[chaffinch]

Hi all,

I planted Maris Peers in two containers this April, and by mid-May they sprouted and the plants grew quickly and beautifully. Now, though, the leaves are starting to die. I pulled up the plant that was worst off, and found a number of small potatoes (the biggest about the size of a walnut), and one that was completely rotten (I don't know, might that have been the remains of the original seed potato?). The new potatoes mostly looked healthy though one had a sort of scaly, hard brown patch on the skin. Anyway, I'm very disappointed that they've all started to die off so quickly, and haven't even flowered yet. It's my first time growing potatoes, though, so I don't really know what i'm doing! Just following guidelines I've found online.

Could this be some kind of disease, or more likely stress from the hot weather?

Thanks!

[Goosegirl]

The scaly patch is probably potato scab and will peel off ok. The rotten pot was your original pot. Some varieties of pots don't flower either. I am going to guess that they may have needed more water and a bit of feed as well as they are in containers. Try watering more and applying some feed and see what happens. If it goes pear-shaped, try again next year but water and feed more.

[aelf]

I agree, the spot is probably scab - harmless, just rub it off. what type of soil/compost did you use? Potatoes are a hungry crop and need lots of nutients in the soil to grow well. Sounds to me like they may have starved in a nutrient-poor soil 

[chaffinch]

Thanks! I used a Homebase "enriched" compost, out of convenience (I think it comes pretreated with some nutrients). But I wasn't sure how/whether to feed them, so... I guess I just trusted that they'd be OK? I surely didn't think they'd die! . Oh well, live and learn! I will try feeding them now and see whether they spring back...

[goodegg]

maris peer is not good for planting in containers as it needs lots of water to get a decent crop its probably done all its going to do so i would dig them up and enjoy what you have 1st earlies are better for containers as they dont need a long growing time nex year try differant variety but not second earlies good luck