Advice re potatoes

[Barbara'nTom]

I've read the threads about people's opinions about potatoes and I'd be grateful for any advice about varieties which you think would suit me.

Soil is OK erring on the clay side. Plot is in some shade. For the past couple of years the potatoes have grown well but we have always had a slug problem. Last year was the worst - we grew Anais (earlies) and Cosmos (2nd Earlies) and I was lucky if there was more than potato which had not been attacked in each load dug. I was throwing out more of the crop than I managed to keep. Blight went through out allotment like wildfire so they were dug up fairly early in the season.

Whilst I accept that slugs are part and parcel of growing your own can anyone advise me either on varieties which perhaps have a little more slug resistance or whether I can do anything more to the soil to reduce the attacks. Since the problem is in the ground I am guessing that the usual surface slug deterrants will not have any effect.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[Snadger]

Hi B&T

My dear old Dad battled all his life with the dreaded keel slug and still never mastered it!
He had all sort of concoctions he added to the drills, like mothballs and Napthalene., ***** fluid.......all to no avail!

I've found that if you add a mix of compost/peat/coir and sand to the planting stations it gives the spuds a good start in life and the tatties (for me anyway!) come up clean and reasonably slug free. I don't think slugs with their slimy bodies like the sand content! Just a couple of good handfulls in the hole before planting with another couple over the top seems to work for me.

Earlies are less susceptable to slug damage purely because of the comparatively short time they are in the soil. I have also found that red skinned potatoes don't seem to get as much slug damage, although I don't know whether there are any statistics to back this up.

The modern trend of growing earlies in containers filled with old potting compost or suchlike is a good one and I've had no problems with keel slugs in containers!
Of course crop rotation is a must for spuds and you never know, next years crop on a different area of land may be unaffected!

[Hole Digger]

Hi Barb &Tom.Ime on heavy clay & always have slug probs,have found charlotte&kestrel to be quite problem free snadgers advice about earlies is spot on

[piskieinboots]

heavy clay = grow in pots

[Nicos]

2 doses of nematodes each year should finally reduce the problem dramatically!
Well worth the money- although it is expensive to start with!

[Peter]

Charlotte & Nicola have good slug resistance, 2nd early, but happy to grow on into bakers, in a good year.