[grosmont50]

Getting the taties in just now and its a good crop but the eel worm have ( if it is eel worm) have ravaged them, is there any thing i can do in soil preparation or any other area for next year to prevent them ??

[Yorkie]

Was the ground previously / recently grassland?  If so, it's wireworms and they will gradually decline over time. 

Nematodes during the growing season will deal with underground slugs.

[grosmont50]

morning yorkie and thanks for your reply,its been allotments for donkeys years but unused for 20 or so yrs until april last year when to prevent the council from building on it i took a plot, 5yrs ago the council put a machine on the land and scraped off the top18 inch as a start to there developement, 2 and a half yrs ago when our objections where upheld they replaced it with a substance they called top soil ,it was more like bulders rubble since when ive double dug,raked and seived it relentlessly

[JayG]

If your potatoes have holes in the problem will be either wireworm or slugs, as Yorkie has suggested.

The potato eelworm (aka potato cyst nematode) causes premature death of the plant and hence much reduced yields but doesn't make visible holes in the tubers.

[grosmont50]

these blighters were black, worm shaped and about an inch long, dont think they were little slugs, thanks all for your advice keep it coming please , god knows i need it

[BabbyAnn]

these blighters were black, worm shaped and about an inch long, dont think they were little slugs

sounds like slugs to me    These are not like the big fat orange brown/grey things you find munching your lettuces - these actually live underground all year round

Try growing a slug resistant variety next time - it really makes a difference to the yield

You could sow a mustard green manure on the beds you plan to grow potatoes next year, then dig it into the soil.  This not only provides some vegetable matter to the soil, but might help to reduce wireworm population.

[SkipRat]

Consider growing Desiree next year I also have a slug problem on my site, but I get a decent crop using Desiree.

[Salmo]

Mustard may reduce eelworms but it will not affect the wireworm population.