Potato growing 2021

I dug up my Pink Fir Apples, Shetland Blacks, Mayan Golds and some more of the Roosters. The dreaded blight struck.

I got a lot of PFA's and a decent amount of SB's considering I didn't have a lot of seed. Mayan Golds didn't do as well for me.





Sorry the pics aren't the best. Thats the S/B's and PFA's

Jimmy

 

Dug up my last row of Setanta. All had swollen lenticels and quite a few had bad slug damage.

One or two of my containers in polytunnels might have Setanta in them, so I'll see if they've fared any better than the motley harvest from open ground.

If they're OK I'll try some in tubs outdoors next year, but if the same quality I won't bother growing them again.

 

Quite odd Scrungee, I have grown Setanta for a few years now and always had huge potatoes, baking size plus. We have been very dry this summer but if judging by the halms ( not lifted mine yet) I am expecting a big crop again. Maybe our soils are very different and the variety suits here and not so good for you.

 

Seperated the slug damaged Setanta tubers and reckon they got about 30% of them. I've sorted through the ones dug earlier and it's a similar percentage.



Checked my polytunnel container grown in MPC Setantas and they also had swollen lenticels, but not as bad as those in open ground. Again, other varieties not affected.



And to add to my woes they seem to be a magnet for Tomato Moth caterpillars, found about a dozen eating the leaves (thought it was pellet resistant snails).



Don't think I'll bother growing them again.

 

Why do we bother to follow all the instructions re growing potatoes I ask myself.
I grew Anya ( 2nd early)last year and were very good.
This year I planted Calabrese and Cauliflower ( dreadful as usual) where the Anya has been last year. The bed was dug over and a large amount of manure added last Autumn.
After planting the Caulis etc I put old carpet collars round each plant to reduce weeds. A few weeks later what do I see but the sprouts of a potato. Obviously missed when bed was being dug over. As the sprouts were coming from under a bit of carpet I decided to just leave well alone rather than dig up the Calabrese.
Move on a few months and the Calabrese are finished so dig up and remove carpet. The halms of the potato are now about 3ft tall and look healthy so leave again. WELL, as the halms were dying off I decided to lift the resulting crop not really knowing what to expect.
BONAZA, the missed potato must have been a good ft down, the resulting crop from one rogue potato is enormous. Each potato is about 4 times the size of the intended Anya I planted this spring, not the slightest touch of disease, and they taste just as good as the ones that were ready a few weeks back. The smallest ones in the photo are pretty well normal size.
Bearing in mind these are related to PFA, they are normally quite small. This lot weighed in at just under 4K g.....yup I was so gobsmacked, I weighed them.
Just shows nature has a way of making a fool of you! ( Hose connecter just for scale). Do I replant some of these a ft down and see if the same thing happens next year?

 

Are you thinking it was the planting depth combined with the covering of carpet that made the difference?

 

Not a clue really Pete. My best guess is the depth of planting. Obviously where I live we get pretty cold winters so the depth will have prevented the missed “ seed” potato from being frozen. Perhaps too because we have had a very good and dry summer, being so deep the soil will have remained fairly damp. The potatoes were about 6 weeks behind those intentionally planted BUT were probably not that far behind in reality. The extra time has just allowed the potatoes to grow bigger. Other than to work as a mulch I doubt the carpet had much bearing on the outcome.
What I will try next year is plant 2 rows in the same location and plant 1 lot much deeper and see what happens.

 

Be interesting to know what they taste like.

 

Never seen a potato plant still look so well at this time of year.
Looks like they are still growing.

 

Being in a susceptible blight area I have grown both Sarpo Mira and Setanta in the past. They are both good main crop potatoes in my opinion, just preferring Setanta as they are usually really big so quicker peeling and great as bakers. I absolutely agree with Pete, your late planted Sarpos look great JWK. My Setanta planted at the same time as my earlier varieties in March are still looking fairly healthy altho halms have fallen over, no wonder as they are about 4 ft and no I am not staking them. I will be cutting the halms off by the end of this week as they are beginning to die back anyway.

 

That’s me just starting to lift my Setanta. 3 plants up and looking not bad. I have to admit they have thrived on neglect. I never watered them once despite it being so dry here but I did earth up with a shed load of grass clippings so that will have helped. Huge potatoes as in the past, only down side is bloody wire worms have had a bit of a go.The bed used to part of the lawn and think this is the reason those damn wee orange menaces are bad in this bed? Any ideas as to how to reduce the numbers other than crunch what I find.
Just been out to get the potatoes under cover as it is starting to rain.My god unless I have lost all my strength overnight the lot in the photo must weigh well over 20kgs. Staggered in with them, wow are they heavy!

 

Just tipped out my Kennebec 'seed' spuds. I bought some in 2018, but as they've never become available again, each year I grow some in pots of MPC grown under cover to produce tubers to sow the following year. In case of blight getting inside, I grow them 2 locations, planting late and harvesting late to produce smaller than eating size tubers in October, with less time sitting around before replanting. The larger ones always get used for next year's seeds as they'll cope with delayed planting better than tiddlers.

This is my fourth year of saving them and they still appear perfectly healthy, but if they became available to buy again I might start with fresh seed potatoes.