Potatoes in Planters - How much water?

Hi
I bought 9 potatoe planter sacks for earlies and have planted them - and they have green shoots. So success so far, which is just as well as my( now 5.5 years old) grandson will make my life pretty miserable is his potatoes dont grow.

But how often and how much should I water them?

I grew them last year in the ground with reasonable success but wanted more space for maincrop this year. I dont have a very big area in the garden so hence the sacks.

Many thanks

 

Hi Tl
I maybe can give you a guideline using my first year year of potato growing in a plastic dustbin.
I used five tubers in my bin and watered them everyday with between 6 and 9 ltrs day.
Im no expert at all but when I finally came to harvest time the soil/compost still seemed dry to me.
I posted a video at the time of the results.

I am trying several so called sacks this year so I shall be on a learning curve as well. Im thinking of watering every day as I did last year once the sacks are fully earthed up.
Hope this helps.
robert

 

Probably don't need that much water initially - probably very little until they poke their heads though, then a modest amount until they have a full head of foliage, but thereafter Potatoes are very thirsty plants.

 

Thanks Robert and Kirsten. The sacks are only 1/3rd full at the moment although I think I will need to 'earth up' by the end of next week. The compost mix seems pretty moist at the moment, so I will wait until I have added more compost before adding any more water.

I intend to keep a detailed record of what I am doing and when as last year was my real rookie year and this year I have learned a lot by reading many of the 'posts' on this site. Accurate records appear to be high on the agenda of seasoned veterans.

Thanks again
Teressa

 

"I intend to keep a detailed record of what I am doing and when"

If you would be able to help me with this project I'd appreciate it:

http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/showthread.php/should-long-20227.html?t=20227