Floppy Potato Plants

[AnnetteJ]

I'm growing potatoes in containers and they were all really stong, big, healthy plants, but they've all flopped over in the heavy rain last night! What should I do? Do I leave them to see if they recover or do I tie them up to canes to support them?

Any suggestions greatly appreciated!

Thank you for your help!
Annette

[Paulottie]

let them flop if they are not in the way...or tie foliage together if its more convenient.....don't use canes lest you skewer the spuds.

[AnnetteJ]

Thanks! I'll leave them be and see how they get on for the time being then! I don't want potato kebabs!

Thanks for your help!

Annette

[COMPOST CORNER]

Glad you posted this, my container grown spuds also took a battering.

[allotmentlady]

Leave them as they are, they should bounce back okay.....mine have done the same, I remember lol a few years ago I was gutted thinking they had died lol.,,now I know better, good luck!

[AnnetteJ]

Thanks for your advice! I've just been out to check and some of them are starting to stand back up again, but a couple of the thick stems have actually broken. I guess I won't get much in the way of a potato crop from the broken ones!

I've had a dig round and the potatoes I've found are only the size of peas still! I'm hoping I've got some bigger ones at the bottom of the containers - is this right or am I just being hopeful?!!

[Madame Mucksprout]

Thanks also from me Annette - the exact same happened to me Fri night. It was soo sad to see all my hard work ruined in 1 night.

I hope mine bounce back like the others say :-)

[Alice]

Your potatoes will grow on Annette. They grow rapidly in the last few weeks of their life. You'll know their ready when the top growth starts to die down.

Once when I tipped a bucket out too early and found an awful lot of small ones I picked the big ones and stuffed the rest back in the bucket and left for a couple of weeks. I got a second crop of decent potatoes.