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I wouldn't use chicken pellets with potatoes at this time of year
Ah ha, now funnily enough I thought I had got it wrong last year, and expected a dire kind of outcome, particularly since the foliage on my Lady Balfours and Nicolas was so lush. But what I had done was give just a wee sprinkling of pellets with the first earthing up, and then when earthing up the second time I used very well rotted chicken poo that had been sitting in a back yard for donkey's years (I dug it out of a bank). So I'm guessing that I either missed what would have been a huge harvest and got only a big one, or struck lucky in having enough of the other nutrients and adding nitrogen meant that the shaws did well at the same time as the tatties.
The other weird thing about my tatties last season was, that everyone else in the site (only five plots, all small ones in an enclosed garden) got blight; in the case of my nearest neighbour's tatties just ten yards away, the shaws were absolutely brown and rotted, a classic worst case scenario. Mine were barely touched - I did chop them off, but to judge by the few spots they had, I would have had days to get around to it. None of the tubers were affected, so I was well pleased. Does the extra lush foliage come with some kind of improved immunity to blight, or is it just the way Lady Balfours and Nicolas are ?
There's no point reading history if you don't use the lessons it teaches.
Head-hunted member of the Nutter's Club - can I get my cranium back please ?
Oh well my Swifts got a handful of pellets when they went in today maybe ericaceous compost is a better idea for tatties do you think? I'll leave off the chook pellets for my others that are chitting.
Hayley B
John Wayne's daughter, Marisa Wayne, will be competing with my Other Half, in the Macmillan 4x4 Challenge (in its 10th year) in March 2011, all sponsorship money goes to Macmillan Cancer Support, please sponsor them at http://www.justgiving.com/Mac4x4TeamDuke'
The other weird thing about my tatties last season was, that everyone else in the site (only five plots, all small ones in an enclosed garden) got blight; in the case of my nearest neighbour's tatties just ten yards away, the shaws were absolutely brown and rotted, a classic worst case scenario. Mine were barely touched - I did chop them off, but to judge by the few spots they had, I would have had days to get around to it. None of the tubers were affected, so I was well pleased. Does the extra lush foliage come with some kind of improved immunity to blight, or is it just the way Lady Balfours and Nicolas are ?
Not sure about Nicola, but Lady Balfour has a high resistance to both foliar and tuber blight - which is why it is so popular with organic growers.
Spuds like slightly acidic soil. Alkaline soil makes them go scabby, which is why they shouldn't follow brassicas in a crop rotation (brassicas tend to get limed).
Chicken pellets are alkaline
Grass clippings are acidic (and free)
for the record, I've never used chicken pellets or manure, just well-rotted compost and I get more veg than I can eat.
All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.
Not sure about Nicola, but Lady Balfour has a high resistance to both foliar and tuber blight - which is why it is so popular with organic growers.
Nicola's main claim to fame is that it has a significantly lower GI value than other potatoes, but I don't remember it being particularly blight-resistant. Will have to look out for Lady Balfour next year - we were late in ordering our seed potatoes this year and ended up grabbing a small selection of whatever looked decent at the Ryton Potato Day!
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