I'm growing several different kinds of potatos in my garden this year. Everything seemed to be going OK until a few weeks ago. The bottom leaves on my Red Dale began to yellow and die. This has moved up the plants to the point that I don't think that they are going to make it. They are near harvest time, so I pulled a few plants to see what I had. They are only going to produce two or three egg size potatos. This problem has now started to spread to some of my other potatos, although not nearly as serious as the Red Dale. I sure hope someone can help me out!

-- John (...@...), July 21, 1999

Answers

If you keep building up a mulch around the stems of the potatoes, higher and higher, they will continue to send out roots and set new tubers. Some people use those chicken wire tomato cages, pile straw inside, a little more/higher each week. The potatoes grow right into the straw.

You may have some other sort of problem like a verticillium wilt. You might try posting your question over at GardenWeb's vegetable gardening forum. There's a list of all their forums at

GardenWeb Forums

-- Mommacares (harringtondesignX@earthlink.net), July 22, 1999.