Handle as gently as possible during harvest. Avoid skinning tubers when digging and avoid long exposure to light. Dig early potatoes when tubers are large enough to eat. Harvest potatoes for storage about two weeks after the vines die down in midsummer. Fall harvest should be completed before frost to ensure the best quality.
Late potatoes are best for winter storage.
Sprouting is a problem when stored at higher temperatures. Insect problems include Colorado potato beetle, flea beetle and leafhopper. Diseases include early blight, late blight, common scab, brown rot, soft rot and root-knot nematodes. Excerpted from the South Carolina Master Gardener Training Manual , EC 678. This information is supplied with the understanding that no discrimination is intended and no endorsement by the Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service is implied.