Seed Potatoes

EstherH

I grew potatoes in an old dustbin and a couple of buckets for the first time last year. I bought 2nd earlies in March, all the first earlies had gone. Yesterday I got a bag of rocket 1st early from Wilkinson for £3. There are quite a lot more in this bag than the one I had last year and I am wondering about using binbags or compost bags. Do I have to buy bags specifically called 'rubble'? Are they stronger than heavy duty binbags? Why would I need to start the potatoes off in buckets and then transfer? Sorry if this sounds thick. It's all very new to me.

The dustbin worked really well though, for anyone like us who has an old round one left after wheely bins were delivered. I just want to grow more this year.

RAS

leiela wrote: »

Also i'm feeding a family of 4 what would be a good number of plants?? how do you deal with them at harvest time do they go "off" quickly ... if im lucky how long could i hope to have homegrow potato's for??

Hi If you have a large garden and a family of four, then buckets and sacks are not really for you. Think one meal for 4 per potato plant, slightly less for earlies and more for good maincrop potaotoes.

How many meals do you eat potatoes?

First earlies like Rocket mentioned below can de in the ground in march and are harvested in late may/June to eat as new potaotes. Most are less good eating if left in the ground and do not store well.

maincrop are planted March - may and crop from late July to September depending on the season and blight. They store well and are what you buy in the supermarket most of the time.

First earlies need to be at 30cm spacing, maincrop at 45cm spacing. So you get an idea of the area of ground needed to feed 4 people?


Why not try a lasanga type system the first year. Right now, cover an area with cardboard and then any sort of waste material like soil, old leaves, garden waste. In a couple of months, push a potato into the mix, at the required intervals and cover with loads more ol straw, copst, garden waste to make a deep cover. When you dig it up at the end of the seaon you have potatoes and a easily prepared vegetable patch for the future?

irnbru_2

EstherH wrote: »

Do I have to buy bags specifically called 'rubble'?

No.

EstherH wrote: »

Are they stronger than heavy duty binbags?

Yes.

EstherH wrote: »

Why would I need to start the potatoes off in buckets and then transfer?

You don't. I did it due to space constraints.

EstherH wrote: »

The dustbin worked really well though, for anyone like us who has an old round one left after wheely bins were delivered.

Stick with what works for you.

irnbru_2

leiela wrote: »

If i was going to use Pots for my potato's how big would they need to be??

It depends on how much of the folage you wish to cover.
A 55cm pot would accomadate a least 3 plants but you'ld have very little of the folage (30cm of a 1m plant IMHO) covered. That would be analogous to planting them in the ground.

I cover as much of the folage as possible based on the way my dad grew them using car tyres.

If expense is the issue, I'd just double up bin bags.

Alternatively, a round dustbin as mentioned in other posts if you can get one from FreeShare.

leiela

RAS wrote: »

Hi If you have a large garden and a family of four, then buckets and sacks are not really for you. Think one meal for 4 per potato plant, slightly less for earlies and more for good maincrop potaotoes.

How many meals do you eat potatoes?

First earlies like Rocket mentioned below can de in the ground in march and are harvested in late may/June to eat as new potaotes. Most are less good eating if left in the ground and do not store well.

maincrop are planted March - may and crop from late July to September depending on the season and blight. They store well and are what you buy in the supermarket most of the time.

First earlies need to be at 30cm spacing, maincrop at 45cm spacing. So you get an idea of the area of ground needed to feed 4 people?


Why not try a lasanga type system the first year. Right now, cover an area with cardboard and then any sort of waste material like soil, old leaves, garden waste. In a couple of months, push a potato into the mix, at the required intervals and cover with loads more ol straw, copst, garden waste to make a deep cover. When you dig it up at the end of the seaon you have potatoes and a easily prepared vegetable patch for the future?

Wow thats like alot of ground !!!! hmmm may need to re-think this potato thing i suspected it may be a problem. Im either going to end up only growning enough for about 1 week or im going to end up taking over my entire garden.

EstherH

The dustbin worked but I would like to grow more this year which is why I was asking about rubble bags. Would use them in addition. Thanks for your replys.

EstherH

My seed potatoes have already got little growth things on them. Do I still need to chit them. When do I put them in if they are supposed to be protected from frost? It could be frosty for a long time yet. They are first earlies.

muvvahen

leiela wrote: »

Ok i wanted to try and grow something and my dad rsuggested i try potato's and onions... so here i am asking for help with the potato's.

