Potato scab

**Thelma Sanders** · 14-03-2019, 11:44 AM

Common scab, I think - there's a lot of it on stored potatoes, caused by very dry weather last year.
It also effects potatoes planted on limey soil, so if you add lime to your brassicas bed, don't plant potatoes there the following year.

**emarisa28** · 14-03-2019, 01:25 PM

Any other thoughts from people? Any help appreciated xx

**Martin H** · 14-03-2019, 02:47 PM

I'm sure it's common scab, it seems to be around on all allotments at least to some degree. As Thelma says, lime / alkaline soil makes it much worse. Also, thin-skinned potato varieties seem to suffer more. I don't worry about it much, it's unsightly but doesn't show once the potatoes are peeled.

Plant uninfected seed potatoes each year and do crop rotation to minimise the spores in the ground surviving from year to year.

**1Bee** · 14-03-2019, 02:57 PM

What do you do if the seed potatoes you bought - from reputable suppliers, mind you - are scabbed? Do you plant anyway or bin them? If I bin them I'll have no main crops of the variety I like. Bah.

**emarisa28** · 14-03-2019, 03:57 PM

Originally posted by Martin H View Post

I'm sure it's common scab, it seems to be around on all allotments at least to some degree. As Thelma says, lime / alkaline soil makes it much worse. Also, thin-skinned potato varieties seem to suffer more. I don't worry about it much, it's unsightly but doesn't show once the potatoes are peeled.

Plant uninfected seed potatoes each year and do crop rotation to minimise the spores in the ground surviving from year to year.

These are my seed potatoes.... That's why I'm concerned. Would you plant these or not?

**Bex2012** · 14-03-2019, 04:23 PM

They look fine to me, the seed potato rots away anyway. Id have no hesitation about planting those.

**emarisa28** · 14-03-2019, 04:25 PM

Originally posted by Bex2012 View Post

They look fine to me, the seed potato rots away anyway. Id have no hesitation about planting those.

Ok great. Thanks!

**Martin H** · 14-03-2019, 04:32 PM

Originally posted by emarisa28 View Post

These are my seed potatoes.... That's why I'm concerned. Would you plant these or not?

I get a bit of scab every year anyway so I probably would plant them. The Potato Seed Council says that "it is generally considered that populations of scab-forming Streptomycetes introduced on seed are likely to be far outnumbered by those already present in field soils". (http://www.potato.org.uk/sites/defau...w%202004_0.pdf)

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