Poundland potato growing bags

Charlton_King

Anyone else noticed these or used them before? They look a bit on the small side to me.

http://www.poundland.co.uk/product-range/a-z/potato-grow-bag/

wellused

Yes that looks like around 18 inches by 12 inches, I understand that homebase do bags of compost which you can plant potatoes straight into so you are in effect buying the compost and bag at the same time, I haven't used them myself so couldn't say how good they are.

Yorkie1

You'd probably get a couple of seed tubers into there, and it will probably last you a couple of seasons - but at that price it's probably worth a go!

Make sure you feed and water well.

sobie

Can't see the point in those things, simply plant directly into the compost bag.

Really simple
1) tip the compost out of a (min 50ltr) bag.

2) Turn the empty compost bag inside out so the black inside is on the outside (it will help heat the soil that way).

3) roll the bag down and piece a few drainage holes in the bottom

4) put a couple of inches of compost back in the bottom of the bag, put your seed spuds in (no more than 3). cover with a little more compost.

5) as the potatoes grow, roll the bag up a bit and cover with a bit more soil.

6) repeat until you get almost to the top of the bag. (leave room for watering/ feeding)

7) when ready simply cut down the side of the bag.

Been doing this for years.

Mayflower10cat

Sobie, I've done pretty much the same thing for years. too. I buy cheap growbags from wherever, lay it down and slash the bag at the halfway mark then bend and lift the the bag upright at the seam to make two half bags that can sit on the ground, propping themselves up. Stick just one tuber in each half and water in. I've had some really good crops from this, especially from the 'Christmas Dinner' !!!!!! 1st earlies you can get now.

sobie

Mayflower10cat wrote: »

Sobie, I've done pretty much the same thing for years. too. I buy cheap growbags from wherever, lay it down and slash the bag at the halfway mark then bend and lift the the bag upright at the seam to make two half bags that can sit on the ground, propping themselves up. Stick just one tuber in each half and water in. I've had some really good crops from this, especially from the 'Christmas Dinner' !!!!!! 1st earlies you can get now.

I cut growbags in half like that for growing tomatoes too. They love the extra depth.

Leif

Fascinating. Could you use a black bin liner, given that it is wider? And I wonder if you could grow Jerusalem Artichokes in them too? Probably unstable as too tall though.

sobie

Leif wrote: »

Fascinating. Could you use a black bin liner, given that it is wider? And I wonder if you could grow Jerusalem Artichokes in them too? Probably unstable as too tall though.

I think an ordinary bin bag might be too thin and tear under the weight of compost. Maybe the stronger rubble sacks/ wheely bin ones would work though.

I don't see why you couldn't grow Jerusalem artichokes in a bag as long as you weighed the bag down and the bag was at least 12" across. Perhaps using a heavier John Innes Loam instead of a peat free compost would create enough weight to stablise the bag.

shelley_crow

I'm a potato growing newbie and have bought the potato bags from poundland. I've planted some onions in one bag as well.

For £1 I'm pretty impressed, the bags aren't flimsy as I thought they would be. They are the same bags a garden centre was charging £4.99 for. The potatoes and onions are just growing now so might still fail spectacularly!

Hannah2

Do you find you get a decent crop using bags? I bought some of the potato bags, Unwins I think, last year and bought good quality veg compost to put in it, plants looked strong and I fed and watered them but when it came to harvesting the two bags gave enough potatoes for one meal!!!

Granted they were the best potatoes I have tasted but for the cost of the bags (£4.99 each) and the compost (£5.99) I would have liked more than one meals worth!!!!

Not sure whether to bother or not this year.

sobie

Hannah2 wrote: »

Do you find you get a decent crop using bags? I bought some of the potato bags, Unwins I think, last year and bought good quality veg compost to put in it, plants looked strong and I fed and watered them but when it came to harvesting the two bags gave enough potatoes for one meal!!!

Granted they were the best potatoes I have tasted but for the cost of the bags (£4.99 each) and the compost (£5.99) I would have liked more than one meals worth!!!!

Not sure whether to bother or not this year.

I wouldn't judge any vegetable on last years conditions, it was a very poor year for all potato harvests.

I'd expect to get about around 15 potatoes per tuber from Charlottes grown in 60ltrs of compost or about 45 small spuds in each bag, which isn't a lot but when you compare how much new potatoes cost it will be a good saving and will taste better than any supermarket potato!

I garden organically so I also know exactly what has been used on my crops too!

growing in bags extends the growing season, you can move the bag into frost free areas so you can almost have new potatoes all year round.

This is a brilliant video from gardeners world detailing almost the method I use :

http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/fruit-and-vegetables/how-to-grow-potatoes-in-a-bag/257.html