Potato Growing 2024

Perhaps, with the design of the (recycling) boxes, you could add a 'furtling ' door on one end. Nick off the largest and gently top up while leaving the healthy plant to make you some more. Bit like keeping hens.....

 

My first time growing potatoes. Sharpe's Express, planted at the end of March. Could this be potato blight?

 

Ahh, thank you. It's 30l pot, I put 4 seeds in, but I did wonder if that's maybe too many.

 

I agree with JWK.

If it's any help, I plant 3 tubers per 35ltr pot, and sometimes wonder if that is one too many.
Having said that, 3 tubers produces more small tatties, which is what I'm looking for in first earlies.

 

I've seen quite a few people using old compost bags turned inside out, rolled down and planted with pots. As they grow they are covered and hopefully you get a bag full of new potatoes at the end. Just as an example of how much space they need, they only seem to plant 5-6 potatoes in a bag that likely holds twice as much more than the 50L compost you get.

 

Thank you! We'll see what my potatoes look like this year, but I'm keen to experiment a bit next year.

 

I have been reading back, just a couple of points for interest. International kidney are actually a floury texture maincrop if you let them grow to maturity. How or why they chose that cultivar to harvest so early for Jersey Royals is a mystery to me.
On our Allotments we find Charlotte very good normally, but this year I have a bit of a disaster, only half the row has come through. All the late and maincrop (Cara and Sarpo Mira) are fine. I have been helping to grow or growing my own for 60 years. So don't just because something doesn't work one year it's worth trying again.

 

I'm growing Arran Pilot this year in bags, they appear to be doing well with all the rain.
Just lucky dip each year what grows well IMO.

 

Mine are pretty much just stalks now, the snails are eating them faster that they can grow.

 

I think that's what has happened to mine the slugs have eaten them before they had time to get above ground.

 

Mine are flowering now, variety rocket. Loads of slugs over the foliage last time I looked, removed them but there should be enough foliage to keep growing OK.

The pot grown ones yielded enough for two portions, I should have left them longer but I needed the pot

 

We gave up doing potatoes some years ago. Lots of work and little return. 3 years ago we decided to try again and went with pink apple fir. Again poor return. However the next year from some small pieces left in the ground we had "volunteers". What an amazing harvest we had! We also have 2 volunteers that grow in amongst our rhubarb. These also produce large spuds but as we don't want to upset the rhubarb by digging down too much we always have some we have missed. They are growing well again this year and fingers crossed we haven't had any signs of slugs/snails damage.