yes, i'm panicking, thank you for asking :-)

the other day, all my taties looked excellent.

as of just now(?!), there's two problems that have appeared all of a sudden:

small desiree patch:
a number of the plants are turning yellow all over, with the leaves curling
inwards & drying out. i carefully dug around to look at the baby taties of
the diseased(?) plants & the bigger ones seem to have slightly more textured
(wrinkled? what would be the word?) skin than one would expect, not smooth
like a baby spud still in the ground. others, otoh, looked quite normal to
me. i didn't dig around very much though, of course. (was that a bad thing
to do?)

big pontiac patch:
some of the plants have slight reddish-brownish areas on them, like a
sunburn or something (no defined edge to the marks - more of a shading).
these plants just look generally less well than the others, which look
perfectly normal. some of the leaves are yellowing & drying out a bit. again
i had a little dig, but couldn't see anything odd about the baby taties
underneath at all.

i've never grown potatoes before & i've looked in all my books for what it
might be, and online, and i just don't know. they've not flowered yet. one
plant has some buds. the desirees have been in for probably 3 months or
so(?) & the pontiacs perhaps two months, or 2 & a bit.

"0tterbot" wrote in message
...
yes, i'm panicking, thank you for asking :-)

the other day, all my taties looked excellent.

as of just now(?!), there's two problems that have appeared all of a
sudden:

small desiree patch:
a number of the plants are turning yellow all over, with the leaves
curling inwards & drying out. i carefully dug around to look at the baby
taties of the diseased(?) plants & the bigger ones seem to have slightly
more textured (wrinkled? what would be the word?) skin than one would
expect, not smooth like a baby spud still in the ground. others, otoh,
looked quite normal to me. i didn't dig around very much though, of
course. (was that a bad thing to do?)

is it possible that they're just ready to dig up??? they never flowered!!!
kylie (who will feel like an idiot if the plants are dying because it's just
time to harvest.)

"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 05 Jan 2007 06:09:15 GMT, "0tterbot" wrote:

"0tterbot" wrote in message
...
yes, i'm panicking, thank you for asking :-)

the other day, all my taties looked excellent.

as of just now(?!), there's two problems that have appeared all of a
sudden:

small desiree patch:
a number of the plants are turning yellow all over, with the leaves
curling inwards & drying out. i carefully dug around to look at the baby
taties of the diseased(?) plants & the bigger ones seem to have slightly
more textured (wrinkled? what would be the word?) skin than one would
expect, not smooth like a baby spud still in the ground. others, otoh,
looked quite normal to me. i didn't dig around very much though, of
course. (was that a bad thing to do?)

is it possible that they're just ready to dig up??? they never flowered!!!
kylie (who will feel like an idiot if the plants are dying because it's
just
time to harvest.)

I have potatoes in flower at the moment and they do usually flower
before they die off, but if you have kept the water up to them you may
have missed seeing the flowers and they might be ready to harvest.
Have a bit of a careful dig around near them and see what you can find
in the ground. Wish you luck.

ta for that :-)

in the absence of any replies saying "yes, it's clearly
potato-disease-from-hell", i decided to stop panicking :-) after i read your
reply i had a think, & can recall a time when some of the plants had buds.
then, i don't know what happened. it's quite possible the %#$!! grasshoppers
ate the buds off, for all i know (they are voracious little blighters - they
eat the tops off anything). i had another poke around, & there are some big
taties down there. (and some little ones). i think it might be time to
harvest soon, regardless of what happens next!
kylie (i think this means i feel like an idiot ;-)

0tterbot wrote:
"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 05 Jan 2007 06:09:15 GMT, "0tterbot" wrote:

"0tterbot" wrote in message
...
yes, i'm panicking, thank you for asking :-)

the other day, all my taties looked excellent.

as of just now(?!), there's two problems that have appeared all of a
sudden:

small desiree patch:
a number of the plants are turning yellow all over, with the leaves
curling inwards & drying out. i carefully dug around to look at the baby
taties of the diseased(?) plants & the bigger ones seem to have slightly
more textured (wrinkled? what would be the word?) skin than one would
expect, not smooth like a baby spud still in the ground. others, otoh,
looked quite normal to me. i didn't dig around very much though, of
course. (was that a bad thing to do?)
is it possible that they're just ready to dig up??? they never flowered!!!
kylie (who will feel like an idiot if the plants are dying because it's
just
time to harvest.)
I have potatoes in flower at the moment and they do usually flower
before they die off, but if you have kept the water up to them you may
have missed seeing the flowers and they might be ready to harvest.
Have a bit of a careful dig around near them and see what you can find
in the ground. Wish you luck.

ta for that :-)

in the absence of any replies saying "yes, it's clearly
potato-disease-from-hell", i decided to stop panicking :-) after i read your
reply i had a think, & can recall a time when some of the plants had buds.
then, i don't know what happened. it's quite possible the %#$!! grasshoppers
ate the buds off, for all i know (they are voracious little blighters - they
eat the tops off anything). i had another poke around, & there are some big
taties down there. (and some little ones). i think it might be time to
harvest soon, regardless of what happens next!
kylie (i think this means i feel like an idiot ;-)


Nuh I made the same mistake once. Youre only an idiot if you do it twice.

