Potatoes in a bag - have I done this right?!

[HoofyLoo]

I've popped a few potatoes in a tall potato growing bag this year. I've buried them with their sprouts pointing up about half way in the bag and filled the bag to the top with compost. Is this right?! I've read about covering potatoes as they grow. Have I done this wrong!!


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[Bill HH]

Some people prefer to add soil as the spuds grow, beleiving that the leaves that are exposed are getting energy from the sun. Other just bury them. Why not get another bag and do a comparison.

[Veggielot]

I had always thought you only part fill and add compost as you go. However the instructions I got with a bag I just got said fill it.

[chefgage]

I always put some compost in and then put the potato in. The potato then gets covered with a few inches of compost. Everytime it has grown about 4 inches i cover it with more compost. This keeps getting done until the container is full.

I have never tried just filling it up straight away and comparing the difference. Might be an experiment for my main crop

[Bren In Pots]

You can also cover your potatoes over with grass and paper shredding I do after reading the tip on here posted by Twosheds.

[BertieFox]

Everybody, bar none, whom I know who has tried this, or 'potato barrels' has never succeeded in producing more than a small quantity of potatoes. Hardly worth the effort with all that compost and attention. If you feed and water too much, then you get masses of leafy growth at the expense of the tubers; if your feeding and watering is too little, then the plants shrivel. I think when you are doing this because you have limited space, the best and simplest thing to do is to grow them in a large pot with good quality soil based compost. And don't expect a wonderful crop.

[HoofyLoo]

We aren't expecting a huge crop. This is our first go at growing potatoes with my toddlers. If we only get one meal out if them I will have two very proud children.


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[Nannysally99]

We aren't expecting a huge crop. This is our first go at growing potatoes with my toddlers. If we only get one meal out if them I will have two very proud children.


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You will enjoy them however many you get. We started off with a couple of bags last year, and now have 8 this year. The taste cannot be beaten, your kids will live them

[Bill HH]

There are those who get bags bulging with potatoes, look on You tube

https://www.youtube.com/user/baconsoda/videos

https://www.youtube.com/user/allotmentdiary/videos

There are over 500 vids from these two guys, they grow in bags and large buckets, more info than you can shake a chip at.

One important thing is watering, rain just doesnt get into the bags the leaves shield it too much, and potatoes need plenty of water.

[HoofyLoo]

I've been keeping the compost moist by watering everyday except when it rains. We have no lease just yet but my youngest kindly scattered a load of bird seed on them so no doubt well have something growing soon. We've also done carrots in a bag. They're chantenay (sp?) so again not expecting loads but kids are excited to see something grow.
I'll check out those YouTube vids once the little ones have gone to bed. Thank you!


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[Potstubsdustbins]

HoofyLoo, don't let some folks get you down hearted. With the correct advise you can get an excellent crop of spuds from containers, you just need to know what to do and when. I have to admit I have never grown spuds in a bag but then again I have never grown them in the ground either. I use everything from Morrison's black buckets to 80ltr dustbins dependant on whether they are 1st early or main crop.

Do you know the variety of your spuds? Or if they are early, 2nd early or main crop If so we can offer further advice on watering and feeding.

Hopefully you will end up with something like these.

[HoofyLoo]

Hello,
They are main crop Nicola spuds. I can take a pic of the bags tomorrow. I think they were 45 litre bags or something only those lines.



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[HoofyLoo]

Those are glorious potatoes by the way!!!


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[Bill HH]

I grew a lot in bags last year but found them annoying and untidy so this year its large plastic 45 lt tubs I am using.

[Kristen]

Everybody, bar none, whom I know who has tried this, or 'potato barrels' has never succeeded in producing more than a small quantity of potatoes. Hardly worth the effort with all that compost and attention

Whilst I don't dispute that I get less in containers than I do in-the-ground I don't think that is a reason for not doing it, and the folk you have spoken to must have done something wrong if they have got rubbish yields.

I grow in containers to get an early crop, and not to have to keep covering the crop against frost during April (and probably March too) - i.e. I plant my very-early-crop in bags, and "normal" ones somewhat later than normal, avoiding the worst of the late frosts. The early crop I get is at a time when Jersey Royals, and other "local" new spuds fetch a premium price in the shops and, like Sweetcorn, the speed of "Harvest-to-Pot" makes a difference to the amount of sugar in the spud (as it starts changing to Starch from the moment it is harvested) - so mine taste better than shop bought anyway.

I also grow spuds, sown 1st week of August, in bags to have as New Potatoes at XMas. I could do that outside, but chances are that frost would do-for the foliage before Xmas, and watering them in August-October, outside, is more difficult than in containers.

Then there are the folk who have no "ground" and for them containers is the only choice.

And lastly there are the folks that grow in containers ON the ground, because they figure they get a higher yield than just in-the-ground (their aim is to get the plants to root-through the containers into the soil, to have best of both worlds).

Another benefit is the beautifully clean crop you get, compared to growing in the ground.

The amount of compost required is significant, but can be mitigated. I use "new" compost in the bottom, where the tubers are planted. I top this up with all the rubbish that I sieve out of MPC for my seedlings, and a mix of manure and rough compost from my compost heap. Mostly it needs to retain moisture and provide some nutrients, and thus doesn't need to be "finest quality shop bought multi-purpose compost". I use use left over compost from the previous year (provided not from Potatoes / Tomatoes particularly if Blight was prevalent the previous season). Thus I only need a few inches of nice new MPC, rather than a whole bag full for each container.

I grew a lot in bags last year but found them annoying and untidy so this year its large plastic 45 lt tubs I am using.

I put 4 canes at the corners of the bag, and run a string around them at varying heights to contain the foliage, otherwise it flops over and breaks - which is a reduction in energy-generation for the plant, of course. I do the same for large containers too as (to my mind) they suffer from the same floppy-foliage problem. Particularly important if the bags/containers need to be moved at all.