How do you know when your potatoes are ready to harvest?

[minibobkin]

Hi, im growing 3 sacks of potatoes wilja, rocket and red duke of york varieties, i have read a lot of things about when to harvest potatoes but people seem to have lots of different opinions so i thought id ask on here for advice on the varieties i have.

I planted them mid april and this pic shows them about a week ago so they have grown a bit since then, do i need to wait for them to flower? do they even flower? do i have to wait a number of weeks? (i read from 8 weeks) any advice would be great, Thankyou.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...n/S6000279.jpg

[Potstubsdustbins]

Hi MB,

Rocket & Red Duke of York are first earlies, Rocket might make it in 8 weeks in ideal circumstances. However this year as been far from ideal so they will take longer. Personally I would give them about 10 to 12 weeks for both your first earlies and then have a gentle feel around (furtle) to see what you have got.

Wilja are a second early and will need 16 to 18 weeks before they are ready.

Hope this helps Colin

[Peas'n'Kews]

Our early pots are trying to flower - what should we do, wait 8 weeks and cut the flowers off or....

Tx!

[Bren In Pots]

I tend to have a bit of a furtle and see if any potatoes are big enough to eat without disturbing the rest.

[Terry1968]

On my spuds the foilage is about 2ft high and beginning to flower?

I believe they are about ready as the guide i got with them says when they flower ?(early june) they are ready so i will be extracting them some time this week

i would take a picture but its peeing down out there

[Terry1968]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]29788[/ATTACH]

this is them some 3/4 weeks ago

[chris]

Flowering is a sign that the tubers are forming, so keep up the watering if they need it, as this will encourage the tubers to swell.

As above, have a gentle feel around in the sack to see how large they are. If they're large enough for you to eat, tip the sack out (on a tarp, or similar makes it easier to clean up) and have a good root through and enjoy!

[minibobkin]

Thanks everyone for that its given me a better idea now, i will look forward to checking them in a few weeks time.

[Andrew0109]

i thought it was when the leaves start to wilter

[Potstubsdustbins]

i thought it was when the leaves start to wilter

It is usual with main crop spuds to allow the haulm to die back before harvest.

Colin

[Bigmallly]

There is also conflicting opinions that removal of the flowers puts more energy into the spuds rather that the seeds you get after flowering........I aim to give it a go as a comparison.

[Farmer_Gyles]

Yesterday i tipped out a bucket of my first earlies (Swift) that were started 25th Feb (15 weeks ago) - 5 really tiny spuds no bigger than a malteser - total yield was smaller than the seed potato i started with!

I checked one of my sacks of Charlottes, planted 1st April (10 weeks ago) - without breaking up the clump of compost too much, I found two small spuds, almost ideal for a salad

looks like i'll need to leave everything a LOT longer ....

[eospete]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]29788[/ATTACH]

this is them some 3/4 weeks ago

Mine look similar to this Terry but the weather has been so hot, wet, hot, wet that I am going to leave my Charlottes until the end of June before I tip out one bucket.
P

[Currysniffa]

Yesterday i tipped out a bucket of my first earlies (Swift) that were started 25th Feb (15 weeks ago) - 5 really tiny spuds no bigger than a malteser - total yield was smaller than the seed potato i started with!

I checked one of my sacks of Charlottes, planted 1st April (10 weeks ago) - without breaking up the clump of compost too much, I found two small spuds, almost ideal for a salad

looks like i'll need to leave everything a LOT longer ....

I planted some swift on the 25th of Feb too. I harvested the first of them on the 19th of May. I can't say I was overly impressed by the yield just over 1.5lb.



I may try a different variety next year.

[janeyo]

I always grow a few first earlies in buckets, they are ready a bit sooner and no pest damage to worry about. I normally find if I am careful I can lift the plant from the bucket and have a look to see if they are big enough, if not I put it back in again