Seed Potatoes

Hi All.

Last year I planted my first potatoes, Charlotte, and they were unbelievable lovely.

This year I am going to plant 1st, 2nd, and have a go at Main crop for Xmas. Now I will not ask what spud to buy as we all have our own opinion although certain names keep cropping up.

It seems from what I have read that 1st early are planted around mid March, 2nd about a month later. As the sheds are now selling main crop seed spuds if I would also purchase them now and store until August to plant, or are they still readily available during the year??

Unless you have planted 1st`s ,2nd`s and main crop before it is like a puzzle trying to work out best time for purchase,chitting and planting of all 3 crops.

Thank you

 

One of our local nurseries gets a stock of Charlottes in around August specifically for growing for Christmas.

Don't forget the trick with new potatoes is to have the water on the stove boiling before you dig them up

 

My advice would be to buy, say, 5 tubers of the varieties you know you like, or have read that are popular, and carefully plant and label them, and then have a taste test when they are ready for harvesting. Soil and Husbandry has a lot to do with flavour. For example, you won't be able to grow spuds to taste like Jersey Royals (the actual variety is International Kidney) ... well ... not unless you take them to Jersey and grow them there, fed with local seaweed

Then next year grow more of the varieties, grown by you, in your soil, that you and your family thought tasted nice

Most garden centres have seed potatoes to buy "loose" so you can get as many/few of each variety as you like.

1st / 2nd early and Main Crop just refers to the length of time they take to mature and be ready for harvest. Nothing to stop you planting them all on the same day (or even planting the Mains first, if that plot is ready before the plot for the 1st Earlies) ... although ... you do want to get the Earlies in as early as possible, to bring forward the harvest date.

Having said that, and just talking Black-is-White for a moment: the earlier you plant 1st Earlies the sooner they will be up above ground, and then you have to protect them from Frost. You can cover them with fleece ... and if they get nipped by the frost they will re-grow, which costs you a small delay. But: IME the 1st earliest will be SO big by the time of a potential late frost that there will be no hope of protecting them. Late frost only happens about once a decade, but I now don't plant them as early as I used to, as it was a PITA protecting them on so many nights (whilst the 2nd early and maincrop, planted at the same time, were still under ground). So I now plant out 10 days later than I used to, and have my first crop perhaps a week later than I used to. To make up for it I grow several bags, in the greenhouse, for those precious really REALLY early 1st spuds of the season.

They will be all shrivelled up by then. Best to buy them in early July (any later and they may be sold out) and plant 1st week of August.

 

On the same lines as trogre - I brought two bags (2kg each) of Rocket 1st Earlies in Wilkinsons
today and already they are starting to sprout and Wilkinsons are also selling main crop which I guess you wouldn't be planting till about April, my question is: if you buy them now will they keep till April?

Also I was looking and they are under the main lights of the shop and lots of them have sprouts from the eyes which are at least a couple of inches long......are these ok to buy? or should you be looking for seed potatoes with no sprouts yet?

 

I'd be looking to buy tubers that had short, if any, sprouts. Long sprouts at this stage are actually indicative of low light, also relatively high temperatures.
I never plant earlies before the second week in April. That doesn't mean you can't, but it just means that frost can be an issue, depending where you are. I've had mine 'touched' by frost, and I live in the south. Of course, we all want to get on with it, but you must resist!

 

You'd have to rub the shoots off, and then the tuber will start again, but I think that wastes its energy so better to start with ones with either no chits or very short chits. Not a good sign if they have long chits, as Freddy says, as it means they have not been kept in ideal conditions.

Only benefit, for me, in buying in local garden centre is that I can buy a few of varieties that I want to try. Other than that they will either be kept too warm, with far too little light, or will get cold enough in the garden centre's "warehouse" that they get frosted - they don't do a good job of looking after anything there :(

 

To maintain the light levels, would a South facing conservatory be to
bright / hot to chit the potatoes for a few weeks?

At present they are on top of a French Dresser that has a South facing
window, but when I checked yesterday when it was sunny, there were
sort of in the shade as the dresser has a 3 inch lip around the top so it's
a bit shaded there and the OH won't to too pleased if I put them in the bedroom

 

If you vent it on sunny days, so it doesn't get too hot, then should be fine I reckon