Maincrop flowering now?

[kitty12345]

Another question...

I planted Charlotte (second early) and Victory Arran (maincrop), but got them switched in my mind because the maincrop is flowering and the Charlotte looks tiny! I can confirm this is the case as I accidentally dug up a maincrop and went oops as it is a purple potato.

Problem is the Charlottes are not flowering yet but the maincrop is flowering

Should I still wait until August to harvest the maincrop?

Some of the Charlottes have gone yellow without flowering and I dug them up yesterday and they were teeny tiny. Shall I wait for flowers or just start harvesting?

Both planted in March.

thank you...

[Snoop Puss]

If the leaves have gone yellow, that suggests your Charlottes think they're done. But it does sound odd. Have you treated them differently in any way?

[bikermike]

All my spuds are still growing strongly, i think it could be a bumper year for them...
i've got charlotte, sharpes express, desree and pink fir.

And no idea which are which thanks to losing my notebook..

[Thelma Sanders]

I think the Charlottes are small because we didn't have much early summer rain, again this year. My soil was still quite dry right up 'til last week's downpour.
I'd leave them both a bit longer, as unless the foliage is actually dying back, they will carry on getting bigger.
Keep an eye out for blight though, after all this rain. Fingers firmly crossed for you!

[kitty12345]

Thanks everyone. The Charlottes are all slowly turning yellow without flowering. Very small, and I didn't water them much as I thought they were the main crops and still had time

Is it strange that the main top is flowering in June? Everywhere I've read that once it flowers it is ready to harvest but surely June is too early.

Confused.com here, but all part of the learning experience.

[Chippy Minton]

My understanding has always been:

• When earlies flower they should be ready
• Not all earlies flower
• Maincrops flower but you ignore that
• Maincrops are ready when the foliage starts to die back

Our maincrops are also flowering, we just remove the seed pods when they form to stop the dog eating them. We dig them up once the foliage starts to die off or the blight hits (whichever is sooner).

Had some reasonable crops from the Lady Christl, poor from the Charlottes, but the Charlottes are in a very dry spot and with the early low rainfall they probably haven't had enough water. The pots are dong really well as they were watered and fed.

[kitty12345]

Ok I will ignore the maincrop flowering. I've noticed the plot neighbour's started flowering too

Need to better at remembering what I've planted where