Q: My sister-in-law, who is a wonderful gardener, experienced a new problem this summer with her potatoes. When she dug the white types, they looked great. Her plants were healthy all summer and she had very little trouble with bugs. When she cut into the potatoes, most were rotten. This happened only with her white potatoes, which grew from certified seed potatoes from her regular garden supplier. Any ideas? — Carin N.

A: Potato diseases caused by fungal and bacterial infections can be devastating to home garden potatoes, which is why using certified seed potatoes is so important, as your sister-in-law did.

I have good news! Her potatoes aren’t suffering from a communicable potato disease but instead are affected by a physiological disorder.

That’s the mouthful term used when a disor

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