Q. Are potatoes good for you?

A. Potatoes are an excellent source of nutrition. Potatoes have fewer calories and contain more nutrients than many varieties of rice, pasta or bread. A medium-sized potato with the skin on provides 45% of your daily value of vitamin C, 21% of your daily value of potassium, has no fat and only 100 calories.

Q. Which potato is best to grow?

A. This depends entirely on what you want to use the potatoes for. Some varieties are best for baking, some best for boiling and others still best for frying. Refer to the chart for tips on colors, characteristics, and uses.

Q. Why do my potatoes have knobs or cracks?

A. An uneven water supply or a variance of temperature during tuber production can cause the potatoes to become misshapen or cracked.

Q. Why are my potatoes scabby?

A. Common scab is caused when the soil is too dry at tuber initiation or when the level of organic matter in the soil is too high. Scab is unsightly but, once peeled, does not diminish the usability or consumption quality of the tuber.

Q. Why do the leaves on my potato plants have black spots?

A. These brown/black lesions on the leaves may be an indication of a fungal disease known as “early blight” which causes the plant to die prematurely. Good water management and proper fertilizing will help prevent this disease.

Q. Why are there little black spots on my potato tubers? It looks like dried-on soil but it is harder to get off.

A. These spots may be evidence of Rhizoctonia, a fungal disease. Rhizoctonia is not harmful and does not jeopardize the quality of the tuber, although severe Rhizoctonia can kill the plant as it is growing.

Q. Why are there brown lines running through the inside of the tubers?

A. There can be many reasons for abnormalities in a potato tuber, including stress during growth, disease, or virus. However, if the lines are actually minute holes burrowed through the tubers, they are probably the result of wireworms. Wireworms are most prevalent in garden plots that were once used as alfalfa fields.

Q. Why is the center of my potato hollow?

A. This is known as hollow heart and is caused when the potato plant is stressed during growth. Although it is unsightly, it is not harmful. Once cut out, the potato is perfectly safe to use and eat.