Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: alan/gill on September 24, 2013, 17:24
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Hi all,having a good crop of potatoes this year,the only problem is quite a few have got holes in them,not sure if its from slugs or what ever,do you people still store them,or what else do you do with them ? ,thanks in advance
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I use ones with holes in them first and don't keep them with the sound ones either in case of rot spreading.
They soon get used up :lol:
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I peel, cut out the bad bits and make mash - then freeze in tubs.
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Indeed, use first the worst looking ones, and indeed they store well as frozen mash.
However, they do surprisingly well as they are too. Depending, of course. If nobody is in the hole anymore, the potato shall grow a skin around it and just be fine in numbers.
You will need to check on them though regularly.
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thank you
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thanks for your replys in my last post,can you tell me,are these holes from slugs and if so what can i do next season to help prevent this from happening again
Modified to merge with original post.
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The other thing I do is just put a few slug pellets in the potato sack (I think this was originally one of John's ideas) so if there are any lurking in holes not spotted, they are tempted out and .... cue evil laughter here! ;)
You will always get a few with holes, but if you have lost a lot then take a look in the soil to see what is lurking. Note that what is in the hole now may not be what made it. Look for small black soil living slugs, for wireworm (they created havoc in our first year), leatherjackets .... Good cultivation, well drained soil and a friendly robin are all good ways to get rid of them.
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Some varieties are more resistant than others (from the RHS) : ‘Charlotte’, ‘Estima’, ‘Golden Wonder’, ‘Kestrel’, ‘Pentland Dell’, ‘Pentland Ivory’, ‘Pentland Squire’, ‘Stemster’, ‘Sante’ and ‘Wilja’
Harvesting as early as possible can also helps as most slug attacks are in the latter part of the season.
Will
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I had loads of potatoes with holes in this year. I think it was because I left them in the ground and harvested a bit at a time rather than lifting them all at once. The ones I lifted earlier in the summer did not have holes in. I am wondering whether using nematodes a few weeks before harvesting would alleviate the problem.
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the nematode effect only lasts for 6 weeks - so how effective that would be, I don't know :unsure:
This year was sooo dry I think every living thing in the soil was eating the potatoes for the moisture.
Some varieties are more likely to be slug damaged than others, so you could try choosing a more resistant variety.
http://www.jbaseedpotatoes.co.uk/slug-resistant-seed-potatoes
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The holes will be slugs. I have grown the same main crop potatoes - Picasso for two years on the trot - in different beds though - . Last year great crop of good sized potatoes - but about 50% had slug damage. This year I have tried the Slug Nematodes and the crop is again a good size but slug damage is minimal. I know this is not that "scientific" as it is only two years and last year was WET - but they have worked for me. The down side is they are expensive....
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thanks for your replys in my last post,can you tell me,are these holes from slugs and if so what can i do next season to help prevent this from happening again
If you are on a new site/overgrown, not much cultivated it is normal to have a lot of damage to roots for 3/4 years. Shall solve itself gradually through cultivation.
Def grow slug resistant varieties.
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Some varieties are more resistant than others (from the RHS) : ‘Charlotte’, ‘Estima’, ‘Golden Wonder’, ‘Kestrel’, ‘Pentland Dell’, ‘Pentland Ivory’, ‘Pentland Squire’, ‘Stemster’, ‘Sante’ and ‘Wilja’
Harvesting as early as possible can also helps as most slug attacks are in the latter part of the season.
Will
True. I left some kestrel in tubs (thinking they were Maris piper) too long. They got hit quite badly. Still managed to salvage them as the holes were not too deep. I have kept what are left with holes seperate from the othe spuds though.