"0tterbot" wrote in message
"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message
On Fri, 05 Jan 2007 06:09:15 GMT, "0tterbot" wrote:

small desiree patch:

I have potatoes in flower at the moment and they do usually flower
before they die off, but if you have kept the water up to them you
may
have missed seeing the flowers and they might be ready to harvest.
Have a bit of a careful dig around near them and see what you can
find
in the ground. Wish you luck.

ta for that :-)

in the absence of any replies saying "yes, it's clearly
potato-disease-from-hell", i decided to stop panicking :-) after i
read your
reply i had a think, & can recall a time when some of the plants had
buds.
then, i don't know what happened. it's quite possible the %#$!!
grasshoppers
ate the buds off, for all i know (they are voracious little
blighters - they
eat the tops off anything). i had another poke around, & there are
some big
taties down there. (and some little ones). i think it might be time
to
harvest soon, regardless of what happens next!

You mentioned that the spuds had been in for 3 months. IIRC, Desiree
has about a 120 day to harvest period?????? so it may be a bit early
to think of harvesting them. Pehraps it might be worth checking out
the days to harvest for the varieties and check you garden notebook to
see when you did plant them to be surer.

"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message
...

You mentioned that the spuds had been in for 3 months. IIRC, Desiree
has about a 120 day to harvest period??????

i just had a google (as my books only say of potatoes in general "2-3 months
maturing time") & one site says 95-100 days for desirees, so that would be
right.

so it may be a bit early
to think of harvesting them.

this situation (or disease ;-) might put a natural end to keeping them in,
though! they're all going yellow, curling up & dying (even some of the
pontiacs now, which i put in shortly after the desirees, have stopped
looking differently-diseased & look like they're going the exact same way).
without any foliage, it's a bit pointless to keep them in much longer, isn't
it? (i wasn't going to harvest them tomorrow or anything, but it can't be
long now anyway. i just had lost track of when they went in & didn't
consider how close it must be to time).

Pehraps it might be worth checking out
the days to harvest for the varieties and check you garden notebook to
see when you did plant them to be surer.

i'm thrilled that you think so very highly of me that you think i'd keep a
notebook. bg!
kylie (being organised really isn't my strong point!! i can't emphasise that
enough!!!!)

"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message
...
i had another poke around, & there are some big taties down there.
(and some little ones).

That sounds good, the little ones are probably still growing.

kylie (i think this means i feel like an idiot ;-)

Don't put yourself down,

but stuart. it's my "thing"! g

if you haven't grown spuds before you
wouldn't know what to look for nor what to expect of them.

tbh, i still evidently don't know what to expect! i'm going to put in some
more, to see if the same thing happens in 3 months. THEN i will know! (i
might be the disorganised gardener from hell, but i love a good experiment.)
/adjusts lab coat and einstein-hairdo

tbh, i like a fruit or vegetable that grows above the ground. you can look
at it & say "hmm". it's just so much easier all around, don't you think?
kylie

"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message
...
tbh, i still evidently don't know what to expect! i'm going to put in some
more, to see if the same thing happens in 3 months. THEN i will know! (i
might be the disorganised gardener from hell, but i love a good
experiment.)
/adjusts lab coat and einstein-hairdo

Perhaps try another different variety.

of hairdo? no, i was just making that up. it's my moustache that's the spit
of einstein's. g

I have 2 dogs that show an interest in gardening although theirs'
isn't always a constructive interest particularly with above ground
fruit & vegetables. ;-)

i'll say one thing for my naughty-dog-who-is-very-good-really, - he's not a
gardener. :-) although i must say things have to be a certain size before he
realises he's not supposed to walk there any more. next time around, i'm
getting a dog who's psychic, too.

