It's not good, folks. I noticed the potatoes weren't looking quite as good toward late June - I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I made a mental note to keep a close eye on them. When I returned from my trip, they were noticeably sickly. They had somehow shrank, the color of the leaves had gone from lush green to almost yellow, and the leaves were curled and dry.
My first thought was that they needed water, but I researched potato problems in my books - found nothing other than potato blight. So I googled the symptoms, and diagnosed the problem as "potato leaf roll virus." On the bright side, this won't completely kill the crop...
But on the (much more weighty, in my opinion) down side, it will reduce the quality and quantity of the potato crop, you can't make it go away once it hits, and... it could easily spread to my tomatoes and peppers. I can see the first hints of evidence that it has spread to two of my tomato plants. I'm very upset and honestly, not sure what to do.
These were certified disease-free seed potatoes, and we know nothing has been planted in this spot for years. It's just frustrating to put this much work, time, and money into something and not accomplish the stated goal.
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