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Does size matter?
Barbara Harrison
Posts: 107
in Fruit & veg
Anyone know if there is a minimum size for seed potatoes and does the size affect yield?
0
Posts
Sorry, I don't. But I live in France and the seed potatoes here are much smaller than the ones I've seen in England. I seem to get good crops though. In England they seem to be chicken egg size, here they are smaller than bantams eggs.
But I was interested to know so I had a look on Google. T & M say
Seed potatoes are normally about the size of a chicken’s egg, but will often vary in size. Don’t be concerned if you receive different sized seed potatoes - they will all grow equally well.
In fact, during the 2nd World War it was common practice to cut larger seed potatoes in half or even smaller divisions to make the seed potatoes go further. The cuts should be left to dry out for 3 or 4 days before planting
Just get them from a garden centre - usually in packets of 5s or 10s. Most seed potatoes are about the size of an egg and yield improves if you earth them up properly as that encourages more tubers (fleshy roots) to be put out and the potatoes form on those.
Yes - cutting works as often a seed potato will rot in the ground - as long as you cut an 'eye' off it should be fine - I tried it last year and it worked out okay
Busy_Lizzie, I was born, grew up and spent most of my life in Germany. You have no idea how much I envy you right now
. The varieties of potatoes on the continent is staggering. In England there are sorted in the categories: Boiling, mashing, chipping, roasting. So many more varieties on the continent. My fav potatoe will always be 'Cilena' can't get them over here and the closest to it is the Pembrokeshire potatoe, which I can't buy in the NE of England
Thanks for the comments; I will experiment. Sorry for taking so long to reply.
Willowkitten - do you go to the annual Potato Fairs held around the country? You should be able to get a wide variety of seed potatoes there https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-london-shows/rhs-london-plant-and-potato-fair and
http://www.nsalg.org.uk/growing-advice/potato-day-2015/
Could Cilena be this one? http://varieties.potato.org.uk/varieties/view/CELINE
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
We can buy the potatoes singly if we wish, and the centre owner is there to give advice on suitable varieties for specific uses.
Welsh onion. Is yours a local garden centre? Sounds like you have a very good GC there!!