Potatoes Made Easy

[Sanjo]

As an experiment based on something I did last year, I have today potted up 8 well chitted Home Guard spuds, (strong green and purple sprouts,) into 5" flower pots.
They are in the cold greenhouse and I am hoping that by the time they are through I will have prepared with fleece the framework I grew them under last year.
Last year this was covered with thinnish polythene, this year is my new 30g fleece which says frost proof down to -6 degrees.
As soon as they poke their greenery through the compost in the greenhouse I shall pop a bit of fleece over and round them.
When I am ready to put them in their prepared spot I shall (hopefully and carefully) transfer them to their inside out black bags and bung those under the heavy fleece cover. I have enough room there for possibly 8 sacks with one spud in each. Won't be a massive return but it's giving me something to do.
If you don't experiment - you don't learn eh!!
We shall see. Worth a try anyway for a few early spuds.

[tracy]

it is quite cool at the moment about 17 today but its damp thats why i am worried about them rotting but saying that i think the fridge will be the best idea ta

[Bigmallly]

it is quite cool at the moment about 17 today but its damp thats why i am worried about them rotting but saying that i think the fridge will be the best idea ta

If I was in Spain Tracy, they would be in the ground by now.........

[basketcase]

If I was in Spain Tracy, they would be in the ground by now.........

If I was in Spain I'd be sunbathing - that's summer in Aberdeen!

[tracy]

they are going in as soon as i have chitted them as i only got back from uk yesterday ,but ive bought too many home with me i think thats why i need to store them ..sunbathing in 17 degrees are you MAD !!!!!

[nerdgas]

My pots have just arrived from tattieman.

So I have some:

Red Duke of York (FE's) for bags in the garden.
Ulster Classic (FE's) for lottie
Salad Blue (SE's) for bags in garden
Wilja (SE's) for bags in garden
Setanta (MC's) for lottie
Desiree (MC's) for bags in garden

Also had some Kestrels delivered today for the lottie by Mr F.

Oh and I got some hessian sacks, Vitax Pot fertiliser, Dithane pot blight spray stuff and a big tub of Nutrimate that I will probably use on most stuff in the lottie. All of this stuff from tattieman. And three planter bags.....

I think I'm gonna need some more planter bags though......

I love taters but I think I may have gone a bit overboard.....

[Bigmallly]

they are going in as soon as i have chitted them as i only got back from uk yesterday ,but ive bought too many home with me i think thats why i need to store them ..sunbathing in 17 degrees are you MAD !!!!!

While some of them are chitting Tracy, store the rest in the ground or in pots of compost..............

[DarkCrow]

Ok I am going to give a few pointers on potatoes for those who don't know or are just unsure.
1. Once you have purchased your potatoes make sure they are allowed to breathe and not wrapped in plastic as this will cause your potatoes to sweat and rot.
2.The ideal temperature to store potatoes at is about 4 degrees celcius and an ideal place to keep them is in the bottom drawer of your fridge.Protect from frost.
3.you should start to chit your early potatoes 6 weeks before you want to plant them. To chit them simply place them in a tray or egg boxes near a window so that they get light and produce short thick sprouts. Ideal temp is 10degrees and again protect from frost.
4.You may want to grow large spuds and one way is to remove some of the eyes of the potatoes with a sharp knife. Simply cut them out so that only 2/3 eyes remain.The potato will put all of its energy into these eyes and produce larger spuds but less of them.
5.Always use certified seed potatoes as they are fully disease tested and guaranteed to grow as they are not treated with sprout supresent.

That should do for now as my brain is fried

Purrfect!! Thankyou Tattieman!

[Snadger]

As an experiment based on something I did last year, I have today potted up 8 well chitted Home Guard spuds, (strong green and purple sprouts,) into 5" flower pots.
They are in the cold greenhouse and I am hoping that by the time they are through I will have prepared with fleece the framework I grew them under last year.
Last year this was covered with thinnish polythene, this year is my new 30g fleece which says frost proof down to -6 degrees.
As soon as they poke their greenery through the compost in the greenhouse I shall pop a bit of fleece over and round them.
When I am ready to put them in their prepared spot I shall (hopefully and carefully) transfer them to their inside out black bags and bung those under the heavy fleece cover. I have enough room there for possibly 8 sacks with one spud in each. Won't be a massive return but it's giving me something to do.
If you don't experiment - you don't learn eh!!
We shall see. Worth a try anyway for a few early spuds.

Exactly what I propose doing this weekend, the only difference being I'll plant direct into the fert bags with a small amount of compost and top them up as the haulm grows!

[tattieman]

My pots have just arrived from tattieman.

So I have some:

Red Duke of York (FE's) for bags in the garden.
Ulster Classic (FE's) for lottie
Salad Blue (SE's) for bags in garden
Wilja (SE's) for bags in garden
Setanta (MC's) for lottie
Desiree (MC's) for bags in garden

Also had some Kestrels delivered today for the lottie by Mr F.

Oh and I got some hessian sacks, Vitax Pot fertiliser, Dithane pot blight spray stuff and a big tub of Nutrimate that I will probably use on most stuff in the lottie. All of this stuff from tattieman. And three planter bags.....

I think I'm gonna need some more planter bags though......

I love taters but I think I may have gone a bit overboard.....

I think from the sounds of things you could be starting up your own seed potato company
Really glad to hear you are pleased with them.
There were 1536 customer orders sent out yesterday and so far the only problems I have had are that I sent a lady a bag of King Edward instead of Desiree and one mans minitubers got stood on by the delivery driver
When I get a chance I will make a guide to chitting video but I just haven't got time at the moment. I could do with someone to hold the camera for me aswell.

[binley100]

I'm going to get my potatoes from Coventry market - the stall there sells them loose. He said he's got about 50 varieties. I gather from the leaflet he gave me the other day he gets them from WCF Phoenix.

Flippen'eck Wish I'd known about him!

[salilah]

There were 1536 customer orders sent out yesterday and so far the only problems I have had are that I sent a lady a bag of King Edward instead of Desiree and one mans minitubers got stood on by the delivery driver

Mine were here when I got back today - in a big sack! Pink Fir Apple, Int Kidney, 3 lots of Charlotte (came free with the bags) and a bag mixed pack of dark red norland, tuskar, beauty of bute & flourball (plus 4 bags). Good quantities and good size potatoes as well

Definitely got too many - but should be fun!
Salilah

[tattieman]

Mine were here when I got back today - in a big sack! Pink Fir Apple, Int Kidney, 3 lots of Charlotte (came free with the bags) and a bag mixed pack of dark red norland, tuskar, beauty of bute & flourball (plus 4 bags). Good quantities and good size potatoes as well

Definitely got too many - but should be fun!
Salilah

Yes you have a great selection there.
The 5 packs actually have about 7 spuds in so you can select the best ones to plant.
Busy again this weekend doing more mail orders than I will open the shop again.
Charlotte are this years biggest seller so you have made a good choice there.

[dogsbody]

So far I am sticking with tried and tested - Homeguard (1st), Charlotte (2nd) and King Edward (main).

Most will go into 55cm pots (about 3 - 5 in each), if any left over I MAY put some in 1 of 4 raised beds (but am tending towards just pots only this year).

I still have sacks full of last years crops in the shed.

[tracy]

hey bigmally if i put the in the groung will they not grow anyway.. or am i being thick ???