When to sow Christmas spuds

[Snoop Puss]

Out of interest, Marb, how big are those tiddlers? I ask because Nicos and I are always amazed at how small seed potatoes from France are.

[Marb67]

Out of interest, Marb, how big are those tiddlers? I ask because Nicos and I are always amazed at how small seed potatoes from France are.

I would say up to a cm in width.

[Snoop Puss]

That is very small. Smaller than French seed potatoes. Mind you, you've had success with one experiment. Let us know how you get on with this one. Good luck.

[Marb67]

To be fair you can kind of get an idea how small they are compared to the seed Potatoe in the image. Everyone said I wouldn't get anything at all so I'm hopefull they may get to full size over the coming weeks.

[Nicos]

They have nothing much to feed them with in all honesty marb. Maybe a little which is left in the original tuber… and a tiny bit rom the roots.
No harm in continuing your experiment though!
It’ll be interesting to see the results.
Snoop Mentioned about tiny seed potatoes in France. Yes, I was shocked at how small they can be
Here is a picture of one of my Charlotte’s which has been chitting.,,

[Marb67]

I think these days quite a lot of the norm has gone out the window and we still get surprises. I have organic Potatoe feed which should boost them somewhat. I'll just pop them in the same bucket as my first earliest when I plant them. May as well as not.

[Snoop Puss]

^I guess putting them in together might affect the results, Marb. If they're a second early or main crop type, disturbing them when you harvest your first earlies might mean they won't get as big as if they were planted separately.

[ameno]

Such pea-sized seed potatoes will need a lot longer to produce a crop, anyway. Not to mention extra care (such as not planting them too deep to start with, as they will run out of energy before they reach the surface, and then filling them in deeper over time as they grow taller).

[Snoop Puss]

Good advice on the extra care, ameno. Worth thinking about this for planting out French tiddlers, Nicos?

[Nicos]

^^^^ yeh… good advice there.
Last year we placed them on the soil surface and covered them in 30 cm straw- topping up the height as it flattened.
So I guess we’d already started , in effect, planting more shallow.