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Potatoes - Dig twice to clear ALL spuds ?

NewBoy2NewBoy2 Posts: 1,813
in Fruit & veg
I have just got a new 20 x 8 " bed to grow potatoes.
The chap who runs the site is insisting that when I harvest the spuds that I dig twice to ensure I remove ALL of them and to remove the haulms from the site.

He hasn't used the plot for many years and there is rubbish around it.

I realise that you should not grow spuds year after year , disease ,but I think he is being a bit pedantic in his orders

Views please.
Everyone is just trying to be Happy.....So lets help Them.
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Posts

  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    Sounds like total Tosh to me
    Devon.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    i'm not a fan of deep digging anyway except where I know there's crud to be removed.

    In beds where I have grown potatoes I still find potato plants 2 or 3 years later and last year that was in my dahlia bed.  They start off looking very similar!   We actually got two servings for the two of us.

    This year it's a broad beans and pointy cabbage bed so any potatoes left will be easier to spot.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • NewBoy2NewBoy2 Posts: 1,813
    Obelixx

    Agreed

    I am only digging it to gain control as on my other plot I am No Dig.

    The chap has said I cant use two water butts at the end of the plot so I have obtained my own to use.

    I have to be careful as he has "given " me half of his plot.



    Everyone is just trying to be Happy.....So lets help Them.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    You can't use two water butts?
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    edited March 2021
    sounds like he's a bit of a control freak. 
    He's either giving you the plot ( to do with as you see fit ) or he's not.
    Be careful he's not "giving you the plot" until you do all the clearance work then he demands it back. 
    Devon.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Hostafan1 said:
    sounds like he's a bit of a control freak. 
    He's either giving you the plot ( to do with as you see fit ) or he's not.
    Be careful he's not "giving you the plot" until you do all the clearance work then he demands it back. 
    That sprung into my mind too 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    My gut instinct is to politely decline his " offer " 
    Devon.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I've never had an allotment, but it's my understanding that they come with the territory. I don't mean the spuds😉
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    I always dig through my spuds twice and still always miss the odd one or two. They're easy enough to remove when the leaves show next year though. Even with a decent spud fork the little ones slip through. I agree with removing the leaves and stems if there was any sign of blight but that's just good practice.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,723
    I think you would have to sieve the soil to get them all! we dig once and then remove them as soon as any survivors show themselves the next year.
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