

    Pruned all this infected(?) growth back ... hopefully that helps, and it
    doesn't turn out that the severity of the pruning stresses / weakens the
    plants further, there's still months to go before they're supposed to be
    "ready" :(

    Any ideas if I might have a chance to salvage the plants?

    i have no idea about potatoes other than some vague
    knowledge.

    have you grown potatoes in that same space before?
    do you rotate your plantings to avoid diseases being
    able to persist?

    No, brand new plot. First season growing in it.

    has it been hot and dry or wet and cool or ?

    mostly hot and dry. Though we did (finally) get rain last week, after a
    few days of rather awful air conditions thanks to the canadian
    wildfires.

    Wondering a little bit if that didn't stress the plants out. Time will
    tell if the pruning was enough to save the plants ...


    did you apply compost or use some other amendments
    or fertilizers or sprays?

    Just some slow-release general fertilizer to mix in with the topsoil /
    native soil in that plot. I forget the exact N-P-K mix though.

    it has been rather dry here, if i'd not been able to
    water i'd not have much of a garden at all right now.

    Same.


    --
    |_|O|_|
    |_|_|O| Github: https://github.com/dpurgert
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  • From Robert666@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jun 21 03:31:35 2023
    Could be a few things as mentioned already. Most common cause, black spots on any type of leaves in the Northern hemisphere lately are mould, due to a lot of rain for a while, in the winter/spring, then dry periods. Fungus/mould spores love these
    conditions.

    *You can safely try this. *
    Mix a tablespoon of Bicarbonate of Soda into a gallon of water, then spray on all over the entire plant leaves. It will take a while to cure, as will not suddenly disappear.
    Mould needs acidic PH levels to grow, and by using/adding Bicarbonate of Soda, you are changing the PH slightly to be more alkaline, which will stop/kill any moulds spores in their tracks.

    Another thing, if Potatoes, is use a mulch under the leaves, on top of the actual soil, this helps trap moisture in the mulch, instead of the leaves. The leaves will eventually start to go from green to yellow and fall off, long before end of season,
    for a few reasons, other than what I mention here.

    Another nature product is Neems oil, also mixed and sprayed on, which is safe on any leaf plant, indoors and out, good for a variety of bugs that eat or live in leaves.
    This is just another in a line of probable causes and fixes.

    --
    For full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/edible/blight-on-my-potatoes-3317842-.htm

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  • From Dan Purgert@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jun 21 13:12:55 2023
    On 2023-06-21, Robert666 wrote:
    Could be a few things as mentioned already. Most common cause, black
    spots on any type of leaves in the Northern hemisphere lately are
    mould, due to a lot of rain for a while, in the winter/spring, then
    dry periods. Fungus/mould spores love these conditions.

    Well, it's been pretty super dry until we got the rain last week, so
    I've been watering by hand (and doing my best to water the dirt rather
    than the leaves).


    *You can safely try this. *
    Mix a tablespoon of Bicarbonate of Soda into a gallon of water, then
    spray on all over the entire plant leaves. It will take a while to
    cure, as will not suddenly disappear.

    I'll keep this in mind if I see any more. I cut out a lot of the
    leaves in hope if it was something, I could get to it before it traveled farther.

    This opened up the plot considerably (hopefully not to the detriment of
    the plants!), so perhaps the additional light / airflow between the
    plants will help things as well...

    [...]
    Another thing, if Potatoes, is use a mulch under the leaves, on top of
    the actual soil, this helps trap moisture in the mulch, instead of the leaves. The leaves will eventually start to go from green to yellow
    and fall off, long before end of season, for a few reasons, other than
    what I mention here.

    Have woodchips beneath them (probably technically wrong to do for a
    vegetable garden, but it's what I could get my hands on ... and the
    potatoes grew up through it fine)

    Another nature product is Neems oil, also mixed and sprayed on, which
    is safe on any leaf plant, indoors and out, good for a variety of bugs
    that eat or live in leaves.

    Haven't noticed any bug damage ... but I've heard a few references to
    neem oil -- it wouldn't affect pollinators or anything, right?

    This is just another in a line of probable causes and fixes.

    Thanks for the ideas :)


    --
    |_|O|_|
    |_|_|O| Github: https://github.com/dpurgert
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  • From songbird@21:1/5 to Dan Purgert on Wed Jun 21 12:48:54 2023
    Dan Purgert wrote:
    ...
    Haven't noticed any bug damage ... but I've heard a few references to
    neem oil -- it wouldn't affect pollinators or anything, right?

    it won't make any difference for potatoes unless you're
    planning on collecting the seeds and replanting them.


    songbird

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  • From Snag@21:1/5 to songbird on Wed Jun 21 12:41:23 2023
    On 6/21/2023 11:48 AM, songbird wrote:
    Dan Purgert wrote:
    ...
    Haven't noticed any bug damage ... but I've heard a few references to
    neem oil -- it wouldn't affect pollinators or anything, right?

    it won't make any difference for potatoes unless you're
    planning on collecting the seeds and replanting them.


    songbird


    Was he wondering about the potatoes not getting pollinated , or was
    he concerned about damage to the pollinator population ? I did a little
    poking around , neem oil can cause damage to bees and probably other pollinators if not used properly .
    --
    Snag
    "You can lead a dummy to facts
    but you can't make him think."

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  • From Dan Purgert@21:1/5 to Snag on Thu Jun 22 09:56:53 2023
    On 2023-06-21, Snag wrote:
    On 6/21/2023 11:48 AM, songbird wrote:
    Dan Purgert wrote:
    ...
    Haven't noticed any bug damage ... but I've heard a few references to
    neem oil -- it wouldn't affect pollinators or anything, right?

    it won't make any difference for potatoes unless you're
    planning on collecting the seeds and replanting them.


    songbird


    Was he wondering about the potatoes not getting pollinated , or was
    he concerned about damage to the pollinator population ? I did a little poking around , neem oil can cause damage to bees and probably other pollinators if not used properly .

    Sorry, yes, I was (am) concerned about accidentally killing off the
    beneficial bugs from applications of anything ... it's bad enough
    suburbia here is a desolate wasteland of mowed lawns without me
    accidentally poisoning them.


    --
    |_|O|_|
    |_|_|O| Github: https://github.com/dpurgert
    |O|O|O| PGP: DDAB 23FB 19FA 7D85 1CC1 E067 6D65 70E5 4CE7 2860

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  • From songbird@21:1/5 to Dan Purgert on Fri Jun 23 17:43:15 2023
    Dan Purgert wrote:
    ...
    Sorry, yes, I was (am) concerned about accidentally killing off the beneficial bugs from applications of anything ... it's bad enough
    suburbia here is a desolate wasteland of mowed lawns without me
    accidentally poisoning them.

    look into putting up some insect hotels. :)


    songbird

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