valleys in my potatoes??

[tuffy]

First time on this site~ This year was our first try at potatoes. We live in upstate NY(near Lake George) Some of our white potatoes were great, others had grooves all over them that looked like valleys, smooth, long grooves going in all directions. Any help or advice appreciated. First year always a learning year. We want to improve and gain more knowledge for spring.
Thanks for any insight~ L

 

[vfem]

I think a picture would really help... when I saw the title I assumed you meant inside the potato. Usually interior cracks, and holes through the spuds mean over watering... but I am not too sure what your issue looks like?! Sorry :/

P.s. -

 

[tuffy]

I do have pix but don't know how to send them. I will do it tonight when my husband gets home, please check back, thank you

 

[digitS']

Perhaps it is the flea beetles, Tuffy.

I would be a little surprised if flea beetles give you as much grief as they give me here in the arid West but this critter may be entirely different regarding preferred environment.

Flea beetles make my growing of brassicas extremely difficult with some varieties. They sometimes attack tomatoes in such numbers that they look to kill the plants. Teaming up with potato bugs, they will shred eggplants.

Flea beetle larvae live on the roots of the host plants.

I stopped growing potatoes about 30 years ago and just got back into it the past 2 or 3 seasons. (Felt I was missing out with all the new varieties of spuds - yep, I was!) So far, so good with the potatoes but you may benefit from reading this from WSU, there's a few photo's. What you can do about soil-dwelling pests like these, I'm not sure.

Steve

http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/eb1198e/eb1198e.pdf

"Tuber flea beetle
larvae feed extensively on potato tubers. The damage
appears as a complex of winding grooves on the surface
of the potato. Grooves are usually less than 1/16
inch in diameter and very shallow. Larvae may also
bore into the tuber, and this appears as a pinhole extending
1/2 inch or less into the fleshy portion of the
potatooccasionally holes will be deeper."

 

[Ridgerunner]

This might help in posting pictures.

How to post pictures/avatar
http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=26838

 

[tuffy]

These are the photos of the weird potatoes

 

[simple life]

It sounds like what Steve is describing, only maybe deeper grooves.

 

[digitS']

Really weird!

Does this look the same? spindle tuber viroid

If that's it, Wikipedia has some information on this disease and some means to control it.

Steve

 

[simple life]

It does look the same, good detective work Steve.
Tuffy, where did you get those potatoes?
Were they certified seed potatoes from a grower or were they from a supermarket?

 

[tuffy]

Thanks Steve, I guess it could be PSTV. Crummy luck to have it our first year. The seed potaotes were given to us by a co worker. He said he ordered them from a catalog and had extras. Next year we will buy our own and plant in a different part of the garden. Odd thing, some of the potato plants developed very nice potatoes. The affected potatoes were isolated to a few scattered plants among the rows. Perhaps only some of the potatoes were infected and when we cut into chunks to plant, those few chunks produced the bad potatoes?? Anyway, thanks for the detective work and we will not give up~ fresh dug potaoes are way better than supermarket.