Pests and Disease

As with all plants and vegetables, potatoes are susceptible to certain pests and diseases. This doesn’t mean it’s going to happen to you so don’t be put off growing them, as they are very little work for a lot in return.

To reduce the risk of soil-borne problems, you should rotate your crops every year so that they are never grown in the same soil year after year.

Potatoes can be affected by blight, cutworms, slugs, eelworms, blackleg and violet root rot. Earlies are less likely to suffer from blight and there are several varieties of Maincrop potato that claim to be resistant. Good suppliers of seed potatoes provide information on they’re packaging of disease and slug resistance, so take the time to go through all the varieties on offer and select what is best for you.

Written by Day Lily on 2006/12/04 | Permalink to this article