Growing container potatoes

I wonder if anyone has grown potatoes in plastic containers I noticed in the paper they are selling 3 planters which produce 9lbs from each container,I have a small vegetable patch and I wondered if it is a good idea to grow tham that way,because I was told that growing potatoes takes up a lot of room.

 

Potatoes do well in containers. The trick is to start off with just a few inches of compost in the bottom of a large container, put a seedy in, then cover it with another couple of inches of compost. Water it, and wait.

When the plant comes through, just keep adding more compost so that each time you add it, you leave just the top few leaves showing above the surface. Once the put is full to the brim with compost, then you just have to wait (and keep watering) until the top growth flowers, finishes flowering, and starts to wilt. You can then just tip the whole lot out and collect your lovely new potatoes.

The trick with spuds is to keep banking them up (burying the lower half of the plant as it grows), as this stimulates them into produce more spuds on the same plant. Whether you do it in the ground or in containers the principle is the same, and although in the ground they do take a fair bit of space, tended this way you will usually get a good crop.

 

Hi Arty,

A few of the members grow spuds in just normal builders rubble bags, a lot cheaper. No reason you can't grow them in containers though

 

[size=large]Last year I took advantage of that offer, arty, because I liked the idea of having just 5 of three different types of spuds. They did very well. Would have done better but I got shingles during the summer and stopped filling the bags with compost. Didn't actually lift the spuds until the first snow had gone, just before Christmas, and was quite expecting they would all have got diseased or turned to mush! But no, they were still A-okay and I am still using them!

This year, TM have another offer where, if you already have the bags, you can just buy the potatoes and I am going to get them again. Hopefully this year will be even better if I attend to them properly. [/size]

 

You No need to spend money on planters (but you can if you like - I did!) as old 70L Multi Compost bags will do. Roll the tops down about half way; I put 4" of well rotted manure in the bottom, then 4" of multi purpose compost, push the spuds in (so their bottoms are on the manure), sprinkle some Granular slow-release [ideally] Potato fertiliser on, and another 4" of compost, and then as they poke through unroll the bag and add more compost.

Make some drainage holes in the side of the bag, near the bottom (not in the "bottom" itself because if the bag is sitting on the holes they probably won't drain very well)

3 tubers per 70L bag (usually 3 per the "proper" bags too). I don't like to grow in bigger containers because you have to harvest all-in-one-go and I'm not growing stuff to put it in the fridge - I could get it from the Supermarket and do that! - I want mine FRESH!

 

Steve...

 

[size=large]Niiiice[/size]...

 

You've got your bags upside down Steve

 

The "Australian" method :D

Steve...

 

[size=large]Nice, Steve. What do you do with the compost when you're done? Just chuck it on the garden or reuse it?[/size]

 

I put mine straight on the garden as mulch.

Steve...

 

Mine goes round a cycle - a bit like Crop Rotation. Its obviously fairly expensive, in terms of Compost, to grow spuds-in-bags.

I mix some with sharp Horticultural sand 50:50 and grow carrots in contains

I use some for Tubs and Urns (I add water-retaining-gel, and the "hundreds-and-Thousands type long-life fertilizer)

I use some for Parsnips started off in loo-rolls or newspaper pots (Potatoes are grown in a different section of my veg patch from Parsnips, so the two never cross over in the rotation)

Left overs go onto the Veg patch where Tomatoes or Potatoes were last year (so any bugs are shared, and not seen in crop rotation for several years), but my preference is to put it on the flower garden so I don't have to worry about disease-sharing and crop-rotation!)

Bit anal I know!

 

Some good advice there Thank You I'm thinking of putting some pots in containers this year I hope to follow your lead...Frank