Anybody used a potato barrel?

Burp_2

Are they any good? pros/cons? recommendations?

we get thru a lot of potatoes and thought we might have a go at growing our own!

Burp x

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Lotus-eater

You can use compost sacks or any other kind of container you can get hold of. Thats a much cheaper way of doing it. A potato barrel will give no advantage I can think of. Forget the little door at the bottom, you don't need it.

alanobrien

I just use plastic dustbins they work great and i get a good yield. I have used old plastic compost bags in the past but i find the yields are relatively poor and drainage isnt great.

irnbru_2

alanobrien wrote: »

I have used old plastic compost bags in the past but i find the yields are relatively poor and drainage isnt great.

Agreed about the drainage: I used rubble sacks and pierced the sides of the bag 15cm from the bottom on down. Yield wise, I had mixed results.

Next time I plan to add stones at the bottom and pierce from 30cm down.

arkonite_babe

alanobrien wrote: »

I just use plastic dustbins they work great and i get a good yield.

Alan, out of curiosity what variety of potatoes did you plant in the barrels? My yield this year and last year in barrels was terrible. I had better success just growing them in the garden.

Yategirl

arkonite_babe wrote: »

Alan, out of curiosity what variety of potatoes did you plant in the barrels? My yield this year and last year in barrels was terrible. I had better success just growing them in the garden.

snap! I grew desiree and anya this year in pots (can't remember last years varieties) and I find I get much better yields in the ground than in pots - I decided that it was a huge amount of compost/soil to use and not get good yields...

angelavdavis

I don't have room in my borders, so have to grow all mine in large pots. I had better luck this year than last year though (maybe cos it wasn't so wet here this year).

My best performing varieties were Red Duke of York (which were yummy), Maris Piper and Maris Bard.

alanobrien

arkonite_babe wrote: »

Alan, out of curiosity what variety of potatoes did you plant in the barrels? My yield this year and last year in barrels was terrible. I had better success just growing them in the garden.

Pentland Javlin on the basis that the year before i had a bad main crop due to blight. This year i thought i would try earlies to get them out before blight hit. As it turned out blight wasnt a problem this year so i left them in a little longer and got a pretty good yield from each bin. Way better than in previous years anyway. Needless to say i plan too repeat it next year.

tattieman

Lots of people are using barrels now.
You must have lots of good drainage and make sure the compost you use is full of feeding and add extra fertilizer to boost your crops.

Bunny200

I have a large wheelie bin going spare, do you think this would be suitable to grow spuds? I'm not sure how much drainage it would need or any idea how many tubers to plant in it! Or even if its worth it.... The bin in question is a 240 litre bin. Advice anyone?

alanobrien

Bunny200 wrote: »

I have a large wheelie bin going spare, do you think this would be suitable to grow spuds? I'm not sure how much drainage it would need or any idea how many tubers to plant in it! Or even if its worth it.... The bin in question is a 240 litre bin. Advice anyone?

It would certainly give you a decent sized crop with that volume but it will take three large bags of compost to fill and you would have fun getting the spuds out when they are grown. if it were me I think i would turn it into a water butt instead.