Small container potato harvest

rosehenderson90 · August 2021

Hi folks,

This year for the first time I tried to grow container potatoes in standard size grow bags.

In one bag I had 5 seed potatoes and the other 3, and I chitted the potatoes before planting.

The harvest is a lot smaller than I expected with about 10 potatoes per bag. One bag produced quite sizable ones, the other had a mix of good sized and tiny pebble ones.

The variety was Kestrel.

Is a harvest of this size to be expected for a bag of potatoes or do folks usually get more?

I'm trying to work this out so that if it mine is quite a small harvest I can make try to make some improvements.

Thanks

Fairygirl · August 2021

How did you use the growbag though?

bcpathome · August 2021

I grew in bags too .Same sort of harvest as yourself

barry island · August 2021

I grew two tubs of maincrop potatoes this year and have to say it was a bit of a learning curve, 1) don't grow maincrop in tubs again try early or seconds, 2) use topsoil instead of cheap general purpose compost, 3) drill drainage holes in the outside trug that I sat the tub in, (I had difficulty keeping the tubs watered during the two weeks of summer that we had so I put the tubs into larger plastic trugs surrounded with bark chippings to stop the water just running away). I watched a youtube video of a chap who grows all of his potatoes in a collection of 30L and 60L tubs, he buries the tubs 20% their height into the garden soil which allows the roots to get down into the soil, I think that he was getting around 10Kg of spuds from each tub and that he put 2 seed potatoes in the smaller tubs and 3 in the larger. The problem that I had was due to the tubs being dry on the top and waterlogged at the bottom some of the potatoes were rotting and the good ones were small. I will try again but it wasn't as easy as I first thought.

rosehenderson90 · August 2021

Hi folks,

@Fairygirl I put fresh compost in the bags, they came with drainage holes, put the potatoes near the bottom with some compost underneath, then covered with some compost and kept topping it up - basically watched a few videos on the Gardeners World website and copied the technique.

They seemed to grow well but did get a bit frost damaged on some the leaves on one night.

Near the end they got blight so I chopped all the leaves off.

I fed them occasionally but not consistently.

The compost was possibly free stuff I got from the council and I don't think I mixed any grit or anything in.

Maybe I am greedy and 10 is a good crop 😏

@barry island mine got a bit soggier at the bottom as well! Not waterlogged but I might put some grit or something in there next year to try to stop a concentration of more soggy soil at the bottom. That sounds like a good idea from the YouTube video!

Thanks @bcpathome - hope you enjoyed them!

Fairygirl · August 2021

Ah - I thought you meant Growbags - as in the type you buy for tomatoes.
The compost possibly wasn't up to much

I no longer grow them as we don't eat many potatoes, but @BobTheGardener grows a lot of veg, and @Dovefromabove also has a lot of experience, so might be able to advise if they see my tags

Red maple · August 2021

Perhaps it was just bad luck this year - I'm the same with tomatoes, which have performed poorly this season.
You seem to have done all that is required, topping up the compost as the foliage grew, watering, etc, so unless your compost was old or poor quality, I think you've been unlucky this year. As you say, add some grit next time to aid drainage, too.

BobTheGardener · August 2021

I only grow them in the ground, but I do grow Kestrel as they are slug-resistant and one of the few varieties I've tried here which don't end up being unusable. However, they aren't a big cropper and even a small amount of frost damage will roughly half that crop, as I found out last year. I think there are better varieties for growing in bags than Kestrel.

The RHS have the results of several varieties used in a trial here, in this useful little pdf:

https://www.rhs.org.uk/about-the-rhs/publications/the-garden/the-garden-back-issues/2014-issues/February/top-of-the-pots

Dovefromabove · August 2021

I've not grown Kestrel in containers ... if growing in containers I usually choose Charlotte ... they don't give huge crops but they do taste delicious ... consistent watering is key, and earthing up regularly, as the buried stems develop more potatoes.

I don't feed them a lot if the soil is good ... just some manure or general fertiliser when planting.

Of course, holding off and leaving them in the ground just a little bit longer than you want to should give bigger potatoes ... we're all impatient to get those lovely homegrown potatoes, better than any you can buy, and with skins that just slip off as you rub them. But leave them in the ground just ten days longer and you'll have bigger potatoes.

rosehenderson90 · August 2021

@Fairygirl Oops - I can see how that was, confusing

Thanks for tagging others in!

@Red maple Thanks, I hadn't considered that it could also just be a worse year!

@BobTheGardener Great, I will have a look at that link! I diligently put them in the cold frame when there was frost except one night when I forgot and it was the last day of frost. Typical!! The leafs definitely had some frost damage. Next year I will need to be extra vigilant...

@Dovefromabove I will give Charlotte a go next year, thanks. I was generally good at watering but it may have been inconsistent at times as well!

Thanks all for the sound advice. I am happy with my wee crop but inspired to try a different variety and make a few tweaks next year.

I have a two raised veg beds in a community garden and they've been doing so well. My pot garden plants in general this year haven't been as good even though I put more work in and did more research! Always learning as we go.

Red maple · August 2021

It’s strange how some years can be better than others, though this year was a particularly tricky year with that very severe cold spell March/April time and a very wet May - all factors, I’m sure, in how how plants behaved.
Yes, forgot to say that my potato varieties were Charlotte, Vivaldi and Maris Piper. The Vivaldi and Maris Piper are still in the bags for now as we are only just working our way through the Charlottes. I did a quick count of the Charlotte and harvested 45 from 3 seed potatoes, of varying sizes, so was pleased with that result. Will have to see how the others have done when I harvest them. Wish I could say the same about my tomatoes, which, as I said, have been quite poor this year, and yield has so far been very low. I’ve got flowers on some trusses now but don’t expect them to do very well now the daylight hours are shortening and the heat has all but disappeared. Not to worry, if I get enough green tomatoes, I’ll make chutney again.

Small container potato harvest

Posts