Your spuds

Hi folks. I thought it would be interesting to know how some of you got on with your new spuds this year. I grew Arran Pilot`s and although they tasted great, the yield was rather low. Id` like to know what kinda yields you folks had, and what you grew. Cheers...freddy.

 

Have dug all my earlies, Dunluce, really excellent crop, no slug damage, good shapes, really great taste, only one complaint, quite a few very large ones, my wife would rather have them all medium size.
Have also dug a few Charlotte (second earlies) just to try, they were the same as Dunluce, so no complaints.
One thing not to forget, what one person likes another may think differently, all a matter of personal taste, and there is certainly nothing wrong with that!

My greenhouse tomato's have not had a very good crop this year, dissappointing is the only word for it, and now the plants are covered in whitefly.
I have had yellow traps up, as well as planting marigolds and Basil, along with spraying with seaweed, so none of these methods work, so now it's plan "B"---Killer sprays it has to be!!!!!!!!!

 

My Duke of York were absolutely cracking: big crop, good shape.
International Kidney very variable in size: some giants, some tiny. I was expecting a good crop of "new potatoes" of similar small size. (The ones in a container produced the best results)
Cara. Massive leaf growth but not producing many spuds!
Pentland Javelin. Nice size and shape but quite a small yield so far.

 

First time container potato grower - I planted my Duke if Yorks in the middle of April . The vegetation still seems very green and springy. Should I wait for the vegetation to die down ,or could they be ready? Is the vegetation dying down the only sign of spuds being ready?

TIA

 

Charlottes, Juliettes and Anyas (chitted supermarket potatoes) did well in containers this year. A big advantage with containers is the lack of damage to the spuds , because you can just tip them out, rather than digging. There always seems to be a few big 'uns that are very deep, and the spade seems to unerringly find them and nearly cut them in half when digging in open ground...

Anyas seem to always give a low yield, and they're small to start with - perhaps that's why they're so pricey. But they do taste great . Have been staggering the planting this year to see if it's possible to get the above potatoes over a long period. (although I suspect there'll be lower than optimum yields) Have just planted the last of the chitted, and left outside, Rocket spuds in containers, which seem to be flourishing.

Sweet potatoes in the greenhouse have been a wee bit slug-attacked, so no news on them yet, but the foliage is hanging in there.......

cheers,
Dave

 

Smiffy I hope you dont mind me asking but I am thinking of trying to grow spuds for the first time next year and I need some advice. Such as what kind of spud is easy for a novice and what kind of containers/compost did you use?

 

The Nut

I only started growing potatoes in containers this year. I tried several methods and three different varieties of potato.

My suggestion for a beginner!

Get a 10 litre plastic container (as used for paint, tile adhesive etc) Drill about a dozen holes in the bottom, and about three spaced around the rim about 1 inch up from the bottom.

Put in a shallow layer of pot shards/stones about 1 inch deep to help drainage. Add about 3 inches of peat or compost.

Get 1 International Kidney (Jersey Royal) potato, a bit bigger than a hen's egg. Ideally it should have about three small sprouts at one end. Push the spud into the soil about half way in with the sprouts uppermost. Cover with more soil/compost so that the top is about 1 inch covered.

Water well.

After about 10 days the sprouts should have poked through the soil and be starting to show leafy growth.

When you have some decent growth (about 8 - 9 inches tall) add some more soil/compost leaving about 3 inches showing. Repeat this as the plant grows until you reach the top of the container.

Water regularly. As the pot is quite small it will dry out very quickly so I sit the container in a bigger container which I keep topped up with water to about 3 inches deep.

If your pot is in a very windy area it might be worth staking the greenery when it gets bigger to prevent storm damage.

About 10 days after the plants flower you can wiggle your fingers down into the soil and see if you can find any reasonable spuds. Be careful, as they break off from the roots very easily and you want the small ones to continue growing.

That worked for me, anyway!

 

Thank you Prastio. One more question whats the growing season i.e. best month to start plz?

 

Traditionally, I believe that you plant your first spuds on Good Friday, so you are a bit late for this year! Have a look at some of the other threads where people discuss growing new potatoes for Christmas. You should be able to get a small crop starting now as long as you can provide some shelter (or, ideally a greenhouse) later on in the year. I have recently planted a few sprouting spuds which I found in my mother's kitchen (!) and they seem to be growing nicely.

 

okey dokey ..... so could anyone tell me what spuds I could try and grow now if any.

 

The Nut - Prastio has summed everything up very well . And the other threads on here will give you a master class in potatoe growing. I bought my containers ( a bit expensive ) from a GC they are like big plastic sacks , they also sell the seed spuds. These are earlies , second earlies , and main crop. So you stagger your plantings.
You can spend this winter sourcing some good plastic containers - a smallish dustbin is a good size ( Prastio did you mean 10 gallons not 10 litres ?). You can then start planting April time. So plenty time to read up on it on here :thumb:
PS good win for Warrington against the mighty Leeds ! I work in Warrington , so I may get a smile out of you ******s tomorrow :D

 

I didnt know Warrington played tennis (wheres my angelic face)..
Its just taken me 14 mins to work out what GC meant..think I need a lie down in a dark room :o

Thanks for the info I will go a hunting and be all ready for next year

 

Hi Smiffy.

Basically yes, although after they have flowered and the flowers drop off, you could have a feel around.:thumb:

 

Smiffy

Somewhat oddly, I did mean 10 litres! I have other, bigger containers (as you say, small dustbin sized) but I found that just the one seed potato in a 10L pot produced a very satisfactory crop (though, as I said, it dries out very quickly so needs constant attention)

I planted Duke of York in mid April and have been harvesting them for about 3 weeks (and very nice they are). The foliage hasn't died back much, so there is probably lots of growing still going on - but I'm greedy and like smallish "new" potatoes. I'd certainly recommend an exploratory feel.

 

i haven't harvested any of my taters yet, and i planted them at the back end of march. i figured they'd all come out in one go. is that stupid?
most are still green and healthy looking, the ones that had rolled leaves seem to have recovered with a bit more water and feed. one has started to get browny mottles and yellowey leaves and i can't tell if that means it's dying or if it has a magnesium deficiency.