What on earth is this on my potatoes ???

**TEB** · 17-08-2009, 08:46 PM

It looks like a really really bad case of scab, if it is then you can remove the damaged parts and eat the rest

**stevemac** · 17-08-2009, 09:57 PM

Thanks TEB

I had heard about scab but was'nt prepared for it to look so bad.
Think i will compost the lot just to be on the safe side.

**SarzWix** · 17-08-2009, 10:50 PM

I think scab can live in the soil, so composting might not be the best plan...? Once peeled they are safe to eat though.

**rustylady** · 17-08-2009, 11:35 PM

Doesn't look like scab to me. Scab is usually dry and that looks wet.

**Two_Sheds** · 18-08-2009, 07:10 AM

It does look like either powdery scab or common scab ... but a really bad case. Have a look here, see what you think Pests and Diseases Quick Reference : Common Scab

**teakdesk** · 18-08-2009, 08:29 AM

Scab was my first thought but then I wondered....

1/ rooster spuds are highly resistant to scab

2/ they were grown in bags (stevemac doesn't say what the compost was).

Looking at the flesh under the skin it looks like blight. Blight can give lesions on the skin so I wouldn't dismiss blight yet.

Stevemac,

a/ what soil/compost were they grown in?
b/ can you do a PH test of the soil?
c/ was there any evidence of blight on the top growth?

It could even be scab made worse by blight!!!

**stevemac** · 18-08-2009, 10:08 AM

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I did around 10/12 bags of spuds this year(got carried away.).
Because of the huge foliage rooster gave me compared to others i moved this bag away from the others into an area which was a lot more shaded but in hindsight would have been drier than other areas of the garden.
The compost would have been general purpose stuff,more than likely bought from asda.

As for blight (or signs of blight) i did not see any difference between this bag and others (different varietes) .

I have done a lot of searching last night and this morning and from this photo i think scab seems to be the problem.

i just hope i have'nt spread it through my garden as i emptied this bag and some other soil in a clear patch so will be unable to single out any offending soil

Thanks again everyone

**SMS6** · 18-08-2009, 10:28 AM

My second earlies and main crop all looked just like that. They were the only poatoes I grew in the ground.

**Two_Sheds** · 18-08-2009, 12:34 PM

Originally posted by teakdesk View Post

rooster spuds are highly resistant to scab

My roosters always get a bit of scab ...

**teakdesk** · 18-08-2009, 02:22 PM

Originally posted by Two_Sheds View Post

My roosters always get a bit of scab ...

There's always one exception to prove a rule!!

...i moved this bag away from the others into an area which was a lot more shaded but in hindsight would have been drier than other areas of the garden.
The compost would have been general purpose stuff,more than likely bought from asda.

It's a bit worrying if the organism has come in a bag of Asda compost, but the dryness probably helped in the severity of the attack.

**hamsterqueen** · 18-08-2009, 02:28 PM

I used some asda compost this year and had quite bad scab on the potatoes I grew in buckets.

trouble is I can't remember which compost I used on which buckets , to know whether there was a correlation

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What on earth is this on my potatoes ???

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