This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Potatoes - what's the skinny?
Fieldtamer
Posts: 20
in Fruit & veg
Hello again! I seem to be popping up all over the forums now that I've started - a lot of great info gained.
Now I'd like to know stuff about potatoes, like:
1. Am I too late to chit some 1st earlies?
2. Why don't we chit main crop pots?
3. Any special deal with the soil beforehand. My soil was under a meadow (most of it still is, but managed to clear the beginnings of a veg patch).
4. Harvesting - am I supposed to harvest when they flower, or before, or after, or what?
Input would be much appreciated.
0
Posts
Ive always chitted all of my spuds, but even if you dont, they will still grow, they will just be later to harvest,you arent too late to chit your earlies as they cant be planted yet anyhow.
Spuds are the traditional crop to use on a new plot of land, because of all the earthing up, it helps to get rid of weeds and break up the soil, so your old medow is perfect
Ive always harvested after the potatoes have flowered, but if you leave them in the ground until you want them, they shouldnt come to any harm, as long as pests, diseases and frost dosent get at them
Great stuff Bekkie. Just been on the "What to do now" bit, and it would appear that I'm still in time, even if I want to chit some. Thinking of chitting some and not others - spread the harvest??
Perhaps Pentland Javelin as 1st earlies, Still thinking about 2nds. King Edward as main crop. But does anyone have any strong views about the best little 'new potatoes', please?
Horse manure, well rotted, mainly from stable rather than field - yes/no/not ever/not now?
Sometimes old pastureland can be host to wireworm which will damage your potatoes. Hopefully if the land has been bare over the winter, birds will have helped get rid of a lot of them. You can also make Wireworm Traps as described here http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=4616.0
Oh, by the way, not all varieties of potatoes produce flowers, so make a note of the date when you plant them. Earlies should be ready 10-12 weeks after planting, second earlies take around 15-16 weeks and maincrops around 18-20 weeks.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Fieldtamer, its worth growing a few of a lot of different ones to find out which ones you like best.
Because i havent grown spuds for years, im going to buy a salad variety ive never tried before, at the end of the day, ive yet to have a potato i really dislike, and all of them are a million times better than anything you can buy
Hi Dove, thanks for the tip on wireworm. I'm going to be keeping a gardening diary, so the times you've given me will be very useful.
Sorry Bekkie, but what are "the sharpo ones"? Presumably blight resistant, but not heard the term.
With blight, do you only know your spuds have got it when you dig 'em up, or are there signs elsewhere? I plan to rotate crops, and potatoes are going to be grown in a new bed each year, regardless of what will go in that bed next.
The sharpo ones are a family of spuds which are almost blight proof, i used to grow lots and lots of potatoes, so it was really gutting if/when i lost the crop. I think its still only Thompson and Morgan that sell them.
Blight is a disease that starts on the leaves and stupidly quickly spreads through the rest of the plant, if your plants get it late in the season, you can cut the plants off at ground level, this will save the tubers for a short time, but they dont usually store well- they go all mushy and smelly..really vile!
Early spuds are less prone to blight as its supposed to be caused with warm wet weather which we usually get from mid summer onwards.
The blight resistant ones i grew wernt as tasty as some other varieties, but did for us perfectly well
They are 'Sarpo' varieties, Bekkie. I always grow a row of Sarpo Mira or Sarpo Axona just in case of an attack of late blight.
Good advice to grow several varieties to find ones you like. The same spuds grown in different ground often taste quite differently, so only by trying them in your own ground can you be sure. 
Feildtamer, as far as manure etc goes, i never used any kind of fertiliser, but i was growing on an allotment site that was probably fairly rich anyhow. I have heard some folks put a layer of muck under the row of spuds as they are planted, but ive never done it, hopefully one of the others on here can help with that.
Theres also specific potato fertiliser, again, ive not used it, from what i can gather its sprinkled around the plants as they grow, im sure there would be instructions on the pack
Yep, Mira are the larger red Sarpo variety Bekkie. Axona are a bit smaller and there's a resistant blue one too from the same stable (Blue Danube.)
The general advice regarding fertiliser is that if you have keeled slugs which make holes in the potatoes then use a granular potato fertiliser, otherwise well-rotted farm yard manure is ideal. I sprinkle fertiliser in the bottom of the hole and then over the general area before earthing-up. One thing to avoid is mushroom compost as it contains lime and causes scab on the potato skin (which isn't really harmful but does affect their keeping qualities.)
Fieldtamer - I am brand new today and still a fairly novice gardener but spuds are a great way of cutting your teeth! I have some first earlies 'chitting' right now, in the kitchen window, in an egg box - my 'patch' has been dug over and manured - I hope to plant in about 4 to 5 weeks depending on the weather (so hopefully not hard frost or loads of rain) trust me, your spuds will almost look after themselves - as soon as they start to push through, you earth over - soil / compost / grass cuttings / hay / shredded paper (or a mix of any of those) to keep them from frost etc - I think first earlies are ready in between 70 & 100 days - keep them watered if it doesn't rain - bit of natural fertilizer won't hurt either (1 part wee to 7 to 10 parts water) there's no taste like eating something you've grown, an hour after you picked it!