Potato Plants - is there a healthy/ideal height?

[Iamhanuman]

I was just wondering, is there an ideal height for potato plants?
I mean, if they get really really tall prior to flowering is that good, or is that too much leaf production and not enough root production?
I haven't posted in an absolute age, due to holiday, family and so on, but that doesn't mean I haven't been harvesting.
We've had a pretty good amount of Epicure potatoes out of the first rubble sack, despite it not flowering and wilting.
The experimental Anya and Estima from the back of the veg cupboard did surprisingly well and the second rubble sack of Epicure was not very good as I think the clay soil used to earth up was too thick.
Son and I are going to get the last of his three Epircure rubble sack harvests later on today and we will see as that was earthed up with purely compost.

But all of the seed potatoes we've planted have grown exceptionally tall and in some cases collapsed apparently under their own weight.

They have all been fed with organic potato fertiliser according to the packet instructions and watered weekly.

Anyone got answers for me?

[cupcake]

On our local radio gardening slot this morning, the "expert" advised that it was better not to feed potatoes in containers, just water them. His reasoning was that it encouraged top growth at the expense of the potatoes. He even said he would mix in soil with multi purpose compost. I'm sure Tattieman can comment on that.

[Iamhanuman]

well i tried to follow Tattieman's advice, so i'm wondering whether its positioning, or the amount of fertiliser they received, and so on.... ??

[Sheepish]

Cupcake,
I half heard that comment en route to the bathroom but didn't get the full story. What were the details of the question? In different bags I've been using near 100% growbag compost and bit of growbag combined with old compost (e.g. last years' hanging baskets - nothing that was used for spuds or toms) and the occasional few chicken manure pellets and often emptying the remains of the teapot in there too.

[Iamhanuman]

i would dearly love to know!!

[Snadger]

Different potato varieties grow their tops at different heights! Also feeding regimes with a nitrogen bias can have effects on top growth.
A few years ago Pink Fir Apple grew the tallest foliage I've ever grown at about 6 feet high! There was still a decent crop underground though!

My tatties have been battered down with the wind lately, but a couple of still, warm days has given them renewed vigour!

[tattieman]

Hi all I have got my spuds growing in all types of bags and they have all fell over but I have supported them with netting and that has done the trick. Each variety haulms grow their own way and I don't think there is a perfect height for them.
Mixing soil with the compost would help with the water being retained and cheapens the cost of the mix which is a good thing. The bad side could be that the soil could contain disease if it taken from an area where spuds have been grown.

[solway cropper]

I started off some bagged tatties in the greenhouse which reached about 3 foot high before I put them outside. Then we had some strong winds in May which really damaged them but they still produced a reasonable crop. As tattieman says, there is no ideal height but i have found that container grown spuds produce more top than those in the ground.

[Iamhanuman]

the bag we harvested today had about 3lb of potatoes in it
that was from four seed potatoes
to me that doesn't sound like very much, so i'm thinking i need to improve what i'm doing somewhat if it's not necessarily the massive height!!

[rana]

Surely the more top growth there is the bigger the potential crop?

[Snadger]

Surely the more top growth there is the bigger the potential crop?

You would think so wouldn't you? I am lead to believe though that if the plant puts it's energy into top growth it doesn't put as much energy into producing tubers. Its all about balance I suppose.

[tattieman]

Snadger is correct. You don't want huge haulms on earlies as you want a crop of spuds to be ready asap. I grew one potato in 17 litres of compost and the haulms were 2.5feet high and I harvested over 4lbs from that one potato. That variety was winston. The ones I am growing in compost bags have been a disaster so far. All haulm and no spuds.
The ones I am growing in the potato planter bags are looking good. I have spuds at the top of the bag and the bag feels tight as if it is full of spuds. If I could get 12lbs from that bag I think that would be a great result. I have 5 seed potatoes in one bag and 3 seed potatoes in other bags so that I can compare yields.

[Pumpkin Becki]

Tattieman, my King Edwards in rubble sacks have about 4ft tall haulms, some have been snapped in the wind, but the majority seem healthy enough. Will bag-grown maincrops need to be in until September time like ones in the ground, or if the haulms are suffering, would I be better to harvest a bit sooner?

[tattieman]

Hi Becki. It is the length of day that makes maincrops mature. I have some maincrops that have grown tubers the size of walnuts at the moment so I would expect them to be up to a decent size in 2-3 weeks time. Best idea is have a furtle and see what is there.

[Pumpkin Becki]

Best idea is have a furtle and see what is there.

Hooray, more furtlin' for me. Thanks Tattieman your a star.