Potato Growing 2023

Discussion in 'Edible Gardening' started by JWK, Jan 1, 2023.

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  1. pete

    pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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    First year a small pebble sized tuber.
    Second year the small tubers were covered in scab.:biggrin:

    Must admit I didn't put all my efforts into the project.:smile:
     
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    • Balc

      Balc Total Gardener

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      @JWK I was interested to read a little about your DIY TomTato Grafting Tomatoes onto Potatoes & I wondered if you had had much success or if you had abandoned it?
       
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      • Hanglow

        Hanglow Super Gardener

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        Made a final harvest of my first early epicure potatoes a couple of days ago. Nice range of sizes, small to baking size. Also made the best roast potatoes the other day with them, they are very floury and start falling apart after just 8 minutes of simmering. So much crispyness when they are roasted
         
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        • JWK

          JWK Gardener Staff Member

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          Thanks for the interest. I only grew them for a couple of years. They are quite a bit of work early in the season getting the grafts to 'take'. Overall I ended up with a reasonable crop of tomatoes and some potatoes, not enough to make it worthwhile for all the extra effort. For people who don't have much growing space it allows two crops to be grown in the same space so could be worth trying. I got an allotment around that time and found I could grow much better potatoes in the traditional way, growing from seed potatoes is dead easy and apart from watering they require very little to give good returns, you just need a fair bit of space.

          After grafting potatoes I moved onto grafting tasty heirloom tomatoes onto disease resistant rootstock. Again these need a lot of extra work in the spring but it meant I was able to side step the job of swapping the soil within the greenhouse with an outdoor bed. Then I found that by using mycorrhizal fungi I didn't need to graft rootstock so that's how I grow them now, much less work all round.
           
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          • JWK

            JWK Gardener Staff Member

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            Harvested the second to last container of early potatoes, they are getting rather large now, jacket sized. A couple of them fed the three of us tonight and these two roots will last us a week or more
            20230727_163821.jpg

            They are too big to pull out with tubers attached now @pete :blue thumb:
             
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            • Balc

              Balc Total Gardener

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              @JWK, thanks for the update! :dbgrtmb: I'd read about them a long time ago & so when I came across your thread on them it piqued my curiosity! :thumbsup:
               
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              • Balc

                Balc Total Gardener

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                I also grew potatoes from seed potatoes on an allotment I had for a couple of years. Just yesterday I was looking at some old pictures of the allotment I had & the one I shared with a friend. I noticed that I had sown a lot of potatoes back then - we would need the 1/4 part of them today!
                 
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                • Cordy

                  Cordy Super Gardener

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                  Marfona, yesterday
                  DSC_0245.JPG
                  001Marfona.jpg
                   
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                  • Balc

                    Balc Total Gardener

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                    @Cordy Some nice looking potatoes there! :dbgrtmb:
                     
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                    • Cordy

                      Cordy Super Gardener

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                      Has anyone harvested Sarpo Mira yet this year ?
                      Ours are in 30 litre plastic containers, I can feel the bulges on the outside of some of them.

                      Planning to wait until 9th September.
                       
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                      • pete

                        pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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                        So why the 9th,:biggrin: I mean it might be raining, would the 8th or the 10th not do.:roflol:
                         
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                        • pete

                          pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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                          I've got some 5ft high PFA in two large pots, I'm still watering like crazy.
                          I bet I just get marbles.:biggrin:
                           
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                          • Cordy

                            Cordy Super Gardener

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                            @pete
                            9/11 as the Yanks say, also it's the daughter-in-law's birthday

                            btw, Mrs C has just emptied a small plastic pot, we thought the were Marfona but the are Pinks so must be Sarpo Mira -- photo to follow

                            edit --OOPS I meant 11th September :doh::wallbanging:
                             
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                            • Cordy

                              Cordy Super Gardener

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                              These S/M are from a smaller Plastic pot -we ran out of 30 litre pots !
                              About 4.5 pounds from one seed potato
                              In this pot I put 25% Perlite as a test
                              Our first ever S/Ms :ccheers:

                              DSC_0469.JPG
                               
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                              • JWK

                                JWK Gardener Staff Member

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                                I dug up the first root on 20th August. They were OK size wise

                                20230820_142941.jpg

                                I dug up more a couple of days ago and they were noticeably bigger. Think it's going to be a good harvest at this rate.
                                 
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