What's the matter with my potatoes?

[w_r_ranch]

Herbicides don't work/carryover like some of you believe. If it was herbicide damage from manure/straw it would take out ALL the potatoes plus your peppers, tomatoes, etc. all broad leafs would be dead.

Exactly.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Exactly.

I would think the same. I have lettuce growing and sunflowers and they are supposed to be sensitive to this herbicide.

 

[journey11]

1. Do not plant a broadleaf crop in fields treated in the previous year with manure from animals that have grazed forage or eaten hay harvested from treated areas until an adequately sensitive field bioassay is conducted to determine that the aminopyralid concentration in the soil is at level that is not injurious to the crop to be planted.
2. To promote herbicide decomposition, plant residues should be evenly incorporated in the surface soil or burned. Breakdown of aminopyralid in plant residues or manure is more rapid under warm, moist soil conditions and may be enhanced by supplemental irrigation.

Not saying it doesn't break down. But it appears to take awhile.

Of course I don't know how much or where mulch hay or manure was applied. I also think most of your garden would show consistent signs if it was tilled in throughout. Hopefully the extension office can figure it out. Bummer to lose those plants either way, for all the effort put into it.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Not saying it doesn't break down. But it appears to take awhile.

Of course I don't know how much or where mulch hay or manure was applied. I also think most of your garden would show consistent signs if it was tilled in throughout. Hopefully the extension office can figure it out. Bummer to lose those plants either way, for all the effort put into it.

The manure was brought to the garden last spring, was added to compost bins, used in the garden, and spread all over in the fall, which I think I ran out and did not put manure where the potatoes are. I did have compost and it is made of quite a bit of straw, but also in the fall I put a bunch of old straw with rabbit manure in piles in the garden. Just let it get rained on and snowed on. Raked it all off before tilling. Ground full of worms. All of that bedding is being composted now. Then the ground was tilled. I used straw mulch on the strawberries and added manure to the boxes where lettuce and strawberries are growing fine. I am going to pull the bad potato plants and see if the extension office can tell me what it is. If no idea, then I will plant some squash there, and I am going to plant some test beans around the garden and see if they grow. If the beans or if my tomatoes start looking strange then I will have to say I have this herbicide in my ground and then what, I am not sure.

 

[seedcorn]

@journey11 Huge difference between spraying a field and coming back with a crop vs. the residual in hay or in manure and then composting. Most Chem companies make the withdrawal rate about 2X longer than necessary to avoid law suits.

Just don't believe it is a Chem problem.

 

[journey11]

@journey11 Huge difference between spraying a field and coming back with a crop vs. the residual in hay or in manure and then composting. Most Chem companies make the withdrawal rate about 2X longer than necessary to avoid law suits.

Just don't believe it is a Chem problem.

Whatever. They address both scenarios, if you bother to read. It was just a suggestion. Why do you have to make everything a p***ing match?

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Went to the extension office and . It is herbicide damage. Most likely from manure she said, but could be somebody sprayed and drift. the only drift would be from neighbor and that is 70 to 100 feet from where he sprayed something. His weeds are still growing and between that spot and my potatoes I have blackberries that are okay. If it is the manure then it makes no sense because in this spot would be where the least amount of manure was spread if any. The box with strawberries and the lettuce are doing fine. My green beans grew fine and had a lot of manure last year.

 

[seedcorn]

How's do they know it is herbicide damage? You are correct that if it came from field-that could happen, Then it would affect all non tolerant plants and ALL at once.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

She said she is going by the top growth being twisted. I am not sure I believe it could be drift. It started on the end one plant and then the next and then kind of jumps here and there. Right across from some of the worse damage is no damage. I am going to plant some pea and bean seeds all around the garden and see how they do. I have one tomato plant that might be starting to look odd. It is a potato leaf variety. I think it is a Pruden's Purple. It almost looks like a couple of leaves starting to curl. This is far away from the potatoes.

 

[seedcorn]

Many things can cause look-alike to herbicide injury. Excessive growth is usually a 2,4D effect. That's how it kills. It would kill your black berries(at very least, crinkle leaves) and make your lettuce curl. Tomatoes wilt at very mention of 2,4D.