Potato planters

Bought a couple recently ,the bag type, can i only put one lot of spuds in or can i get to say half way then put another batch on top of the previous batch,will that be too many or will i have difficulty removing the first lot of spuds (hopefully) from the bottom......cheers

 

I don't think that would work, but you never know, give it a try with noticeably different types of spud (red skin and whiteskin). The idea is to extend the stem of the potato as it is from this that the spuds grow on little rootlets. If you wait until the spud leaves have broken the surface then just keep filling up the bag to just underneath the leaves, this is the way to get a good crop. Cheers, Tony.

 

If you over-plant the container they will be too crowded and you'll get small tubers.

4" rotted manure in the bottom, 4" multi-purpose compost, plant the chitted (if poss, otherwise unchitted) tubers into that, 4" compost over the top of that. I use some granular Potato fertilizer at that point.

Once the leaves are though, and have grown a bit, keep topping up the compost until the bag is full. You probably want 3 or 4 canes around the edge, and some trying around that, to stop the foliage flopping over (when fully grown).

The bags that are about 18" square will take about 3 seed tubers. I also use tubs that are larger than that - 24" - 30" - and I put 4 seed tubers in those.

make sure you keep the compost moist when the plants are fully grown and close to harvest (its quite hard to do!)

 

Off to get some spuds this weekend, am i correct in saying i should be getting the earles variety and would it now be safe to plant them into the bags,cant wait..

 

Hiya Robbo. Yes, it's earlies you want. You CAN plant them now, but just be aware that once they're up, they're tender, that is to say, they won't appreciate frost, so be prepared if necessary to give them some protection if frost is forecast. Having said that, the general method for growing in this way is to allow the foliage to poke through before adding more compost to cover, doing this until you get to the top of the bag.
Hope this helps...

Cheers...Freddy.

 

Had a look yesterday,cant decide which tubers to get lots of variation in prices,even my local wilkos have several different ones in..regarding rotten manure would the bagged stuff for sale in my local diy centres etc be ok ,cant get me hands on any fresh stuff(any other time its all over the path)....cheers

 

So long as they are "certified virus free" or somesuch then they will be fine, buy the cheapest However, growing spuds in bags will not save you any money .... you need compost, fertilizer, all sorts, and you will get a light-crop, so compared to growing in the ground it is not cost effective. I only do it to get really early spuds, and again for a second crop of new potatoes at Xmas.

Pick some varieties, by name, that you want to try though, so you know next year which ones you liked.

Yes

 

Me too - I bought a "kit" with 5 tubers and a bag.

Since then I have been doing 3 tubers per bag, and 4 tubers in some really large pots that I have (which some trees were delivered in and are bigger than the bags).

I think 2 tubers per bag may be a bit low ... but I expect you will get more crop per-tuber than my 3 tubers.

I think the seed companies should give better instructions, presumably they already have spuds in packs-of-5 so can't be bothered to do it differently, or they want more profit selling 5 seed spuds instead of 3 ...

I sow half the recommended rate of grass seed, and I plant my hedging plants at almost double the recommended distance ... I challenge anyone visiting my garden to notice!

 

Got myself a bag of manure and a bag of charlotte and a bag of kestrel spuds,opened the bags but they dont look like they have many chit things on so have put them on a sill in the garage.

 

I think: they'll be fine either way, but:

If you have seed tubers hanging around they will grow long chits if stored in the dark etc., which will break off on planting. Thus better to put in trays in the light and get short, stubby, chits.

Pre-chitted seed tubers will "Harvest" earlier, so handy for First Early varieties.

Lot depends on whether you order your Spuds in December (say) in which case they arrive in (say) January, and you are having to look after them until planting - whereas the seed companies can keep them in cool storage until they sell them later ... so buying early allows them to be chitted, and be slightly ahead of the pack