Help - Whats happening to my Potatoes

Hi all,

Looking for some advice, the stems on some of my potatoes appear to be rotting. I do not know what it is, hoping its not the deadly B word!!!

Links to 2 pics for some help.





Cheers


edited to insert images into actual post

ahhh, shiver my timbers!!!!!

Maybe not, that was blackbeard :-)

Does that mean all my crop is finshed with?

I have about 6 potato planters in the garden.

Do i have to get rid of everything in the planter or just the blacklegged stems?

The RHS advice is (as you would expect) good!

If the blackleg bacteria is in the ground obviously it can spread everywhere. So in a way you are lucky the soil is contained in your planters.

If they were mine, I would remove the affected plants first with as little soil disturbance as possible and give the others in the same planter a chance. Yes the soil IS  probably infected but it can't spread from that container and you may be lucky? If the others start showing symptoms before the pots are ready you'll just have to destroy that container full of plants and its soil. Hopefully not all will be affected.

I honestly thought I'd come back after half term and find mine had all turned to mush, but they look OK at the moment!

Good luck.

Good soil hygiene achieved by crop rotation will go a long way to preventing it.