Potatoes

[cammie]

My 2nd earlies have a very strange shaw in that they look wizened.

 

[Meadowlark]

What would a "very strange shaw" look like?

Also, maybe you could elaborate on "wizened" which I found to mean "shriveled or wrinkled with age".

A picture is worth a thousand words.

 

[headfullofbees]

We Scots call the haulms, "shaws".
It's the green stems.

 

[cammie]

Sent photos today.

 

[Owdboggy]

Photos not showing.

 

[cammie]

Does that work?

 

[headfullofbees]

The only time i've seen anything like that, it was aminopyralid (hormonal weedkiller) damage.
Have you been using fresh animal manure?

 

[cammie]

I used Donkey manure for the first time, usually use cow dung. Could that be the cause?

 

[Owdboggy]

How much rain have you had?

 

[cammie]

Very dry until this last week.

 

[Owdboggy]

That then is your problem, the plants are desiccated. To develop a decent crop they need a staggering amount of water. Of hand I cannot remember the amount , but it is gallons rather than pints.

 

[redback]

They are flowering a lot. Give them a bit of liquid seaweed to improve the size of the tubers. We call it bandicooting when you carefully expose one or two of the outside tubers by carefully scraping the outside soil. That should also tell you if the soil is too dry, which it probably is.

 

[redback]

It's also normal to mound potatoes. Run your hoe between the rows and pile the soil on the sides of the spuds. Alternately heavily mulch with straw leaving only the top leaves showing.

 

[redback]

These five mounds of dirt, some topped with straw, are the only photo of potato mounding I can find. Your potato photos are interesting because the flowers are so prolific and large. Normally the flowers are tiny and white. It might be worthwhile burying your plants with old straw, leaf mold or compost. Just leave the top leaves and flowers showing.