Of all the things we could be short of ... Spuds?

[Jstpssng]

Probably click beetles....they lay the eggs that develop into wire worms that drill potatoes out like Swiss Cheese. Solution is to remove all trash/leftover plant residue/etc from the garden in the fall so they don't have a handy place to overwinter. I plow mine under as early as possible, and plant a cover crop of red clover or buckwheat. Typical cover crops like wheat/rye actually encourage wire worms from what I've read. Then several turnings in the spring as soon as the soil can be worked, planting potatoes later than typical (May vs late March here) also helps.

It's something they use for Potato Beetle, I've never cared enough to find out more. I use the Spinosad also, although I'm careful to use it around dark when the bees aren't working the blossoms.
Generally if you plant toward the end of June or first of July the beetles won't bother much... which is one reason why my spuds tend to be small. I like to plant some early, to bake and put into salad for summer cookouts. This year the beetles were really bad, and on a week when I was out of town which is why I had a poor crop.

 

[Alan W.]

This was one of our best tater years. Last year was pitiful for us. We have a bunch in the basement and still have a row in the garden. Probably gonna pile leaves on the row to protect from freezing and leave them there until needed.
I use the spinosad when its needed and I only spray the plants that have the beetles. Works great.
Grew Norland and Yukon Gold this year.

 

[Oaktree]

I plow mine under as early as possible, and plant a cover crop of red clover or buckwheat. Typical cover crops like wheat/rye actually encourage wire worms from what I've read. Then several turnings in the spring as soon as the soil can be worked, planting potatoes later than typical (May vs late March here) also helps.

Cover crops aren't really practical this far north, there's not enough growing season left between when you dig the potatoes and when the ground freezes. Last thing I need is to deliberately plant weeds, got enough already thank you.
As Jstpssng noted, planting "later" here means the end of June. Ground's barely thawed in May...

 

[Ford850]

Cover crops aren't really practical this far north, there's not enough growing season left between when you dig the potatoes and when the ground freezes. Last thing I need is to deliberately plant weeds, got enough already thank you.
As Jstpssng noted, planting "later" here means the end of June. Ground's barely thawed in May...

I've been planting oats in the late fall for a quick cover crop. They grow quick, but only a 3 - 6" by late November when the hard freezes start to kill them. By January they are mostly killed off, and then in the spring they are brown and easy to work in. I used to plant winter rye but that was horrible with long wet springs. The rye would be 2' tall by the time the garden was dry enough to get on it, and then it was a mess to mow, plow, disk, till with all the green tops and root mass.

 

[Jstpssng]

I threw winter rye out into my pig pen the week before it snowed. I don't know if it will do anything or if the mice will eat it. I used to spread conservation seed right on the snow to get an early start in the spring, somewhere I have pictures of the results after a growing season.

 

[FarmWrench]

If you rotate far enough that the CPB can't crawl to their food you can clean up your bug problem. I don't use an insecticide except for leafhoppers when they arrive.

The processing potato crop is off a little but the table stock crop is backing up.

 

[Jstpssng]

If you rotate far enough that the CPB can't crawl to their food you can clean up your bug problem. I don't use an insecticide except for leafhoppers when they arrive.

The processing potato crop is off a little but the table stock crop is backing up.

They have wings.
It’s at least 1/2 mile from my garden to the nearest neighbor. The first year that I planted potatoes I killed 4 adult beetles. The second year there were more but I was able to keep them picked off. Now if I don’t spray I won’t have a crop. I can mitigate some by not planting until July 4; but then I don’t have fresh potatoes for summer cookouts and the size of the crop is dependent on if we get an early frost. I spray spray Spinosad as needed, trying to do it near nightfall to avoid bee activity.

One year I did plant late. I was finding dead beetles in my strawberries; apparently they really are species specific.

 

[FarmWrench]

Yes they have wings but prefer not to fly.

Long island NY was a leader for non-chemical ways to kill CPB before the Neonics (admire). Trenches lined with plastic to trap adults, vacuum systems, flame, were all part of the program.

 

[oosik]

We had potatoes in our original garden. We had potato beetles. We sprayed with something-?? and got rid of the beetles. Then after about four years the pocket gophers found all our root crops - carrots, potatoes, beets, onions, even radishes.

Then we found it was just a pleasant drive east into Idaho and I could get a pickup load( potatoes ) for next to nothing. Beets, onions & carrots come from the commercial gardens to the west ( Ritzville/Othello area ).

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^
I get a lot of crap from people because I can drive north for an hour and buy 50 lbs for $10.00. I do it because I know what's in my potatoes where as they use some pretty nasty stiff on the commercial fields.
I also hear similar comments about the turkeys, chickens, pigs, eggs, that I raise; yet nobody complains when I give them some of the above. Go figure.