Slug resistant potatoes ?

by Chilli-head 31st May 2015, 9:55 pm

I have always scoffed at the notion that there was such a thing as a slug resistant potato, dismissing it as just a marketing gimic. But look at this.

I don't know how clearly you can see this in the picture, but these are two rows of potatoes, side by side, planted at the same time in my allotment. the Maris Piper on the left have been severely damaged by slugs; they are growing back now and will recover, but some have had all the leaves stripped completely. The row of King Edwards on the right were completely untouched. Interesting.

I have now applied Nemaslug biological control, so hopefully my potatoes will not be too full of holes, but it will be interesting to see how the two types compare at harvest.

by freebird 31st May 2015, 11:06 pm

When I read the title of this thread, I assumed it meant the potatoes themselves. Despite having a lot of problems with slugs and snails here, I can't ever recall them eating the potato foliage to any degree. The problem I've always had is small black slugs burrowing into the tubers, which always happens with any that I grow to a decent size.

by Chilli-head 1st June 2015, 11:22 am

Yes FB - it is normally the tubers people are talking about; I have always assumed that slug resistance was marketing or wishful thinking. But seeing the very clear difference on the extent to which the foliage is attacked, I now wonder whether it is just possible that there is a difference in the resistance of the tubers too. Or maybe not. But I'll take note when I dig them.

by Dandelion 1st June 2015, 10:03 pm

I'm growing a few first earlies in a large pot and a dustbin this year. The dustbin potatoes are fine (presumably too far up for the slugs and snails to climb) but the potato foliage in the pot has been eaten almost to nothing in places. I don't remember seeing slugs attack potato leaves like this before.

by Ploshkin 2nd June 2015, 9:29 pm

Despite the fact that I live in a very wet place I don't get slug problems with spuds but I only grow earlies. The only time I have had slugs was when I grew a Sarpo maincrop variety that are said to have good blight resistance. They didn't get blight but the tubers were so riddled with slug holes that most were unusable.

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Slug resistant potatoes ?

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