Also what do you see?
this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2026
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Is this blight? I know the famine the harvest looked good until a day or so after they are harvested they would turn black, and then rotten. Potatoes really get rotten fast too if they are frozen and thawed or something. But I thought the blight was more the entire potato going bad.
Blighted potatoes look like this:
The leaves of the potatoes would look fine, but the actual potato thing would be rotten under the ground.
Ah interesting thanks my understanding is actually limited to my recollection of https://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/begins.htm
'... of The Famine began quite mysteriously in September 1845 as leaves on potato plants suddenly turned black and curled, then rotted, seemingly the result of a fog that had wafted across the fields of Ireland. The cause was actually an airborne fungus (phytophthora infestans) originally transported in the holds of ships traveling from North America to England.
Winds from southern England carried the fungus to the countryside around Dublin. The blight spread throughout the fields as fungal spores settled on the leaves of healthy potato plants, multiplied and were carried in the millions by cool breezes to surrounding plants. Under ideal moist conditions, a single infected potato plant could infect thousands more in just a few days.
The attacked plants fermented while providing the nourishment the fungus needed to live, emitting a nauseous stench as they blackened and withered in front of the disbelieving eyes of Irish peasants. There had been crop failures in the past due to weather and other diseases, but this strange new failure was unlike anything ever seen.** Potatoes dug out of the ground at first looked edible, but shriveled and rotted within days. The potatoes had been attacked by the same fungus that had destroyed the plant leaves above ground.**
By October 1845, news of the blight had reached London. British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, quickly established a Scientific Commission to examine the problem. After briefly studying the situation, the Commission issued a gloomy report that over half of Ireland's potato crop might perish due to 'wet rot.' ...'