Freshly Dug Potatoes, Rotten inside and smelly

callistris

This year growing our spuds, we noticed not long after flowering some of the helms were dying back quicker than usual, with the leaves going a very pale green, and with brown spots on them.

It's not blight, as I know what that is.

Digging these potatoes, a lot of them are rotten on the inside, and very smelly.

Its only spuds in one half of the garden that are affected like this, the other half is fine.

Looking up the problem, indications say to me its Soft Rot.

Has anyone else experienced this before, and have any other ideas what it might be?

forgotmyname

Are they being eaten? Typically the biggest spuds we dig up have usually been attacked by something or other.

One had 3 small holes in the skin and the inside was fairly hollow and starting to go really soft.

callistris

No, these have no signs of being eaten.

Also no hollow centres, just all slimy and rotten in the centres.

Its very strange, as I asked a spud farmer what he thought it was and even he didn't have an idea.

Biggles

Is it definitely not just a few? The seed potato on each plant always goes like that, but I've never had any others do it.

cyclonebri1

Slugs are usually my problem, they do bore in.

Not come across your issue, and to rub it in my spuds have been better than usual although very few produced flowers at all so were left in the ground longer than normal.

RAS

Start here http://www.potato.org.uk/gallery/potato-diseases

forgotmyname

Do you put slug pellets down around the potatoes? I never have but maybe worth a try?

tangojulie

Just discovered I have the same thing on the ones I'm lifting now.

It doesn't look like anything I've seen before. In some cases the outside of the potato looks fine. In others there's a small soft patch. When cut the potato is almost like a thick shelled easter egg, there's a solid shell and a rotten almost liquid centre. I haven't had the stomach to look more closely to describe it better.

It's not like the way the seed potatoes go, they rot down gently and leave a papery skin. These have a hard shell and a gooey core. It doesn't look much like the soft rot pictures either.

Luckily the rest of the spuds are fine.

Any ideas anyone?

savemoney

I have had odd one or two rotten, majority are okay. I have had some bored through from slugs mainly. Next year I will use slug pellets didnt think spuds would have had problems, how wrong I was.

callistris

After further research I came across a disease called 'Blackleg' on the RHS site. From what I have seen it matches what we experienced.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/Advice/profile?pid=223

This might help others, who have experienced this.

Slugs have been at the rest of my spuds as well!