Potato tubs

[dogsbody]

Whilst they are not as big I tend to use 55cm plastic pots. Just bought 6 for £18 from Instore (used to be poundstretcher). Roughly 5 or 6 tubers a pot gives a good return and they are portable enough to be moved into the greenhouses for the Xmas crop.

[nick the grief]

A friend of mine get them from the Coliery where he works they cost £5 as well. I think that they have all sorts in them - Orange juice is a favourite. So it may pay you to ask around Peter. Maybe you could even try the airport itself (go for the catering bit rather than the engineering part.

[cotton54321]

Hi Cotton,
1 place you have to collect in a trailer but there is a farm in Fleckney that does a big load for £60 as long as you are not the other side of the county, let me know if you want the numbers.

Piglet

Hi Pigletwillie,
only just noticed the message you left me in January (not sure how I missed this) regarding the manure. We are south leics (nr Lutterworth) so any numbers info you could give me would be great!
Thanks

[pigletwillie]

I will post them for you this week. I will be on the lottie for the next couple of days, monsoon permiting.

[Pennyskye]

Having had my potato crops decimated by slugs over the years, I now grow my potatoes in tubs. Having seen the price of the ones from the seed merchants and nurseries I was at first put off but then came up with an idea that recycles a waste product from where I work which happens to be a granite quarry.

We get through hundreds of gallons of different types of synthetic oil a week, most of which is supplied in 25 litre barrels with a handy carrying handle on. These barrels are just skipped for disposal once empty and are ground up into granules to be made into other plastic items. I just cut out the top with a knife which is supprisingly easy, and wipe it out with old newspaper and dispose of this sensibly.

once clean, I drill a few small holes into the bottom and add a little grit to deter slugs from trying their luck. The barrels are then half filled with a mix of compost and 10 year old manure, a potato tuber added and then topped up to the three quarter level and once the haulms break through top up to the top. Harvesting is just a case of tipping them out and picking out the tubers. The quality of the resulting tubers is fantastic and of course none are speared by a fork or touched by slugs, the yields are very good as well. An added bonus is that your crop is portable and can be moved around as the tubs have handles and are not too big to lift. I harvest the crop by tipping the barrels out onto a bed that is empty and fork in the compost manure mix as a soil conditioner.

Another variation to this that is used on our allotments is to cut the big blue barrels generally used for water in half, fill as before but add three tubers. Results are again much better than in the ground with more yield from less tubers. If any body local to me would like some barrels, let me know.

David

Hi David

I thought of growing potatoes in a tub, but I have never done it before, can you give me some advice please, and where is the best place to get a tub, Im in Sheffield.

Tanks

Roz

[Pennyskye]

Hi David

I thought of growing potatoes in a tub, but I have never done it before, can you give me some advice please, and where is the best place to get a tub, Im in Sheffield.

Tanks

Roz

[shirlthegirl43]

Hi and welcome to the vine.

Many folks on the vine grow spuds in buckets or assorted containers.

I have had success growing them in the 10 litre black plastic flower buckets (I buy them from Morrisons supermarket - 8 for 99p).

Drill holes in the bottom of the bucket, add some gravel as pigletwillie says, put in some compost and manure (or potato fertiliser) add one seed spud per 10litre bucket and cover with about 4 inches of compost. When the shoots are about 6 inches above the compost level, top up by 4 inches so the shoots are still showing. continue to top up like this (earthing up) until you reach the top of the bucket. Water well (even if it has been wet weather check the soil is wet - potato leaves keep the water off) and wait till they flower and die back then go digging for your treasure.

[Diva1983]

I'm beginning to wonder if those large mango chuntey pots (made of very sturdy plastic) will be good to grow some spuds in?! Might give it a try...

Last year I had bit of a disaster. Tried growing charlottes in an old bin-ended up with abour 8 spuds off 4 tubers. Not sure if that was an an average harvest so I've gone for others this year.

Diva

[allotmentlady]

Go to your local council and ask them for the tubs that had teees in them, they plant the trees in cemeteries and around your local borough. All they would do with them is bin them and they have ready made holes and are ideal.

[Hermit]

Im going to try growing potatoes in thease this year
ASG - 5 x 40L 18" POLY PLANT POT POLYPOTS FLOWER on eBay, also Plastic, Pots Window Boxes Baskets, Garden Plants, Home Garden (end time 06-Feb-09 19:18:16 GMT)
or in bulk Black Polypot Plant Containers im sticking with ebay as i don't need 100, 40 litre ones although he does 50 litres. There cheap and are square so they should work.

[Diva1983]

In another post there's a mention of pop up garden bins-I've just realised I saw some the other day at my local Home Bargains-wonder if they'll have any left on monday?!