Christmas potatoes question

[Winged one]

Hi folks,

Sorry for yet another thread on Xmas spuds, but I DID ask on another and got no reply.

I have now gotten my seed spuds for a 2nd crop (Orla as the promised Charlotte's weren't available). I have 10 tubers, and I will be growing in 1 75litre compost bag (commercial) and 1 large composting bag (I think about the same or slightly bigger) from Lidl (intended to make your own compost in - so I reckon growing spuds is ok in it).

How many seed spuds should I put in each? I was thinking perhaps 2 in the 75 l bag, and 3 in the slightly larger bag? I can give a few to an uncle, but I want to get as much as possible myself out of the seed (both for the pleasure of eating new spuds in winter, and also as they were €9.95 for the 10!! :0 ).

And would I be right in thinking that I should start with the bag about 1/3 full of compost, putting seed close to top, and adding fresh compost on top as leaves come on, till the bag is full?

Finally, the instructions say to plant by the 1st week in August. We are away the first 2 weeks in august. So am I better off planting before I go and hoping that (if we find the spinkler bit) the timed sprinkler system will be ok for them? Or waiting until I get back and plant them the first day I am home when I can nurture them in person?

Thanks all - I haven't grown spuds in containers before nor 2nd croppers, so woefully lost and wondering have I made a mistake buying the seed (but going to try them anyway now that I have it).

[shirlthegirl43]

I usually put one tuber per 10 litre bucket. I started some spuds in a regular dustbin last year and set 3 tubers on 3 inches of compost at the bottom - once they had grown up and been earthed to almost halfway up the bin, I set another 3 tubers. They were growing nicely and looked quite promising until they got hit by blight last year.

I find that one tuber per 10litre bucket usually gives a meal worth of spuds for our family (two adults and two hungry teenagers) so will be planting my Christmas spuds at that ratio.

As to planting before you go away - the spuds won't do a huge amount in the first two weeks so they should be fine so long as you leave them in a shady spot where the compost won't dry out too much. Set the seed spud on around 3 inches of compost and manure, cover with another few inches of compost. When the stems are around 6 inches high, cover the bottom 4 inches with compost so that the leaves are still above the soil level. Continue like that till bag/bucket is full and keep frost free.

Good luck with them, my first year trying them properly for Christmas too.

[nick nack]

Winged one sorry to pinch your thread on the xmas potatoes.

I planted Jersey seed potatoes in buckets and I started to harvest them last week, very impressed with the yield by the way so I will be growing them again next year.

However the seed potatoes have not gone squashy, are very firm and still sending out shoots so I am going to plant them up again for xmas spuds and see how they go. Has anyone else done this before and was it successful?

NN

[Winged one]

Thanks for that Shirl - will give it a go later this week then.

Sorry Nick Nack, I've no answers for you, but hopefully someone else will soon. Hijack away!!

[terrier]

You don't need the seed spud to grow a plant, Nick Nack, as long as you have the shoots they should root themselves, even potato peelings thrown on the compost heap will produce plants from the 'eyes' (that's how I you'st to get my Chrismas spuds).

[SueA]

I'd give it a try Nick Nack, as Terrier says if they've got shoots still growing off them these should produce potatoes. If the crop you've lifted is healthy you could always save a couple of those & use them as seed potatoes too.

[SueA]

Winged one I'd put 3 in each bag & you should get a decent crop but probably not as big as spring planted ones. You can leave the bags outside & they should be fine, the tops will start to die off if we get a frost though but you can cut them off & leave the potatoes in the bags until you want to use them they just won't get any bigger. I grew some last year in a tub outside, forgot about them & found them, perfectly alright this spring when I came to empty out the tub to re-use it! Some people put the bags in a greenhouse as this gives you a longer growing period avoiding the frost or you could also cover the tops of the bags with fleece if frost is forecast. I'm trying Carlingford this year & they're going to have to take their chance outside.