[Briggsy from Gower]

Hi Guys,

I have been growing spuds for years with no problems at all (well if you discount slugs and mice).

It was only when I started sowing blight resistant varieties that my problems started!

The first variety turned out to be blight 'tolerant', rather than resistant. For the first time I suffered from blight of the foliage. The plants grew on quite cheerfully regardless, however as I was also aiming for a large tomato crop I though it too risky to let them stay so harvested early.

This year I chose a blight resistant variety, the plants grew well with no signs of disease, however  me spuds in storage are rotting from the inside out. They are not mushy, but a strange rusty colour spreads throughout the whole spud.

Does this sound like tuber blight, or do I have something else sinister going on?

Anyone have any ideas?

[Zyg]

I have that in some varieties of spud and not others even though they were all grown in close proximity to each other. I just put it down to blight. I suppose that since it is in the tuber, the term tuber blight fits. 
I also had some blight in my toms but not too devastating.

[PK]

There is a disorder of potatoes that results in internal browning which can be due to a period of sudden rapid growth. The tuber cells can cope with this and the cell wall break down. Did you have a lot of rain after a period of drought this summer? This is often accompanied by the potatoes hollowing out as a consequence.

[Briggsy from Gower]

Hmm, quite possibly,

We would have watered heavily when we watered this year, the rest of the time as you know was draught.

I'll take a photo when I get a chance.

[Terry T]

The symptoms don’ t sound like blight which damages from the outside in.

[Anke]

Are they hollow inside and then rot? I have found that quite a few of shop-bought potatoes (our homegrown are long finished) have what may be "spraing", according to Mr Hessayon.

[cloddopper]

See if it is shown in this pictorial link

https://potatoes.ahdb.org.uk/gallery/potato-diseases

[Briggsy from Gower]

Thanks,

No it does not resemble any of those.

I am beginning to think it may be too rapid growth as suggested above.

Mr Briggsy was very heavy handed with the watering due to the draught conditions, so possibly this one is an own goal.

I have decided to just do a small number of spuds in the polytunnel next year and try the outside plot again in a couple of years.

Thanks all for your comments.

[cloddopper]

Blight tends to arise when there is prolonged high humidity & still air  .
Crowded potatos & tomatoes  both suffer from it tremendously .

 Lifting spuds …..  if the tops are showing blight yellowing etc  it usually means the tubers  will be lighted in storage . So does cutting the tops that are blighted  raking them off and then lifiting the spuds.  I gather it is the blight spore entering the potatoes via the tuba stems & greenery .

 In East Anglia my farmer friends used a dilute sulphuric acid spray to kill off the  green / dying potato tops.  Leaving  them in the ground for three  weeks or so , till the tops were dessicated and a good dried potato top brown before lifting their potatoes for storage.

 You can spray the tops and your toms with copper based anti blight spray  ..if you do make sure you adhere to the withdrawal periods  .
 Make sure when you plant your spuds  especially here in South Wales where there is quite a high annual rainfall to plant them a good 30 inches or more apart to try and prevent the blight occuring .
 Blight spore natural & are all over the place in Wales as well .

Look for blight resistant Scotch seed potatoes ..  the area up in Scotland that they are grown in is not so wet as down here