Potato Leaf Raised White Spots

[DanPantsman]

Hi everyone,

At my office someone left a potato out and it began to sprout on its own. My boss decided to plant it and now we have a foot tall potato plant on the windowsill. We named it Wilson.
This morning we noticed raised white bumps only on the leaves facing the window. None of us have much gardening experience and we could use any help caring for our office mascot.

Thank you in advance.
Dan

 

[bj taylor]

hi dan, ;
I won't be one to help you with this, but there are several on here who will be of help. good luck with wilson

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

a picture would be good to look at but you need to have over 10 posts before they allow you to connect pics. i'm not all that familiar with diseases on potatoes. i'm more used to bug issues with them. have you tried to scrape at any of the white spots to see if they could be eggs from a bug?

also, don't get too upset when the potato plant starts to die back. that is usually a sign that it is soon ready for harvesting. how big a pot do you have it in? a single potato usually needs some space to grow it's tubers. those that grow potatoes in containers or towers tend to use a very large pot-a 5 gallon paint bucket with drainage holes is what i've heard works best but i have not tried it yet.

 

[MontyJ]

What kind of potato was it? Sweet potato? Being inside, it's probably insect damage of some sort.

 

[digitS']

Dan, do you think it might be this?

Scale insects picture:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Oystershell_scale_on_young_blueberry.JPG

Steve

 

[DanPantsman]

Thank you guys for responding so quickly.

It is just a regular potato that my boss was going to bake but forgot haha
Our office is a fairly sterile environment and there doesnt seem to be any insects on the plant.

Hopefully these pictures can help diagnose Wilson's illness



http:**i43.tinypic.com/332585w.jpg
http:**i44.tinypic.com/tak187.jpg
http:**i42.tinypic.com/9glunn.jpg
http:**i43.tinypic.com/o0s7me.jpg

(replace the ** with //)

 

[digitS']

One of your pictures:

It looks like galls that I would usually see on trees. I wonder if an "indoor" potato plant would be more likely to have problems that it would not have outdoors &/or to be exposed to pests and diseases more common in house plants :/.

Galls are usually the result of mites. Mites aren't quite insects and are more closely related to spiders. They can be very tiny. Spider mites are common plant pests.

All that comes to mind . . .

Steve

 

[MontyJ]

Looking at it, it almost has to be some type of mite or aphid. It also resembles a fungus that affects Maple trees here. I'm still betting on mites or aphids though.

 

[jiffypop27]

I was googling around for your same symptoms that my potato plants are having. They're in pots in a sunny back porch and the white raised spots are all over some leaves and stems and looked kind of crusty. They were bright white when they first appeared, and now some have dried out and turned brown. It might be edema(blistering from watering in cooler temps) from what some sites say. I can't post URLs because I'm a new member but if you google "plant edema" you'll get info. I'll post back later on with pics of the bumps on my plant.

I had been watering them at night once a week when I get home. I'll switch to watering them in the morning when it is warmer and see if the spots continue.

 

[Carol Dee]

NO help from me. Just saying Hello and to Dan and Jiffypop