This year the potatoes I grew were Pentland Javelin, Charlotte, King Edward, Maris Piper & Desiree with the following results......
1. Pentland Javelin, nice first earlies, no scab problems, good crop - happy
![happy :)](https://chat.allotment-garden.org/Smileys/green/smile.gif)
2. Charlotte, second earlies, free from scab to start with, progressively more scab the longer I left them, the scabs were minor and the majority scrubbed away - happy
![happy :)](https://chat.allotment-garden.org/Smileys/green/smile.gif)
3. King Edwards, main crop, not as big as I expected but still adequate, made lovely mash, more scab then earlies but mainly just on surface and removed during peeling - semi happy :happy:
4. Desiree, nice big spuds but heavily scabbed, not good as chips (trying as mash next) I thought these were supposed to be quite scab resistant?
5. Maris Pipe - untested so far - still in the ground.
Having looked on the internet I think the potatoes have 'common scab'.
The soil is quite sandy did this add to the scab problem?
I tried to keep them well watered but it has been a hot dry summer, did this add to the scab problem?
Should I dig them up as soon as possible, will leaving them add to the scab problem?
Any tips for next year? I have read that alkaline soils doesn't help and adding manure makes the soil more alkaline, should I add manure to next years plot or is this bad information? What new varieties should I try?
I also noticed small yellow worms when digging them up - is this wire worm? One or two potatoes had holes in them but not very many at all.