Anyway about 10 days later I could plainly see a couple of shoots in
the hanging basket which would have been real beaut if they had been
lemons, but they were tomato plants. About 2 weeks later up came a
spud then eventually up came the 4 lemons (or at least I think they're
lemons).

clearly you're not using the abysmal potting mix _i_ am! (address all gripes
to my potting mix whinge-o-thon.) *

Tomatoes and potatoes grow like weeds around here.

excellent!!!! except when you want to rest the beds from the solanaceae
family. --- can talk the talk, eh ;-)
kylie
* i did another experiment, & _this_ time the potting mix is out-doing the
planted-outs. it is a mystery both deep and wide.

"0tterbot" wrote in message
"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message

You mentioned that the spuds had been in for 3 months. IIRC,
Desiree
has about a 120 day to harvest period??????

i just had a google (as my books only say of potatoes in general
"2-3 months
maturing time") & one site says 95-100 days for desirees, so that
would be
right.

so it may be a bit early
to think of harvesting them.

this situation (or disease ;-) might put a natural end to keeping
them in,
though! they're all going yellow, curling up & dying (even some of
the
pontiacs now, which i put in shortly after the desirees, have
stopped
looking differently-diseased & look like they're going the exact
same way).
without any foliage, it's a bit pointless to keep them in much
longer, isn't
it? (i wasn't going to harvest them tomorrow or anything, but it
can't be
long now anyway. i just had lost track of when they went in & didn't
consider how close it must be to time).

If the tops are all dead then it's (sort of ) harvest time.

Pehraps it might be worth checking out
the days to harvest for the varieties and check you garden
notebook to
see when you did plant them to be surer.

i'm thrilled that you think so very highly of me that you think i'd
keep a
notebook. bg!

Snort! I thought everyone had at least one garden notebook! How else
do you keep notes on what works or when you put on white oil or
planted X tree or where you pasted your plant labels for that exotic
tree whose name you can never remember?

kylie (being organised really isn't my strong point!! i can't
emphasise that
enough!!!!)

I'll bet I can beat you hands down for being disorganised (I can lose
a shopping list between the kitchen and the car door) but I do keep up
my garden notebooks. I have 2 "notebooks' and lose one or the other
on a regular basis (that's how disorganised I am) but I can always
find at least one of them - that's where I keep my recipes for making
sprays of what works for what diseases etc. The other book that I
keep and never lose, is an "Any Year" diary and in that I write on the
appropriate date what year it is and what I've just planted and where
and what's in flower when (if I remember to do the flowering bit).

"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message

I had a spare hanging basket I wasn't using, so I emptied the soil
into the compost, refilled the basket with fresh potting mix and
planted 4 lemon seeds.

Anyway about 10 days later I could plainly see a couple of shoots in
the hanging basket which would have been real beaut if they had been
lemons, but they were tomato plants. About 2 weeks later up came a
spud then eventually up came the 4 lemons (or at least I think
they're
lemons).

Could you keep us updated on how the lemons go please Stuart? I've
always been interested in whether seeds from the "not the normal
garden seeds" work.

"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message
...
"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message

I had a spare hanging basket I wasn't using, so I emptied the soil
into the compost, refilled the basket with fresh potting mix and
planted 4 lemon seeds.

Anyway about 10 days later I could plainly see a couple of shoots in
the hanging basket which would have been real beaut if they had been
lemons, but they were tomato plants. About 2 weeks later up came a
spud then eventually up came the 4 lemons (or at least I think
they're
lemons).

Could you keep us updated on how the lemons go please Stuart? I've
always been interested in whether seeds from the "not the normal
garden seeds" work.



I have a mango seedling I started from some mangoes hubby pinched off a tree
here last year, if that helps. It sprouted two plants from one seed, which
was nice, until I killed one of them. *sigh*

"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message
...

/adjusts lab coat and einstein-hairdo

Perhaps try another different variety.

of hairdo? no, i was just making that up. it's my moustache that's the
spit
of einstein's. g

A wisp of a gray moustache and mostly gray shoulder length hair?
That sounds like someone I know.

doesn't sound like anyone _i_ know. i'm a girl, really ;-) (i take it you're
not, though).

Anyway about 10 days later I could plainly see a couple of shoots in
the hanging basket which would have been real beaut if they had been
lemons, but they were tomato plants. About 2 weeks later up came a
spud then eventually up came the 4 lemons (or at least I think they're
lemons).

clearly you're not using the abysmal potting mix _i_ am! (address all
gripes
to my potting mix whinge-o-thon.) *

I don't usually buy potting mix, this is my first year trying it and
so far I've been quite happy. My usual habit was to use well matured
home made compost which also works well.

i have problems getting _quantity_ of compost... any tips? it took me about
2 years to make enough to make cucurbit mounds this year (which are
brilliant!! i love them!!! and i've got volunteers sprouting away like mad,
which isn't as much fun as i thought it might be...)

i have so much trouble making compost in quantity that when i moved here 4
months ago, i brought my compost with me (and people said i was mad. well, i
sure showed THEM! ... um...)

i'd LOVE a tumbling composter - i'd make special collections for it if i had
one of those. sigh....


