[Lesleyk]

Thanks for the two replies saying I'd been deleted.  Sorry to be such a pain.  And as a newcomer, I should introduce myself, so I'm Lesley and I'm a gardener.  Anyway, here is my message: I am a seasoned gardener and work for customers as well as myself.  I am on the west coast of Scotland and used to the many challenges there are to gardening in this amazing, exposed space.  This year I bought seed potatoes from my usual Scottish supplier and planted them in large containers (this helps protect them from the wind).  I also planted some in large pots for one of my customers who lives about a mile away.  My potatoes are doing fine, despite recent high winds and heavy rain, in fact they are looking better than normal.  My customer's potatoes, however, are a different story.  They have died, quite suddenly.  Last week they were growing away (they are first earlies and Pink Fir Apple by the way) and this week the leaves are a brown mush on top of the soil.  The growing medium is a multi-purpose compost, part of the same batch I used myself.  The seed potatoes are part of the same batch I sowed myself.  There is no risk of wire worm and I really don't think it could be blight so early in the season (and we haven't had much rain, believe it or not).  None of my pests and diseases books can throw any light on this, so any help would be most welcome.  Thanks.

[plum crumble]

not just a case of frost? if they are not as sheltered as yours, they could have succumbed to frost . Have you furtled under the soil to check the tuber?

[Diddy Gardener]

And also, if they were not earthed up the frost would get them more easily.

[Lesleyk]

I'll check with my customers to see if they had any frost as they are up the hill (I am right on the coast and never get frost - honest!).  The potatoes themselves are quite sheltered as they are deep in pots I don't think earthing up is an issue.  Also the pots are in an enclosed space behind fencing, but frost could be a possibility.  And I haven't furtled but I may do next week!  Thanks.

[JayG]

There is such a thing as the "wrong kind of shelter" when it comes to frosts, as it can increase the chances of cold air collecting in one place leading to a ground frost, although frost pockets are usually in low-lying valleys rather than hills (how high is the hill?!) 

Still got to be the most likely cause though - there are of course several spud diseases but it's pretty unlikely they would have affected only your customer's spuds given that you used the same spuds and compost yourself.

[AlaninCarlisle]

But does frost really kill potatoes stone dead? I've had the same experience this year thanks to an early spring in March that petered out in April and am assuming the spuds will come again and that only the top growth snuffed it

[Aunt Sally]

No, it usually just knocks the tops off.  They regrow.