Fenton Friday: Potato Harvest!

Digging for Potatoes

So I found out a few things this week. First, that the demise of my 'Banana Fingerling' potato plants was due to a Potato leafhopper attack. They also attacked the adjacent 'German Butterball' potato plants, but those seem to have all recovered and are now thriving.

Hoppers move fast and en masse to suck all the sap of potato plants overnight. Their attack also introduces a toxin into the plant causes "hopperburn." Here is what I found on Factmonster.com: "As a result of the potato leafhopper's attack, the leaf's conducting tissue is plugged; the plant leaves curl and begin to turn brown near the tip, and eventually the whole leaf appears blighted." Yep, that is exactly how I'd describe the leaves: scorched. Here was my initial post with the damaged plant photos.


my "big" potato harvest

 It was finally cool enough these last few days to get out a shovel and dig up the potatoes underneath the dead plants. I got a small yield. Nothing to brag about at the county fair, but hey, better than nothing which is what I thought I'd end up with after seeing the damaged plants.

The second thing I learned this week is that okra is supposed to be harvested by cutting them off. I have just been grabbing and snapping them off, which sometimes results in a clean break and sometimes not. I have been getting a couple okra to snack on everyday from my two plants. I like to eat them raw as I'm watering the rest of the plot.



Green Zebra ripening



Eggplants forming



Climbing cucumber



   
                        This week I have a few eggplants and cucumbers forming. One cuke even climbed a corn plant to give itself some more room. I also accidentally knocked a 'Green Zebra' tomato off its vine, so I have it on a windowsill ripening - but how does one know when a green tomato is ripe? Guess I'll just cut and eat it with my lunch today and take a chance.