why are my potatoes so rubbish?

hotcookie101

I love potatoes (well I am Irish :cool::D)
I love freshly dug floury yummy new potatoes
I love my garden, and growing veg

But, I am close to giving up on the spuds. Every year I buy my seed potatoes (usually do queens, and a waxy-this year queens, charlottes, and another I can't remember, think began with a M and was 2 words) I grow them in bags (have done in the garden, but they all end up scabby) and I earth them up. I spend a fortune on compost, the seed potatoes etc. I usually put 2-3 spuds in a bag

I earth them up til the top of the bag/pot. They are flowering. I emptied a bag the other day and got about 7 VERY small potatoes (would sell as a premium for baby new potatoes:rotfl:)

I haven't needed to water much as we have had SO much rain, and when I check the soil it is damp, and I didn't want to rot them! But when it has been dry they have had water.

So what am I doing wrong? I haven't fed them as I am using multipurpose compost rather than soil. Do they need more water? Am thinking I may just give up on them next year, but when I taste the yumminess I change my mind!

Oliver14

Even if your using multipurpose compost I would still put some specific potato feed in when you plant them. I have found this makes a huge difference to the quality of my tatties (grown in bags also).

Also I wouldn't wait for them to be dry before you water them. In containers they take a surprising amount of water.

djohn2002uk

The above advice is absolutely right. I've had poor results this year but when I emptied the bags (2) the compost was dry even with all the rain we've had and I sussed the reason as being too much foliage covering the top of the bags and the rain just running off.
I feed mine by mixing some Growmore with the compost each time I top it up. I've also given my other 5 bags a good soaking. Remember, potatoes are very thirsty veg and are,I think, 80% water so they have to get it from somewhere.

valk_scot

Multipurpose compost only contains enough nutrients for six weeks of "average" plant growth. Potato shaws are not average growth, they are very nutrient greedy. I mostly grow my potatoes in the ground but if I do grow a few unusual ones in bags I mix bin compost and multipurpose compost 50:50, then start feeding as soon as the shaw growth reaches about 12" high. I use anything to hand...manure "tea", Growmore, the same stuff as I feed the tomatoes with or Miracle Gro.

Miracle Gro is pretty good stuff actually and it means the plants get a good watering at the same time. The bags I use for the spuds have good dtainage at the bottom btw so I don't really worry about overwatering them, I give them a good soaking every time I do the planters and hanging baskets. I usually end up with the potato bags absolutely stuffed with spuds. They can only make as many potatoes as you give them nutrients for, remember!

STOCKWIRE

hotcookie101 wrote: »

I love potatoes (well I am Irish :cool::D)
I love freshly dug floury yummy new potatoes
I love my garden, and growing veg

But, I am close to giving up on the spuds. Every year I buy my seed potatoes (usually do queens, and a waxy-this year queens, charlottes, and another I can't remember, think began with a M and was 2 words) I grow them in bags (have done in the garden, but they all end up scabby) and I earth them up. I spend a fortune on compost, the seed potatoes etc. I usually put 2-3 spuds in a bag

I earth them up til the top of the bag/pot. They are flowering. I emptied a bag the other day and got about 7 VERY small potatoes (would sell as a premium for baby new potatoes:rotfl:)

I haven't needed to water much as we have had SO much rain, and when I check the soil it is damp, and I didn't want to rot them! But when it has been dry they have had water.

So what am I doing wrong? I haven't fed them as I am using multipurpose compost rather than soil. Do they need more water? Am thinking I may just give up on them next year, but when I taste the yumminess I change my mind!

British queens are flowering at the moment but are no way ready to harvest. leave them until the end of the month or August and feed with a high potash feed. Try not to use any fertiliser with lots of nitrogen or they will swell with water and lose their flowery texture

Lotus-eater

You're growing them in a bag!

Grow them in the ground, put them in and forget about them mostly. None of the hassle you get from bag growing.

Then try different varieties till you find one that grows well in your garden and you like to eat.

hotcookie101

Thanks all
Looks like I need to water more, and feed more. Is my tomato feed ok? A watering can full to each bag? or half?

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Lotus-eater wrote: »

You're growing them in a bag!

Grow them in the ground, put them in and forget about them mostly. None of the hassle you get from bag growing.

Then try different varieties till you find one that grows well in your garden and you like to eat.

Or do what I did. Try to do it properly the first year and get about two pound of spuds in total, dig over the patch and decide to not bother again.

Then find the following year that, although you went through every single inch of soil before sowing different crops this spring, the tiniest little spud nodules must have broken off, as you have a bed full of three foot high potato plants competing with bird down sunflowers to hide your broad beans and raspberries.


Once I find the soil, I reckon I have a few to dig up.

hotcookie101

Lotus-eater wrote: »

You're growing them in a bag!

Grow them in the ground, put them in and forget about them mostly. None of the hassle you get from bag growing.

Then try different varieties till you find one that grows well in your garden and you like to eat.

I have grown them in the ground before, and I STILL have wild potatoes growing in the garden! But they get very scabby in my soil, hence growing in bags. And I don't really have enough garden space to grow in the ground (the bags sit on the patio type bit outside the back door)

Soot2006

I gave up on doing things properly this year ... just chucked in my favourite spuds from ASDA reduced section LOL .... Just dug up the most amazing crop after no watering, no fertilising! Got about 40 spuds out of two small pots .... and a whole garden full to dig up yet. Hmmmmm Go figure!!!! (delicious!)

elsien

Mine are usually ok but I've just dug up a completely rubbish lot as well. Enough for 2 small meals and that's it. Compost was wet and I've been feeding, so no idea why. I also very cleverly earthed up the marker telling me the type, so I have no idea which ones to avoid next year!