Tomatoes and potatoes grow like weeds around here.

excellent!!!! except when you want to rest the beds from the solanaceae
family. --- can talk the talk, eh ;-)

You certainly can talk the talk. I had to use a bloody search engine
to find out what in hell a solanaceae was.

mwahahahahaha! and another humble gardener commences his education in plant
families! vengeance is mine!!!
kylie

"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message
...
i'm thrilled that you think so very highly of me that you think i'd
keep a
notebook. bg!

Snort! I thought everyone had at least one garden notebook! How else
do you keep notes on what works or when you put on white oil or
planted X tree or where you pasted your plant labels for that exotic
tree whose name you can never remember?

i use my abysmal memory, of course!!!

kylie (being organised really isn't my strong point!! i can't
emphasise that
enough!!!!)

I'll bet I can beat you hands down for being disorganised (I can lose
a shopping list between the kitchen and the car door) but I do keep up
my garden notebooks. I have 2 "notebooks' and lose one or the other
on a regular basis (that's how disorganised I am) but I can always
find at least one of them - that's where I keep my recipes for making
sprays of what works for what diseases etc. The other book that I
keep and never lose, is an "Any Year" diary and in that I write on the
appropriate date what year it is and what I've just planted and where
and what's in flower when (if I remember to do the flowering bit).

it sounds wonderful (except the bit where they get lost). i'm going to start
one, really. some time after that, i'll also weigh everything from fruit &
veg plants, for my heirloom seed-saving records of harvest-weight-per-plant
titter.
no, i will. one day.
klyie

"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message
On Mon, 8 Jan 2007 14:03:46 +1100, "Farm1"
please@askifyouwannaknow
wrote:

"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message

I had a spare hanging basket I wasn't using, so I emptied the
soil
into the compost, refilled the basket with fresh potting mix and
planted 4 lemon seeds.

Anyway about 10 days later I could plainly see a couple of shoots
in
the hanging basket which would have been real beaut if they had
been
lemons, but they were tomato plants. About 2 weeks later up came
a
spud then eventually up came the 4 lemons (or at least I think
they're
lemons).

Could you keep us updated on how the lemons go please Stuart? I've
always been interested in whether seeds from the "not the normal
garden seeds" work.

Yes sure will.

The lemons were given to me and I have never seen the tree they
originated from but I will try and find out what variety they are.

Otherwise not knowing the variety may make it a bit of a pointless
exercise.

If I can't find out the variety I will obtain some more seeds from a
known variety and plant them also.

I'm not sure if that is right given what Jackie French has to say on
the subject which is partly why I'm interested. Basically she says
that seeds aren't so different from the parent that it makes a lot of
differnece - you should still get useable crops. We might be in for
long term reporting on these wee lemons - can't imagine that they'll
be bearing for years yet ;-))

"0tterbot" wrote in message

i have problems getting _quantity_ of compost... any tips? it took
me about
2 years to make enough to make cucurbit mounds this year (which are
brilliant!! i love them!!! and i've got volunteers sprouting away
like mad,
which isn't as much fun as i thought it might be...)

Do you have any books by Jackie French? If not they are well worth
buying or borrowing from the library. You can just grow plants in
piles of weeds if that is all you have - Jackie gave me the idea.

I have some BIG weeds in my garden - giant phalaris and cocksfoot and
all sorts of other giant clumpers which got away when I had to have
cancer treatment and couldn't do any gardneing. These I just dig up
and leave lying on the paths (fully develiped seed heads and all) and
once teh roots ahve dried out I then just throw them in a pikle
somewhere and they often formt eh basis for growing spots. ATM, I've
got volunteer spuds growing in weeds - basically the weeds are being
used like the hay beds for spuds, but you could also use them for
cucurbits. any weeds tha do sprout again get pulled out or buried in
more weeds or old hay on top.

If I was running a nice neat garden, I'd have composted all these but
I currently dont' ahve the space in any of my compost bins so they are
bein used in another fashion.

i'd LOVE a tumbling composter - i'd make special collections for it
if i had
one of those. sigh....

I lusted after a tumble composter for years but was put off by the
cost. I saw the following at a firend's and she recommended them
highly.:
http://www.tumbleweed.com.au/pages/d...?page_id=20061

I now have 2 and find them fantastic and they are much cheaper than
the ones I was lusting after. Everything my friend said about them is
true - great beasties. I think thye were about $150 each.