potatoes with holes and bitter blackcurrants

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brenda

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potatoes with holes and bitter blackcurrants
« on: July 01, 2010, 16:43 »
Hello!

I have a blackcurrant bush growing in the garden about two years now, and it never bore any fruit until this year and it is absolutely covered in blackcurrants. The fruit is really dark I was wondering when do you actually pick the fruit I have tasted one of the berries and it dont taste like blackcurrant!
Also I have potatoes in the pollytunnel there maris piper and I dug a few up but I noticed that some opf the potatoes had a tiny hole in them with a very tiny worm in it, could anybody tell me what it is and how do I stop it?
Brenda

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Nobbie

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Re: potatoes with holes and bitter blackcurrants
« Reply #1 on: July 01, 2010, 16:59 »
I'd say at least another week before the blackcurrants are ready, they should just be going soft by then. Normally I'd pick them on mens finals day at wimbledon, but they are a bit late this year.

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Antonius

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Re: potatoes with holes and bitter blackcurrants
« Reply #2 on: July 01, 2010, 17:27 »
For me,you can pick your blackcurrants anytime now. Just leave them in a bag for a few days and they will come to full ripeness. As for your spuds,I am sure Maris piper are lates and shouldn't be anywhere near ready yet.  It's possible you have a wire worm problem, maybe someone else can give you advice on that one.
I wouldn't say I was the best manager for the job,but I would say I'm in the top one! (Brian Clough)

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brenda

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Re: potatoes with holes and bitter blackcurrants
« Reply #3 on: July 01, 2010, 17:48 »
Thanks antonius and Nobbie

The blackcurrants are quite soft but I leave them for another couple of weeks hopefully they will sweeten up! As for the potatoes I thought wireworm was a bit bigger, this little worm is tiny is there anything I can put on them to kill it off? We are a bit new to this potatoe growing thought you dig up the potatoes after they had stopped flowering? We have them growing in a pollytunnel.

Brenda

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DD.

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Re: potatoes with holes and bitter blackcurrants
« Reply #4 on: July 01, 2010, 18:01 »
The flowers on early potatoes is an indication that there may be some ready for lifting as immature "new" potatoes.

Main crop should be left until the foliage dies down.
Did it really tell you to do THAT on the packet?

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massa

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Re: potatoes with holes and bitter blackcurrants
« Reply #5 on: July 01, 2010, 18:02 »
i have had the same prob with my spuds and i found out from looking on the web they are blunt tailed snake millepedes that are causing my problems, they have ruined about 50% of my first earlies i just hope they have not spread to my mains. i dont know how to deal with them though im afraid i posted on here last week for advise but unfortunatly no body had any solutions for me.

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realfood

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Re: potatoes with holes and bitter blackcurrants
« Reply #6 on: July 01, 2010, 19:25 »
Massa, it sounds like wireworms in your potatoes.
WIREWORM.

Wireworms are a great pest of potatoes causing many of the smaller 3 mm holes in the tubers. They are the larval stage of a beetle, Agriotes lineatus, and are particularly common in ground that has been very grassy or weedy for several years. Sadly, the larvae can live in the ground for up to 4 years eating roots, before they pupate and emerge as click beetles in the summer.

Destroy them by crushing between your fingers whenever you see them on site while digging over your soil and when earthing up your potatoes. Lift your potato crops as soon as they are full grown to prevent further damage.

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DD.

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Re: potatoes with holes and bitter blackcurrants
« Reply #7 on: July 01, 2010, 19:54 »
realfood, please at least give a citation if you are going to copy/paste from another site.

Link here:

http://www.growyourown.info/page151aa.html

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sloworm

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Re: potatoes with holes and bitter blackcurrants
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2010, 20:32 »
DD thank you for that link it is good to have pictures for reference and I think I may have fed a couple of the eel worms to the birds when preparing the beds earlier (i hope I didn't miss any ???)

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massa

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Re: potatoes with holes and bitter blackcurrants
« Reply #9 on: July 01, 2010, 22:22 »
from all the pics i have seen i dont think they are wire worms eating my spuds they have lots of tiny legs all along their bodies which the wire worms dont seem to have! i found a pic on the net ill try to find it again and post a link.

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massa

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Re: potatoes with holes and bitter blackcurrants
« Reply #10 on: July 01, 2010, 22:26 »
this is the link http://www.gardensafari.net/english/centipedes.htm the ones that are eating my spuds are the spotted snake millepedes on this page.

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brenda

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Re: potatoes with holes and bitter blackcurrants
« Reply #11 on: July 04, 2010, 19:18 »
Hi
I think mine are wireworm although the tiny worm is more of a cream colour. Where we have the tunnel is in a field that is used for grazing and cutting silage.
Brenda


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