"Andy" wrote after...
Bob Hobden wrote in reply to
"Andy" who wrote
I'm new to growing my own veg and last year I grew potatoes for the
first time. Although I had some success I lost around one third of my
crop. The main pest was a small greyish coloured worm that borrowed
into the potato. I originality thought this was eel worm but I gather
they are very small, these pests were around 4mm.
Does anyone know what this pest might be and what I could do? The best
approach I can think off at the moment is to order a different variety
to last year, maybe some thing disease resistant like Kestrel.
Did they look a bit stiff (wireworm) or soft a squidgy like a slug?
Squidgy like a slug.
I hadn't crossed my mind that it could be a slug problem.
The allotment I'm using had been unused for years so maybe there were
more problems with slugs than usual. I did grow some earlies and they
weren't nearly as badly effected. I thought it was because they were a
different variety.
Interesting to see how popular Kestrel spuds are. I think I'll give
them a go, last year I tried Verity, lovely for roasties but not too
great for anything else.
We have a constant problem with slugs both on the previous allotment and the
new one.
Tried Nematodes, rather expensive and no discernable difference to other
years, they need the ground kept nice and moist which can be difficult here
some summers. Cheaper to buy organic spuds ready grown.
Our way to deal with this is to plant spuds that are a touch resistant to
slug damage but still excellent for cooking,
such as the ones we plant...
Kestral ...SE
Romano...MC (stores well) (red)
Spey...MC
others to try with good resistance are...
Hermes
Lady Rosetta
Maritima
Misdas
Pentland Dell
You will still get some damage and resistance does seem to differ depending
on your soil etc, if one doesn't do too well for you try a different one
next year etc.until you find one that works in your soil and you like the
taste of. Better still go to a Potato Day and get a few tubers of each of
them and trial them all this year, just make sure you label them well and
keep them seperate after harvest so you know what to get next year.
Potato Days, details at...
http://thewhitchurchweb.org/potatoday/potatodays.htm
ps. Verity ...SE does not appear to have been tested for slug resistance
(or it has none)
--
Regards
Bob H
17mls W. of London.UK