When to sow Christmas spuds

[Marb67]

As blight is still around I am reluctant to plant my Christmas seed potatoes (can't remember variety but it said Christmas on the packet) in containers as this time last year I lost them all to blight (story of my life) so is it safe now if I put them in 5ltr buckets? I have to reuse old compost I'm afraid but will give plenty of organic potato feed.

[peanut]

If you want to grow potatoes for Christmas, they need to be planted in their tubs/bags in late July or early August so they can do their growing before the weather turns and daylight shortens in Autumn.
If you pot yours up now, I would have thought they will just sit in the buckets till Spring and then start growing, if they don't get eaten or frozen and turned to mush if we get a cold winter.

[Marb67]

But they would have got blight if I had planted them then. Looks like I'll have to plant them in spring then

[ameno]

Yeah, you've left it way too late, unfortunately. If you plant them now the in all probability you won't get a crop at all, and you certainly won't get one for Christmas.

If you live in a blight-prone area then honestly it's best not to bother with Christmas-cropping potatoes. If you want homegrown potatoes for Christmas then just grow a second early salad variety at the normal time and then store the crop until Christmas.

[Marb67]

What should I do with these as they need to be in soil ASAP

[Snoop Puss]

Marb, the only thing you can do is plant them as an experiment. But in all honesty I don't think it will be a successful experiment. The ground will be cold and wet and they are liable to rot.

I don't bother growing a lot of things because my climate isn't right. Sometimes we just have to accept that just because a thing can be done in some climates and conditions, it doesn't mean that we can do it in our particular climate and conditions.

If I were in your shoes, to be frank, I'd save myself the effort of experimenting and just bin them.

Sorry to be the bearer of a view you didn't want to hear.

[Nicos]

Yep…frustrating as it is, I too really think you’d be setting yourself up for a fail.
Personally, I’d bin them …sorry.

[Penellype]

To be honest I'd be wary of planting seed potatoes that looked like that at any time of year. You would probably get plants, but the idea is that the potato feeds the plant until it has developed enough leaves to feed itself. Those potatoes look pretty much exhausted, so any plants that grew from them would probably be weak and poor producers at best. The chits ideally want to be upto an inch long at planting time.

[Marb67]

I can't just bin them as it cost to buy them. Surely if I put them in dry pots of compost in the greenhouse they will be safe until Spring. Besides, all those left over spuds in the ground always come up the next year.

What I will say is they were covered in white fly until I gave them a soak in water for an hour.

[Snoop Puss]

^Volunteers do indeed grow, but not all of them. And I take Penellype's point about those potatoes not having enough stored energy to support a plant as it starts to grow, now or in the spring.

But you've nothing to lose except a bit of time and effort. So give it a go.

[Marb67]

I always like a challenge and go against convention. Sometimes it pays off. It's just a bit misleading advertising as Christmas potatoes.

[ameno]

I can't just bin them as it cost to buy them. Surely if I put them in dry pots of compost in the greenhouse they will be safe until Spring.

They'll be dead by next spring is what they'll be. The tubers look to be already almost exhausted. They'll not survive 4 more months without water.
Sometimes you just have to accept a loss and give up. Cut your losses. Chasing lost money like this just because you already invested is known as the sunk cost fallacy.

It's just a bit misleading advertising as Christmas potatoes.

Not really. The instructions are quite clear about when they need planting in order for them to be ready for Christmas. You can't expect to be able to plant them considerably later than that and still have them ready in time.

[Snoop Puss]

Not really. The instructions are quite clear about when they need planting in order for them to be ready for Christmas. You can't expect to be able to plant them considerably later than that and still have them ready in time.

I agree with ameno, Marb. You chose not to plant them in time for Christmas because you were worried about blight. But now they've got next to no time to grow for consumption at Christmas, and no reserves to grow even for next year. There's a world of difference for a tuber planted in spring and growing during warmer and lengthening days and for another planted in cooling and shorter and shorter days.

Yes, volunteer potatoes grow. But if you were to find one, dig it up and compare it with those tubers you have there, you'll see that the volunteer is a nice healthy spud, full of energy reserves, in comparison with those seed potatoes.

If you want to try an experiment, go ahead. You've only time and effort to lose and you might indeed get lucky. But it really is unlikely. You might as well plant them in good time next year, despite the presence of blight. Either you're going to lose them to blight or you're going to lose them because you've waited too long and they have no energy stores and too little time.

Apologies again for being a bit blunt with the bad news.

[Marb67]

Well I shall plant them in spent tomato compost from this year with some bfb feed and a little water. They have to produce something. I have seen broad Beans sown in Autumn go through a hard winter in the greenhouse come back from thin, wispy plants to produce healthy beans next June.

[Nicos]

Do let us know how you get on marb.