Potatoes Made Easy

[susiewoosie]

As far as I know PFA's are maincrop - which don't need to be chitted, due to the length of time that they're in the ground.

I had some Maris Pipers in the fridge being stored, but they started to go mouldy, so removed them and thought what the heck, and have chitted mine - they're no where near as large as the other earlies' shoots mind.. Infact, tiny in comparison.

Thanks for this. I will plant them in my containers and look forward to eating them.

[susiewoosie]

I always chit all my potatoes and funnily enough PFA don't really produce much in the way of sprouts at all before you plant them. Last year mine were planted out mid April still looking pretty much how they had 6 weeks earlier before they'd had a holiday in egg boxes. Produced a beautiful crop which we're still eating now (had some last night, just as nice as when first dug up) so you should be fine. Will be planting mine out in about a month as last year, direct in the beds.

Thanks for this

[susiewoosie]

Just asking again. Are BFB or chicken pellets okay to use as the fertilizer in my potato containers?

[Alison]

Just asking again. Are BFB or chicken pellets okay to use as the fertilizer in my potato containers?

Never really grow mine in containers but I added some chicken manure to the beds where I grew my potatoes last year.

[Lazgaot]

Possibly a daft question but here goes.......do potato plants produce the spuds only at the roots or do they grow along the growing haulms as well? i.e does earthing up encourage the plant to produce more spuds or does it just cover the emerging ones?
So, if I plant 1 spud in a bucket and cover it with 12" of compost and leave it, will I get more, less or the same amount of spuds than if I plant the same spud in a used growbag (on its end) then keep filling it with compost as the plant grows till its 4-5ft high?

[susiewoosie]

Never really grow mine in containers but I added some chicken manure to the beds where I grew my potatoes last year.

Thanks Alison I will chick some in and see what happens

[organic]

Hey folks.

I've picked up a bag of First Earlies a couple of days ago (that injury delayed my thinking about and ordering things on time as well as delaying the digging) and while some of them are chitted to the point they look ready to plant - some of them have really long (about 3 inches) sprouts.

I know that earlier in the year they'd be rubbed out and chitted again, but at this point I really want to be putting things in the ground. I'll be puting most of them in over the next few days but I'm at a loss about what to do with the ones that have long sprouts. I don't think there's time to chit them again at this stage, but I also don't know if they'll be ok going in with such long sprouts.

See my blog for pictures.
Spuds… spuds… everywhere and not one of them to eat. On my Organic Allotment

[SunnyU]

It's taken me ages to read through this thread but that was well worth it!! Thank you so much for contributing everyone and especially to tattieman for all that advice! Took delivery of all my tatties today and I'm going to have a go at Nicola, Pink Fir Apple, Anya and Foremost - now where are those pesky egg boxes I have been collecting for ages....

[tattieman]

Organic you would be best removing the long sprouts and starting again to be honest.
THose long spindly sprouts will just snap off once they are in the ground.
You can break the sprouts off if you like and plant them as they are or leave them to chit for a week and then plant them. There is no heat in the soil to encourage growth at the moment.
We will not plant any potatoes until mid April.

[organic]

Thanks for that Tattieman.
I've just broken off 32 sprouts and put the seeds back into the tray to chit for a bit longer.

I've just had a look at a frost map and it looks like we are around 15 to 20 days ahead of you down here so I'll probably plant these in some time next week or the following weekend. That should be plenty of time to get the rest of my digging, marking out and manuring (well rotted of course) done before they go in.

A big pat on the back for this thread and all the help you've dished out in it.

Cheers!

[Topcat36]

A lot of info here , been a long time since i grew potatoes . Didn't think to use top of the wardrobes for chitting potatoes, mine are on table in dining room annoying the hell out of everybody. Forgot you dont have to chit maincrop so that has pleased me. Of to watch Tattiemans videos now.

[Brengirl]

Maybe I will regret it but have chitted and set my potatoes in containers today. The pots are roughly 16 x 16 x 16. 2 to a pot and placed near the bottom to be built up as the haulm shows. They are Red King Edwards and Smile.

[nerdgas]

I'm planning on putting my Ulster Classics and Red Duke of Yorks out this week/weekend Bren and you're further south than me so unless we get anymore really stupid weather I'm guessing they'll be OK (fingers crossed!).

RDOY will go in Potato grow bags and the Ulster's in the ground at the lottie (I think I may have too many to go into the ground in the bed I've got for them so will probably pop a few of these into bags).

I'm not planning on giving the bagged pots any protection other than putting them close to the house.

[moggssue]

To change the subject slightly, away from chitting, can I ask a question about feeding/soil .... I'm wayyy behind with most jobs on the lottie and have just had a huge load of 6yr old horse poo (mixed with hay-ish stuff) delivered. Can I put this onto the beds I'm going to use for my potatoes now, or am I too late, given they will be planted out in a few short weeks? I was just going to dig it into the topsoil rather than anything too time consuming?

[Ja9]

I live in the Midlands and it is just warming up here now.As a novice potato grower is it too early to plant outside yet? (Charlotte, maris Peer and picasso) I have put some in a greenhouse...wish I had seen your fab video clips first Tattieman!
Think that my seed potatoes have had a "holiday in eggboxes" too as only just sprouting after weeks of chitting.