[Lius]

I dug some of my Pentland Javlin (meant to be first earliest) this week, I could not wait any longer and the haulms are starting to die. They got burned with the last frost and survived but did not flower at all. The yield was very poor, just a few small spuds on each plant but they tasted great.

A few observations that I have not seen before:-
1) Some spuds had split (like a tomatoes with irregular watering) but there was no rot around the split.
2) There was a dense matting of roots at the surface of the soil which was difficult to break through. There seemed to be very little root down deep where the seed was, I earthed them up a lot.

Any comments on these observations?

[michael brenock]

The splitting is probably caused by irregular watering. When you started watering the tubers had already formed and the skin was drying, growth had slowed down. On getting further water growth restarted but the skin was not flexible enough to expand and so it split to cater for the increase in size of tuber. Plants can suffer from drought several days before they show signs of stress withering or wilting.
The second point about roots near the surface is that the deep roots were the original feeding roots that arose from the seed tuber , some roots arise at same level and develop into tubers. More roots (feeding) will form up higher on the stem. During dry weather these will absorb any available moisture and if you water a little and often the roots will tend to stay near the moisture source and will not go down further than is necessary. When you water potatoes during a dry spell give them about one gallon of water per stalk every 4-5 days rather than a pint per week. Amounts will depend on whether soil is heavy or light and drainage quality.
michael brenock horticultural advisor (retired)