Ever heard of the Great Potato Famine? Not saying that's what this is but there are a number of soil borne pathogens that can wipe out a potato crop almost overnight.

Best to take samples into your extension service office for a correct diagnosis and treatment options, if any. At the very least, I see crop rotation in your future!

I did hear about the Great Potato Famine. Actually last year the potato crop didn't grow on the same patch, but I thought it was due to very little watering, though I think in the last 2 or 3 years we did have potatoes, some being quite small.

RoundUp spray. Did some airplane accidentally spray your garden? Angry neighbor/person?

I don't think the other nearby small plants and weeds would have survived if there had been a pesticide spray attack. The third photo shows a potato plant in very bad condition, and nearby a different plant looks ok.

I have never seen anything like this though I do agree with you. Other plants would not survive a Roundup application. I would probably have a soil test done.

Have you had a frost?

Blight is very likely the culprit. It does kill that quickly.

Crop rotation is important. If potatoes failed there last year there may be a pathogen in the soil. Don’t try to grow anthing in the Solanum family there for at least 4 years.

As a general practice rotate plantings of crops, so that the same plot is not used for a related plant for a 3 or 4 year cycle.

It looks like the soil there is poor. Large additions of organic matter may also mitigate pathogens.

No recent frost. Judging by the photos, the way that within 24 hours the plants looked shriveled up, but mostly still green, then after 48 hours, becoming a darker colour and more shriveled up, a bit like in the third photo, and then progressively becoming smaller and looking worse.

So based on all that, I'm wondering whether those symptoms might also be similar in a pesticide spray attack? I think this photo is around 48 hours later. (with a nearby weed looking healthy)

in every post.. you should tell us where you are.. big city name..

i agree with flora.. in my MI.. this is clear frost damage... can you rule that out.. before you jump to the devastation of ireland .. there has to be some middle ground..lol ...

contact your local county extension office... to see if there is any ongoing plagues in your county... unless you are not state side...

ken

What have your overnight temps been?

I'm in the north of Spain. Since planting the potatoes, the weather has sometimes been colder than normal, possibly dropping overnight to +2ºC, but I think not below 0ºC - but I suppose it could have dropped to around 0º or a bit less. But I don't think there have been and recent frosty mornings. In any case, the potato plants had been looking really well, nice and green. Then suddenly the other day, I saw this major deterioration - and in general I had been watering them mostly daily or every other day.

You might not have seen actual frost, but 2 degrees is hitting the cold enough to do some damage point. Patchy frost can happen below 4-5 degrees. Not so bad if it's short term or if it's dry- but if it's for a while and the air is damp enough it can have an impact.

Yes, just because you didn't wake up to frost on the ground doesn't mean that it didn't get cold enough in the night to damage spud foliage. 2c is cold enough to cause foliage damage.

Here's a few more photos taken today. I don't know if they help to identify the cause of the problem?

We think these ones were part the crop of plants that shriveled up, or we might have planted them.

We're not sure whether this is part of the crop, or a potato we planted

Again, not sure whether we planted this one, or it's part of the crop

Those are going to be ones you planted, new potatoes don't form that fast over a few weeks.

Those planted taters sure don't look healthy like a blight or maybe dry rot rather than a frost. Where are you getting your seed stock from?

Tough one, mine went through a freeze and are fine. It does not look cold was it. That is FAST. I know round up kills veggies a lot quicker then weeds but I do not think that was it. Not sure, good luck!

Q. With that big of a field of loss, did you call in the Ag Agent?

The OP lives in Europe.

The damage to the actual potatoes looks like it was from wireworms. They were probably already in your soil and just capitalized on a food source. It's possible they came with your seed stock but since you have tried growing potatoes here before I'd say unlikely. They wouldn't cause the topgrowth of the plants to die like that though.

Rodney