Christmas potatoes question

[busylizzie]

I've seen it mentioned a few times over the last couple of days that you can plant early potatoes in August-ish to get a winter crop.

But my question is, do you have to buy the seed potatoes now and store them yourself (in fridge?) or do some suppliers still sell them in August? Or can you just give it a go with some of the first crop?

If I need to get some more to store, I will have to go shopping again!

[shirlthegirl43]

There are different ways to do it - save some of your seed spuds now (I think in the fridge is supposed to work), save some of your earlies when you harvest them, or buy them from a supplier - Thompson and Morgan I know sell seed spuds for late harvest which are available later in the year, I expect other suppliers sell them too.

[bluemoon]

Dobie's do a lovely catalogue in summer for all those things which need a late summer/autumn planting. It includes overwintering onions and broad beans, spring cabbage seeds and, of course, 'Christmas' potatoes. So you can order when these things are needed rather than having to remember them with your spring order and it also means you can split your annual seed bill into two parts - a definite advantage if it's a huge as mine.

[Cutecumber]

A couple of caveats...

the late potatoes offered by the big seed merchants are expensive in anyone's book and there are only two or three varieties available.

Bear in mind that your chances of success are reduced because of the time of year, and the crops tends to be smaller.

That said, it is wonderful to have any out-of-season crops fresh from your plot so it's worth trying - just don't put all your tubers in one basket as they say

[Snadger]

Carlingford seems to be the potato sold for christmas spuds but you can keep the likes of Charlotte for late planting. Just one point, the potatoes off this summers crop can't be used for planting in the autumn!

[veg4681]

According to my notes, the Christmas spuds (also known as Second Crop Potatoes) that may be planted in late August are:

Vales Emerald: 1st earlies crop ready from May to July
Carlingford, Maris Peer & Vivaldi: 2nd earlies crop ready from July to Oct

You could save some of your summer crops as seed potatoes for growing in August but do bear in mind that these Christmas spuds will be like your new potatoes, no good for roasting. Sorry this would not be possible as Snadger has outlined above - any reason why?

My note also says you can grow them on same patch that grew early potatoes. Obviously you have to be careful of pest and disease if you're using your own saved seed pots or even shop bought ones and you also need to watch out for frost, even those in unheated greenhouse without adequate protection can get frost damage.

[bluemoon]

Charlotte, Julia and Nicola, all second earlies will do too.

[Snadger]

You could save some of your summer crops as seed potatoes for growing in August but do bear in mind that these Christmas spuds will be like your new potatoes, no good for roasting. Sorry this would not be possible as Snadger has outlined above - any reason why?

What I have done in the past veg4681 is either hold some of my original seed potatoes back to be planted later (bury in a biscuit tin two spits deep!) or sometimes when lifting your earlies you can salvage the original seed potato and re-plant it if it hasn't rotted.
As far as I know, because earlies are lifted early ie before the tops have died and the spuds have matured the new crop are reluctant to chit and start growing until the following spring.
I would dearly love to be proved wrong on this point!

[veg4681]

What I have done in the past veg4681 is either hold some of my original seed potatoes back to be planted later (bury in a biscuit tin two spits deep!) or sometimes when lifting your earlies you can salvage the original seed potato and re-plant it if it hasn't rotted.
As far as I know, because earlies are lifted early ie before the tops have died and the spuds have matured the new crop are reluctant to chit and start growing until the following spring.
I would dearly love to be proved wrong on this point!

My Nicola and Vales Emerald as proper seed potatoes have sprouted so I suppose it's too late to hold them back (half of my stock) till August for planting. It's not like I could put them in the fridge to prolong their usability.

Could you not leave the earlies in the ground/pots longer e.g. not harvest them as new potatoes or am missing something here?

[Alison]

What I have done in the past veg4681 is either hold some of my original seed potatoes back to be planted later (bury in a biscuit tin two spits deep!) or sometimes when lifting your earlies you can salvage the original seed potato and re-plant it if it hasn't rotted.
As far as I know, because earlies are lifted early ie before the tops have died and the spuds have matured the new crop are reluctant to chit and start growing until the following spring.
I would dearly love to be proved wrong on this point!

I've not done it myself as I don't really grow spuds (lack of space, even for pots) but I'm pretty sure that somebody (may have been Nick but could be wrong on that!) was talking last year about using your harvested early spuds - did a quick search and couldn't find the thread (so could have imagined it) but that could be down to the wine I've had this evening.......

[bluemoon]

Could you not leave the earlies in the ground/pots longer e.g. not harvest them as new potatoes or am missing something here?

They wouldn't grow for Christmas, but for next spring, also because each plant makes several potatoes they'd be overcrowded when they grew. There'd be a good chance that many, if not all, would be eaten by slugs or other pests during the intervening months and, because they'd grow in the same place as the previous year, it would seriously muck up your crop rotation. This is because the earlies wouldn't keep growing indefinitely, but would eventually die back in the same way that maincrop ones do, then re-sprout from the unharvested crop.

[Snadger]

They wouldn't grow for Christmas, but for next spring, also because each plant makes several potatoes they'd be overcrowded when they grew. There'd be a good chance that many, if not all, would be eaten by slugs or other pests during the intervening months and, because they'd grow in the same place as the previous year, it would seriously muck up your crop rotation. This is because the earlies wouldn't keep growing indefinitely, but would eventually die back in the same way that maincrop ones do, then re-sprout from the unharvested crop.

Logically, I've kept some tubers back from my Duke of York earlies last year for planting this year and they are only starting to sprout now so deffo wouldn't have grown again for Crimbo!

[summer]

Because all of my potato crop was so heavy yielding last year a few roots of earlies were still left in the ground and dug just before Christmas. These were just like new potato, you could scrap the skin with your finger. Only thing is they were so large. I did bake some and they were the most delicious baked potato I had ever had.