[st0ne5ish]

Hi,

I have several rows of spuds 1st and 2nd early and main. They have all been doing well but recently the row of 1st early swift look droopy barely managing to keep off the ground now, the leaves are less green than the other rows including the pentland next to them which are still upright and dark green. I had a poke around and could not see any obvious sign of pests, some of the leaves had a few holes in them but not a lot and I saw one tiny slug on a leaf.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Steve

[mumofstig]

Have you watered them at all?

The spuds on the next plot to mine have not been watered at all and look like that

Mine went in at the same time and look ok, but mine have had a few very good soakings.

[st0ne5ish]

Yeah I have watered them all once or twice a week, I checked the soil and its not dry under the top layer. The other rows seem fine which makes me think its not the watering, unless I over watered and the swift variety do not like too much.

[galen]

The same is happening to mine but I've taken it that they are ready to harvest, which according to my diary is just about right. In fact I've been lifting them when required for the past 2 weeks and some are getting to be "large" new potatoes now 

[st0ne5ish]

Ah that could be it then, I thought I had to wait for flowers?

[Salmo]

How long have they been planted? Varieties such as rocket and Swift take about 70 days to bulk up. This could be a few less with the warm April.

Some varieties just produce a few flower buds which come to nothing so are not noticed.

[st0ne5ish]

At the end of March so I will dig some up later and take a look.

Gone from being disappointed to quiet looking forward to digging some up, fingers crossed, cheers guys 

[LANESRA]

I planted Swift on the 28th of March and dug the root today (approx 60 days), there were 10 tubers about egg size, just right, although not much foliage, maybe its the variety, its the first time I have planted Swift

[realfood]

Swift is known for having very short foliage and is often grown under cloches for the earliest crop.

[galen]

Sorry, didn't make it clear in my post, mine are Swift too, planted on 26th March, so approaching the 70 day mark and the ones harvested over the past week are now large egg size. Here in Maidstone we've had warm and until the past week dry weather (not that the rain we've had amounts to anything since). Crop was watered, heavily, after 4 then 6 weeks.

[Paul Plots]

I'm not far from Chichester so about the same rainfall.

I've watered my earlies twice since planting and mulched with grass clippings. No wilting.  :blink:

I've grown Rocket, Charlotte and Arran Pilot. Earlies went in on 29th March.

[Melwel77]

Thank you for your posts, they have made for reasuring reading!   I too have a row of swifts which is starting to look wilted and the leaves are turning a little pale.   I'm up in Durham and planted 75days ago.

Thinking it was a disease I have dug the affected ones up - yield is not that good, so I'm still a little worried it may be eelworm.  Especially since those affected are sporadic, and small and big plants alike.  But like you guys, other potatoes types growing near by are not affected, so fingers crossed!

Might just stick to 2nd earlies from now on!  Thanks again!   

[digalotty]

i find swift are better lifted early as they are a variety that slugs love , and can be ready as early as eight weeks