Market Farming

["Bill Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT inil.com>]

Before you can decide what to do about it you need to get a positive I.D. on
the problem. Potatoes can have lots of problems so you might want to go to
your County Extension office to see if they can help you identify the
problem properly. If they have difficulty ask them to enlist the help of the
state specialist in plant pathology who works with potatoes. It may take
time but it is essential to know what happened to prevent it in the future.

Bill Shoemaker
Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops
Univ of Illinois - St Charles Hort Research Center


>Wow!  I've lost most of my potatoes!  The plants get dark, shrivel and die.
>I pulled several and found only a jagged end of a root (a very short root).
>I don't see any evidence above ground that would indicate a mole or such
>(not that I would know what to look for).  The dead plants are in full
rows,
>not just one here and one there.  Could bad nematodes or whatever they are
>do this?  Is there anything I can do to save the rest of my crop?
>
>Sandra Deidloff
>Meeker, OK