potato question

[mackemdad]

late potatoes, tops knocked down by first frost do i leave them in or take out and throw away

[SueA]

If the tops have been completely killed by frost then the potatoes won't grow any bigger but they should be O.K. in the ground if you don't want to use them yet or you could lift them & eat them. If there's any sign of green foliage or new shoots coming up though you could get them to grow on for a while if you cover the tops with fleece or newspaper overnight to protect them from frost & take it off in the day to let the light to them.

[Jeanied]

When did you plant them Mackemdad? Just wondering if they have been in long enough to have formed tatties.

[mackemdad]

second week in september

[mackemdad]

still all green but drooping

[Two_Sheds]

second week in september

Ah, they should really have been in a greenhouse then, not outside

[chris]

Mine in my greenhouse have dropped over, and are not going all over the floor - one near the door has been bitten by the frost (probably touching the glass?) - not holding up much hope. We'll see though, I guess.. going to leave them in the planter bags until xmas I suppose (depending on how cold it gets)

[Two_Sheds]

(depending on how cold it gets)

potatoes need a minimum growing temperature of 7c

[creag]

help! the tatties are growing!

I planted some chitted tatties in old tyres (2 high) and covered them with about 100mm of compost. A wee while later I chucked a layer of shredded paper from my office on top as there was a bitter frost (West Highlands) I lifted the layer of paper recently and lo and behold, there's wee green shoots struggling through the top of the compost! What do I do now?

[taff]

keep covering them up till the compost/paper/whatever reaches almost the top of the container, then protect the leaves and shoots from frost/snow, and you'll have baby potatoes for christmas dinner.

You really will have to protect them properly though otherwise the foliage will get black and die off and there will be no potatoes...

[Snadger]

Good luck with your Christmas tatties!

I tried two years in sucession to grow them and failed miserably!

I had them growing in a cold frame, surrounded with straw and even had a small apraffin heater in with them, all to no avail as I lost the lot!

I wish you luck, but I would still buy some tatties for your Christmas dinner............just in case!

[chris]

Good to know.. I think it's averaging around 8 in there in the moment, but there's already some spuds in there - so we may have 1 or 2 new spuds for xmas, who knows

[Two_Sheds]

temp at night? It needs to be at least 7c day and night

[FionaH]

All done

[creag]

thanks for the help, i'll give it a go.