Potato Barrels

I would like to grow some potatoes next year, as an escape from the supermarket variety, and am considering trying he potato barrel method. Can anyone give me an idea as to the quantity I can produce from a barrel which holds 80 litres of soil? What is the best compost? Any snags? All comments welcome.
Laurie

 

Hi Laurie, I tried that once, put 4 spuds into a barrel on good compost. As they grew I kept covering them with more compost until the day finally came to tip it over and see what my crop was, which was......... nothing. What I do now is plant 2 seed potatoes on about 2 inches of good compost in 10 litre pots, I then fill the pots with compost to about 1 inch (23 mm) from the top. You don`t get big potatoes this way but you get a good crop of " new " potatoes. David.

 

hi laurie

i tryed spuds for the first time this year i used 40 litre polypots placed 3/4 seed potatoes in the bottom and added compost as they grew and got 20/30 spuds per bag and they were lovely .

so if i got that from 40 litres then you should get 40+ if you want some polypots i got mine from ebay very cheap and can be used yr after yr i can give you the sellers id if you want any i just bought another 20 :D