Seed Potatoes

rhiwfield

dooby wrote: »

I'd like to grow potatoes this year but i'm new to it.

I'd like to know - When you grow potatoes (or anything) in buckets, do you need to put holes in the bottom of them so they don't get waterlogged? And do you use gravel at the bottom or just soil?

I drilled 5 x 2cm holes in the builders buckets I use for potatoes otherwise they would get waterlogged. They've worked fine for several years now.

Bunny200

oliveoyl wrote: »

If you have a Wilkinsons shop near you they sell them in packs of 5. You can also order packs of 5 from Thompson & Morgan but the delivery costs make it too expensive unless you're ordering a load of other stuff as well.

Thanks for that, went to Wilkinsons and got 5 Charlotte and 5 Roosters (cos I love them and buy them from Tesco!)
Hope it works!

dooby

rhiwfield wrote: »

I drilled 5 x 2cm holes in the builders buckets I use for potatoes otherwise they would get waterlogged. They've worked fine for several years now.

Thank you. I can't wait to have a go.

Jolaaled

I'm also fairly new to potato growing, but have taken the plunge and bought one bag of first earlies and one bag of salad pots. But i'm confused already...

i've put my first earlies on to chit..so they're fine..and i'll plant them out in about 6 weeks...but what about my salad pots.. i don't want them chitting yet, or i'll have too many pots on the go at once.

Can I just keep my bag of salad pots for later??? How can i store them safely, so that they're still ok to 'chit' and then plant out later in teh year???

katskorner

Haven't read entire thread so apologise if posted already.

Seed potatoes are in Poundland at the moment. Got a couple of packs of 10 pentland javelin that are now chitting away in their egg boxes in my conservatory ready to go out on Good Friday!

mardatha

Jolaaled, I need advice re mine as well. I can't plant them until april here and by that time most of the seed tatties are gone..

misgrace

Bunny200 wrote: »

Is there anywhere you can get just a few seed potatoes? Whenever I look on website they wasn to send me 20odd tubers but this is my first time and I was going to a few growbags as I dont' have much room and I was planning to use 2 tubers per grow bag so I dont' need many. Any ideas?

Grow your own potatoes from an old potato, thats what I do, I use to buy seed pots, but ended up throwing half of them away.
In the end I took an old potato that was in the cupboard, and had sprouted, I knocked them off bar one, and planted it.

Every time now I do this, and I get a great return, and never have to buy seeds potatoes.:D

aurorahelios

The only issue with planting any old potato is the problem of disease. If you are planting direct into the ground it's really not a good idea in case you end up contaminating your soil. If you are growing in containers it is worth considering but it really depends on what you are going to use the compost for afterwards.

aurorahelios

Jolaaled wrote: »

Can I just keep my bag of salad pots for later??? How can i store them safely, so that they're still ok to 'chit' and then plant out later in teh year???

Store them somewhere cool and dark and they should be ok.

RAS

aurorahelios wrote: »

Alan Romans is often recommended for seed potatoes on allotment forums
http://www.alanromans.com/t-potato.aspx
delivery is a bit steep though. Never used them myself because I'm very fortunate to have a very good garden centre locally that sells a huge range of seed potatoes loose so I can pick and choose. I am considering ordering some seeds from him as they are reasonably priced.

He provides that a for a lot of potato days round the country. I will be heading to the WYOG one at Shipley College on feb 21.

Not sure of the prices this year, but you buy by the tubers, so you can get 2 or 3 tubers of different variety. He sometimes sells Sarpo varieties as well and they are expensive if bought from the main seed merchants.