Grow Spectacular Spuds
(Page 4 of 4)
January/February 2009
Janet Wallace
Various fungal diseases can affect potatoes, including early and late blight, verticillium wilt and scab. Prevention is the key to dealing with these. For example, to reduce scab problems, plant clean seed in slightly acidic soil.
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General methods to avoid fungal problems include removing crop residue from the field after harvest. If the plants are blighted, bury or burn them far from the field.
Adequate air circulation between plants and avoiding over-watering will help prevent fungal disease. If late blight is a problem in your area, focus on fast-maturing varieties that can be harvested before the blight hits. Also, choose varieties that are resistant to the common diseases in your neighborhood.
To inhibit fungal disease, you can spray compost tea on the plants. Copper-based solutions, such as Bordeaux Mix, can also be used. These should be used sparingly to avoid a build-up of copper in the soil.
Harvesting
Tubers begin to form around the time of flowering. Two weeks later, or when the flowers die, it’s time to grub for new potatoes. You can pull entire plants and remove the potatoes. Or, you can gently reach under the soil and pull the largest tubers. Given that new potatoes are best as soon as they are harvested, pick only as many as you will use that day.
The main harvest begins a week or two after the foliage has died. Between plant death and harvest, skins thicken on the tubers. If blight or a frost is coming, growers sometimes kill the plants early by mowing with a rotary cutter.
After harvesting, let the potatoes sit in a dark, well-ventilated place for a day or two to develop skins, particularly if you have harvested them early. I’ve come to terms with the fact that my house is a farmhouse (i.e. messy); in potato harvesting season, there are potatoes curing between sheets of newspaper under the kitchen table and in other nooks and crannies.
It is critical that potatoes are kept in the dark. If part of a tuber is exposed to light (during growing, harvesting or storage), it will turn green, which indicates the presence of bitter and slightly toxic alkaloids.
Store the potatoes in a cool, dark place, and you will have tasty and nutritious tubers throughout the winter. Show a bit of restraint, however, and save some potatoes to plant in the spring.
Janet Wallace is an organic gardener, freelance writer and editor of The Canadian Organic Grower. She grows potatoes and many other vegetables in New Brunswick, Canada.
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