Potatoes in containers

[Chris11]

Agree with others about not burying the tubers too deep to start off with, but if they're planted low down in a large tub of some sort, they won't get much light even if you don't bury them deep at the start.

That's why I use potato bags rather than tubs, as they can be rolled down to half height at the start. Then as shoots grow, they can be gradually 'earthed up' and the bag rolled up to full height.

[Llevrah]

A man was telling me about his spuds last year. He dug down 2 foot to plant them. Then filled slowly as they grew. He removed them tea chest after tea chest. Whether it makes a difference to quantity I'm not sure but he did say it's his best harvest yet.

[JMCKG]

Going to try something different with some poyatoes in containers this year. 4 inches of compost, place seed potatoes, cover with grass clippings, continue to cover with grass cuttings during growing period. Has anyone tried this, any obvious problems ?

[veggiechicken]

A man was telling me about his spuds last year. He dug down 2 foot to plant them. Then filled slowly as they grew. He removed them tea chest after tea chest. Whether it makes a difference to quantity I'm not sure but he did say it's his best harvest yet.

Tea chest?...........

[Potstubsdustbins]

^^^^^^^^^^Prepacked potato harvest LOL

[Martin H]

I don't think it will make a great deal of difference to the size of the crop whether you add the compost a bit at a time or all at once.

My hypothesis goes like this...

The job of a potato plant is to capture solar energy via its leaves and turn it into stored chemical energy in the form of potato tubers that we can harvest. So the size of the crop is limited by the amount of light that the plant can process by photosynthesis, which is in turn limited by the amount of foliage it produces.

Our job as gardeners is to make sure the potato plant gets enough water and minerals and tender loving care to produce the maximum amount of leaves, and to protect it from pests and diseases throughout the season so that it can turn all that stored energy into lovely potatoes at the end of the summer.

It follows that earthing up, or topping up containers, is only going to change the location of the tubers within the ground or the container, not the overall size of the harvest. In fact if you keep covering up the leaves with compost you are only going to slow the plant down and reduce the crop.

Scientific tests have not been conclusive. I just point out that
- farmers don't earth up their potato crops;
- the first law of thermodynamics has never been broken, any place, any time.

Personally I do earth up my potatoes. In my heavy clay the tubers have a tendency to form rather close to the surface and go green, so I try to keep them covered with soil. If I grew in containers this wouldn't be a problem so I'd just focus on keeping the plants watered and fed (especially watered).

[vixylix]

I didnt earth up last year - and then spent ages panicking that the potatoes werent coming through

[seasprout]

I've done both ways in the past and I don't think it made a huge amount of difference on my yields.

Perhaps do a trial or do what suits you.

[JMCKG]

Well tried Rocket, Isle of Jura and Sarpo Mira all in 30l containers. Did not use grass cuttings as had plenty of council compost & well rotted horse manure. Outcome was very good for all 3 types so far. One wee thing, the Sarpo Mira seem to have grown just below the surface. All 3 were planted in 3 inches of compost, strange?

[Potstubsdustbins]

I get a few main crop tubers just below the surface either in tanks or dustbins but with the main harvest lower down.

[geepee]

I grow my early Rocket in 10'', 10 ltr buckets,the first 8 or 10 pot I use the shopping bag trick and plant the seed on approx 3'' of compost on top of a handful of FYM,
as plants grow I fill up with compost but do NOT cover the leaves completely i,e earth up to the top of the stems only until pot is level full.
I used to cover them completely but found that method knocked too much steam out of em trying to grow underground and form new leaf at the same time.

This year I harvested 15/16 edible (cherry to hens egg size) tubers @ 70 days.
The Mother seed potato was still as sound and firm as the day it was planted, so as a trial I added a bit BFB to the same pot and stuck it back in , covered it COMPLETELY with compo and waited.
Hey Presto......90 days later....another crop of 18 pots between hens egg and apple size.

Original planting date = March 15th
......;.... Harvest date =May 25 th
Second Harvest date = Aug 26 th

Mother Natures a marvellous woman

[Dynamo]

Going to try something different with some poyatoes in containers this year. 4 inches of compost, place seed potatoes, cover with grass clippings, continue to cover with grass cuttings during growing period. Has anyone tried this, any obvious problems ?

I don't like the idea of using grass clippings straight onto the plants. I'd have thought it would take nourishment out of the soil.