Chitting and planting potatoes

[tattieman]

Workhorse put all of your spuds out to chit and plant them all at the same time.
First earlies will mature in 70-110 days
Second earlies will mature in 110-120 days and your maincrops will take between 125-145 days to mature if they are all planted at the same time.
It is all about how long it takes to mature not when to plant them.
Iamhanuman glad you like the blog leave some comments if you like.

[wornoutmumoftwo]

tattieman - thanks for the advice, jbaseedpotatoes is where I got mine from, I bought one of the bag sets.

[tattieman]

Hope they do well for you wornoutmumoftwo.
Follow my instructions in the top tips page of this site about container growing.

[janeyo]

potato mistake

I accidentally planted half my main crop (desiree) thinking they were earlies (duke of York) today.
Will they be ok? Should I dig them up again?

Also the desirees weren't red and I would have thought the seed potatoes would have been red.

Also do salad potatoes store for long? I have 3 tubers of Pink Fir and 5 Nicola but don't really want them all to be ready at the same time so wondered if they store once harvested? I planted a few of these in buckets a couple of weeks ago and are in the greenhouse. But the rest will go on the potato bed.

Thanks

[Farmer_Gyles]

digging them up would be an awful waste of effort .........

i'm planting all my spuds tomorrow (hopefully!) - 1st earlies, 2nd earlies, and maincrop - planting times and spacing and growing times etc are not a precise science - i'll digging up the first earlies in maybe 10-12 weeks time, maincrops will stay in the ground a bit longer

i'm plannign to loads of digging up done in one go - all 1st earlies in one go, all 2nd earlies in one go etc - then store all the spuds in sacks - i've still got some tiny salad spuds in a bucket, i dug them up around september

i'm no expert tho .........!

[Iamhanuman]

hi janeyo

it is not a mistake
i once thought so but the tattieman put me straight
all potatoes can go in the ground at the same time - 1st, 2nd and main crop
as long as you protect them from frost, etc
they are named for how long they take to come to harvest, not when they go in

so well done you'll have a lovely main crop in the late summer!!!!

[Farmer_Gyles]

oh yeah - my desiree are not very red - there is a very slight redness in the skin - it does show up better when the spuds are fully grown

[jacob marley]

oh yeah - my desiree are not very red - there is a very slight redness in the skin - it does show up better when the spuds are fully grown

You will find they look dull because they are dry when you dig them in the autumn they will look a deeper red until they dry out....jacob

[sallym]

Spuds. All together or not?

Hi. Hopefully I will be planting my Spuds tomorrow. I've just been reading another thread which says it is ok to plant Earlies, 2nd Earlies and Maincrop all at the same time. Was only going to plant my Earlies tomorrow, but if they can all go in at the same time I would much prefer to do so.
What do you do?

[tomsloc]

can I cut large seed potatoes in half

Hi, This year my arran pilot seed potatoes were much larger than normal so in 3kg there were only 22 .Can I cut them in half (they are sprouting well).

Thanks Tom

[Capsid]

Yes, you can.

[Alice]

Hi Janeyo, your pink fir apples and Nicola won't be ready at the same time. Nicola will be ready in about 13 weeks but your PFA want about 22.

[jacob marley]

When you cut them make sure you leave an eye with a shoot on it i cut some Nicola up last year a mate gave me some and they was just to big i cut some of them in to quarter's and every piece grew and and a good crop to .
Cut them just as you are going to plant them and they will not dry out then....jacob

[miffy]

That is really good to know, i have only put in my first earlies today, i will pop the others in tomorrow too and that will clear up space for seed trays in the front room!! Got fleece to protect them at the ready

[zazen999]

I was going to put all mine in on the 17th but we have decided to lug a load of stuff up there tomorrow so they will go in in the morning. The whole lot - earlies, mains etc.