Since I'm new to potato growing, I am hoping someone with a bit more experience can help me figure out what--if anything--is wrong with these potato plants. They have been happily growing in their bags over the last month or so, but, all of the sudden, things seem less promising.
I have two primary concerns:
(1) Their stalks have flopped over.
(2) They don't seem leafy enough.
I had been trying to keep the soil in the potato bags moist, but I also don't want to over-water them. Now, I'm not sure whether I need to water more or less. I added about an inch more compost to the bags, in case that would help, and also fed the potatoes with some liquid organic fertilizer that is high in potassium. I haven't seen any bugs hanging around, so I don't think they're under attack by a garden pest.
I have removed quite a few yellowing, dying leaves from the stalks. And some of the leaves currently on the plants look like this:
Usually I don't worry too much about dropping leaves, but the potato stalks look really bare. Could they have some sort of leaf blight? I was thinking it might be too hot for them, but it's really only gotten into the 90s a couple of times this summer, and my gardening book says potatoes are pretty happy up to 85 degrees. So, what could be bothering my potato plants?
As you can see, I'm feeling a bit anxious about my potato crop. To be honest, I'm into the nervous phase with my entire vegetable garden. Everything is producing baby fruit, but nothing has ripened for harvest yet. I have had several experiences in the past where everything goes wrong at this particular phase--withering squash, pepper flowers that won't make fruit, blossom-end rot on tomatoes--so I'm worried. This is the phase where I start reading gardening message boards and getting confused by conflicting advice about nitrogen levels and how many inches to water your zucchini. Perhaps I just need to chill out.
But anyway... Does anyone have some potato growing advice? Should I be concerned about the floppy, spindly plants? Or should I just calm down and cross my fingers that tubers will eventually form inside those big green bags?
I use a straw mulch on my potatoes, which supports the vines a bit, but after they get that long, they pretty much flop over. I don't know how long your plants have been growing, but they may be getting ready to flower, so their energy will go into that and not so much to making leaves. Flowers mean little potatoes are beginning to grow. When the flowers are gone and the plants are starting to wither and die, you should find some spuds underground. If I was you, I would put a few inches (to the top of the bag) of light mulch on yours. That will keep them moist so you don't have to worry so much about water (soil should always be slightly moist.) Then just keep them sunny and hope for the best.
Ok so you potato plants dont look anything like mine. Im not sure why. Mine are grown in the ground instead of a container so maybe thats why. Not sure. This is my first year growing potoates are mine are doing great so far. They are bushy and the white flowers on them are starting to die. I hear that they are ready to harvest a few weeks after the flowers die back. Mine dont look floppy and long like yours do....so Im not sure what to tell you about that. I dont add anything to my garden to help it grow or to kill bugs. I stay organic so I cant help you there either. I think I do have some photos of my full potato plant on my blog so maybe take a peek..if I dont, I will check and add them because I know I have some! :)
Are the stems really flattened where they come out of the soil? If so, that's a bad sign -- that happened to mine last year and it was some kind of virus. However, your potatoes might just be doing the perfectly normal flopping-over-and-perishing thing potato plants do before the potatoes are ready. OR they just really hate the heat... don't believe anyone who tells you that potatoes don't mind 85 degree temps!
Hmmmmmm wish I had some info for you. Since I live in the "Potato State" you'd think I would. And the potatoes grown here are all in full sun and have to survive temps into the 90's commonly.
They look overcrowded to me. That looks like the amount I grow in a full sized garbage bag. When I plant them I roll up the edges of the bag and only put in a few inches of compost. As the plants grow I unroll the bag and add more compost. The plants don't get a chance to grow leggy and fall over until the end of the season. With indeterminate varieties you will end up with a garbage bag full of potatoes. I got 60 lbs out of one bag last year.
Thanks for all the pointers. I will add mulch to the top of the bags, as Sue suggested, and possibly pull out some of the stalks. I have a tendency to overplant, so they probably are a bit crowded in there. Then I guess I'll just have to wait and see how things go.
My plants are in direct sun with no shade ever and they are doing just fine. Our temps have been upwards of 95 degrees. They dont mind at all. They are drying or withering. They are flourishing and I actually stuck my finger down into the soil and poked a potato!! :)
can someone tell me if you can or should prune potayo plants
don't water them too much if you do they go like that and die so give them 20 days without water and they'll be fine
i planted some sprouting potatoes a month ago but no leaves grew so i have just dug them up and found lots of little potatoes also the once withering mother potatoes are now hard and full and looking good enough to eat what is going on does anyone know? can i eat all these potatoes?
Potatoes are vines. You should continue to pile compost and/or dirt around them as they grow up. They will produce potatoes from the buried portion of the vine. You would not prune them, as that would defeat the purpose and reduce the yield. Moist but not too wet.
... high temperatures, low light intensities and long days promote stem elongation.
These are my conditions. Anything I can do? "... high temperatures, low light intensities and long days promote stem elongation."
Signed, Potatoes in Barcelona