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[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> >The question is,,,,,,,,,,,,, do the spuds underground keep growing if 
> the top part of the plant is dead?

No.  The spud is a recepticle of the sugars the leaves are making (knitted 
into long starch molecules once they are in the tuber).  Once the top stops 
or declines photosynthesis for any reason, the spuds stop growing.  

Now, oddly enough, there is a phenomenon where the plant will transfer some 
starch from one tuber (usually the mother tuber you planted) to the small 
tubers and they will get a little bigger after the top dies, but at the 
expense of other spuds ... no net gain.  This is a curiosity and is of no 
practical value.

In the ground the spud will change through the rest of the summer into the 
fall, sugars will turn to starch and starch will harden.  But the growth is 
entirely dependent on the foliage.

James