[stompy]

Hi all,

Last time i grew potatoes (King Edwards) the skins had a rough grainy texture to them, not smooth like shop baught ones.
They were fine when peeled and tasted very nice but didn't store well, they were a good size and we would have liked to have used them for jacket potatoes but due to their strange textured skin we just used them for mash and chips.

Im hopeing to grow some again this year on my new site (if i get a plot in time) and don't want them to have the same skins again.
Does anyone have any idea what caused this and if so how to rectify it.

Thanks
Andy

[Kristen]

Scab perhaps?

[stompy]

It wasn't as bad as that Kristen, it was like the right hand side of it with all those tiny lines and the skin had the texture of fine sandpaper, but it wasn't hard like sandpaper.
They didn't have dark brown patches like that either!

[Kristen]

Sounds like scab then I reckon - just didn't get to the Acne stage!

Might have nothing to do with how well they kept. My King Edwards have not kept well this winter (gone a bit limp around the edges, and sprouted a lot).

Need to avoid letting the soil get too alkaline - don't follow Brassicas, watch out what sort of manure you use, don't use wood ash / lime etc.

There are varieties that are resistant (although King Edward is one of them I think)

I get it on a small percentage of my spuds each year and I just ignore it I'm afraid.