I've read the thread and im totally BAFFLED ... im the least outdoorsy girl you would ever have the misfortune of meeting.

I have a big garden with lots of room but i think pots or bags etc might be easier to deal with, at least i can tuck them in the corner without fear of the kids running all over them.

chitting , first earliys ??? rubble sack's !!! Argh ... what are these??

Ok in best "newbie" speak (don't be afraid to talk to me like im a 2 year old) what do i need to do?? and what do i need to buy???

Also i'm feeding a family of 4 what would be a good number of plants?? how do you deal with them at harvest time do they go "off" quickly ... if im lucky how long could i hope to have homegrow potato's for??

The great news is that potatoes are really easy to grow. The bad news is that there is a lot of jargon around them... I'm no expert (others feel free to correct me), but...

There are several types of spuds:
• First Earlies are the ones that grow fastest, you can usually plant these earliest in the year (but they will also be OK later in the season). Often these are good as new potatoes
• Second Earlies, plant these a couple of weeks later
• Maincrop, designed to be grown, harvested all at the same time and stored

Most of us 'chit' our seed potatoes to get the growth started before we plant them. Chitting is about exposing them to light (but definitely not frost) so the little 'eyes' start to sprout. Picture if you will thousands of Green MSE-ers up and down the country, right now, with old egg boxes (or similar) on frost-free windowsills, watching for the first 'green shoots'... Some people rub off all but the strongest 2-3 shoots on each spud before planting it. Also, when you come to planting, put the spud in the bottom of the hole so that the sprouts are uppermost if poss

When to plant? April is traditional (hence the comment about Good Friday). Just watch out for late frosts. If frost is forecast, protect the tops with fleece, newspaper, bubble wrap, straw, anything (speaks from bitter experience...)

Spuds are great to plant straight into the ground, but also easy to grow in containers... hence the comment about rubble sacks.
The bigger the container, the more spuds you can put in (maybe 3-4 for a big thing like a sack, only 1 or 2 for a smaller container).
Choose a container that's nice and deep. Make sure it has holes for drainage in the bottom.
Put 8-10cm of multi-purpose compost in the bottom. Pop in your chitted spuds and cover with another 8-10cm of compost.
When the 'green shoots' break through the top of the compost, add another layer 8-10cm deep... and so on, until the plant starts to flower. Then you can have a rootle and see if there are any luverly spuds in the bottom. No need to pull up the whole plant, it should keep producing...

Warning, if you want to feed a family of four with year-round spuds you'll need LOTS of space - we grew two patches last year both 2.5m x 3.5m and got plenty of new/salad potatoes, but only enough maincrops for about 6-8 weeks. We've decided to concentrate on the new/salad potatoes this year, and just buy maincrops in sacks (about £6-7 for 25kg) from our local farm shop

You only store maincrops - salad/new potatoes deserve to be dug, cooked and eaten within hours, if not minutes (you will never ever want to buy a taste-free, overpriced, plastic-wrapped packet of 'salad potatoes, ever again!!)
To store maincrops, brush off most of the mud, stick them in a paper sack, keep them cool (10-20 degrees c) and most importantly don't let the light get to them....

Oh crickey... I've written an essay. Will stop now. But best of luck with your first attempts.

Muvahhen

Lotus-eater

Good post mummyhen. About the only things I can think of you missed out are:
Leave maincrop out on top of the soil to dry the skins before you bag and store them. Don't store any damaged potatoes and check the bag regularly with your nose, you will soon find any dodgy ones!

You can earth up spuds in open ground as well.

I use well rotted manure on them (and under them) and they like it.

Do not put them on ground just turned over from grass, as you can get wireworm attacks,

If you get slug damage one year, leave off any mulches the next and try to grow a resistant variety.

Pulling the flowers off is supposed to increase the crop.

Most important. Blight! Learn how to spot it and keep your eyes open, when you see it cut the haulms (the green bit above the soil) off straight away and leave the potatoes in the ground for a couple of weeks, then dig up and eat

I grow only spuds for new potatoes as well, maincrop on my limited ground are not worth it.
Oh, more things than I thought

Spicey

After my 5 year old gd told me that potatoes come from chips and chips grow on trees (no was not joking) I feel its time to educate her. So this weekend im off to get some seed potatoes and a collection of other veg seeds. Wish me luck.:rotfl: