potato buckets

[serenity]

hi everyone, question from a newbie

this is my first year growing spuds and as I have limited space I am going to try some in containers, swift and charlotte. can anyone tell me what is the optimum size for the container? and what type of container works best?

dobies were selling the spuds and buckets together, a bucket 40cm by 40cm with 5 seed potatoes but this sounded a bit overcrouded to me.

I read somewhere that someone grows theirs in the large supermarket trolley bags, the big square ones you open out and put in the bottom of the trolley (obviosly ) and this sounds quite a good idea as they are large and cheep too. Anyone have any other sugestions?

[supersprout]

Hello serenity , what a lovely name!
The film/series or the state of mind?

Tub trugs
Builders' bags
IKEA bags

Growbags: cut off top and stand on its end. Poke a few holes in the bottom for drainage. You might want to feed if it's a cheap growbag

[serenity]

well I aim for the state of mind but having 2 kids.....well...we're all human

Ikea bags are a great idea. they are flat on the bootom too so won't topple over. thanks supersprout.

[bloomingbethan]

re pots and potatos

I was thinking of buying those buckets from dobies too but if i keep getting new things i will be skint i think i will try the grow bag idea i started chitting my potatos yesterday in egg boxes on a cool windowsill

[serenity]

they were very expensive. sure you could pick something up much cheeper in wilcos

[bloomingbethan]

nearest wilkos is chester an hour a way

[Alice]

Hello Serenity, good luck with the potatoes. I grew Charlotte in buckets last year and they were excellent. I think 5 to the bucket is too many. I used 3 and that worked well. You can also use empty compost bags. Put holes in the bottom, roll the bags down and just roll them up again as you go.
I also tried growing them in a dustbin as I had a few spare since before we had the wheelies. I was disappointed with this as I got 4lbs potatoes from each bucket but only 7lbs from the dustbin. Seemed a poor return for all the extra compost and manure. I'm going to stick to the buckets as it works well for me.

[serenity]

thats good to know alice. I had been thinking that the potatoes would not perform as well in a small container but it seems the opposite is true. I think that I am going to experiment this year and grow some in a variety of different containers and see which works best. Morrisons sell black flower buckets, 5 for a pound so I plan to use these too but vary the amount of seed potatoes I put in each

[Sunbeam]

Hi there - are we talking 3 to a normal bucket-sized buckets here or large ones

[JennieAtkinson]

Hi Serenity - after advice from a Grape here last year I bought cheap grow bags, cut into two, stood on end, with two spuds planted in each. Had quite a good harvest, but did have a bit of a job watering the bags (oooh just had a great flash of lightning......) so going to tubs (way... there goes the thunder!) this year.

[Alice]

Sunbeam, we're just talking bucket sized buckets.

Serenity, that sounds like a good plan. Keep a written record of what you do. We all think at the time we'll remember what we planted in what - but we don't !

[Berr]

Alice, interested in your evaluation of relative merits of buckets and bins. Thinking bucket-sized buckets would be too small I grew in pots of about twice the volume. I also grew in a similar number (10) of redundant refuse bins. I filled the bottom third of the bins with whinstone pieces, and planted on top. I agree that the bins were relatively poor value but I was able to plant four tubers in each, and only 3 in the pots. I'm going to try the buckets this year. Thanks for the tip. How many did you plant per bin, please?

I.

[serenity]

Hi Serenity - after advice from a Grape here last year I bought cheap grow bags, cut into two, stood on end, with two spuds planted in each. Had quite a good harvest, but did have a bit of a job watering the bags (oooh just had a great flash of lightning......) so going to tubs (way... there goes the thunder!) this year.

Grow bag idea is a good one. This year I am going to grow some tumbling tom tomatoes in growbags hanging over the wall like a horses saddle. the bag hangs over a wall or fence with roughly half the content at each side, make a cut just above the level of the compost on each side and plant through this. It might work for spuds too if the top growth isn,t too tall. Any sugested varieties for this?

[Lesley Jay]

This sounds like a good idea for tumbling tomatoes but will potatoes be too heavy?

[Alice]

Hello Ber, I planted 3 tubers in eack bucket and averaged 4lbs per bucket. The varieties were Charlotte, Nicola and Nadine. One lot of Nadine burst the bucket. I thought Charlotte had the best flavour.
I grew one bucket of Rooster, only one tuber in it, and got over 6lbs, so I think I'll grow some more of that.
I had Charlotte in the dustbin, 7 tubers, and got 7 lbs, so not as good as the buckets for all the extra compost. Also although I put a hollow pipe down to the bottom of the compost I found the watering difficult to judge, and was never sure if any water was getting to the bottom.
This year for all my containers I'm going to drill the holes round the outside edge, rather than just the bottom, and that way I can see if any water is running out.
Hope you get a great crop.