I have six 25' rows of potatoes in the garden this year. I've grown them for
many years now but this year has presented an unusual potato situation.

As a background, we live in Maryland, U.S.A., about 25 miles northeast of
Baltimore. We till a bit of horse and sheep manure into the garden every
Fall so that it has a chance to rot and compost before planting season.
During the Winter, we scatter the ashes from the wood stove on the garden
area. In the Spring, we till the garden several times to get all of the
additives properly spread.

This year, some of the potatoes aren't doing so well and the bad ones are in
a strange geometric pattern. The bad potato plants are about a third the
size of the good ones, although all were planted on the same afternoon. Let
O be a good potato plant and * be a stunted one. The pattern is something
like:

O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O
* * * * O O O O
* * * * O O O O (LAWN)
* * * * O O O O
* * * * O O O O

The garden plants on all three sides of the potato section are doing well;
to the right of the potato section is the lawn.

We have several varieties of potatoes, each variety being found in both the
stunted and normal section, so it's not a varietal problem. Spacing between
the plants and between the rows is the same in all areas.

There doesn't seem to be any reason why the soil in the bad-plant area would
be different from the rest of the garden, given the spreading and mixing
that's done in both the Fall and the Spring. Should be the same pH and
nutrient mix.

They all get equal amounts of water and drainage should be the same
throughout the garden.

Very puzzling; any ideas will be appreciated.


Paul