Leaving Potatoes in their bags?

[grumblz]

After a little advice from the experts please......

I have grown some Maris Pipers in compost bags this year for the 1st time, it seems to have been very successful so far as I already have flowers on the plant and they are nearly 7ft tall when supported! I was planning to leave them in their bags for another month at least before attempting to harvest though.

What I am worried about is that i'm off on holiday in a months time for a fortnight. It's likely the spuds will be ready to eat by then, but I wasn't planning to harvest them before leaving. They won't be watered in my absence.

Will they be ok? Or should I do something specific with them to ensure they are ok on my return?

My 1st though was to cut them clean to the soil and put the bags in a dry and shady position.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Ta

[Bigmallly]

Maris Piper I believe are a main crop potato so I would leave them in their bags and harvest just before you go away.

[rustylady]

How on earth did you get potato foliage 7 feet tall?

[grumblz]

Bigmallly

Thanks for the quick response, not what I wanted tio hear though! Can someone disagree with him please, I really wanted to leave them in the bags :-)

Rustylady

God only knows, all i can say is I used the compost from Wickes and used the same bags for the spuds. I was having to earth them up twice a week and they kept going. they have all flopped over now, but when you straighten them up they are taller than me at 6ft 4" - There's probably no spuds in there though!

[Suky]

We had a talk at a recent Horticultural Club by a very knowlegable guy, a member of the National Vegetable society, who grows all his potatoes in bags. When they are ready he cuts off the haulms (leaves and stems to you and me) lets the bags dry out and stores them in his garage. He reckons they keep fine for months that way as long as the compost is allowed to dry out and is kept dry. The skin does harden a little but remains scrapable for some time.
So, unless you are going on a world cruise, they should be fine.

[grumblz]

Thanks to everyone one for the quick responses.

Great forum, I only came across this site today and appreciate everyone taking the time to respond. I especially like the advice from Sulky. Who came up with the answer I wanted /hoped to hear! I'll give it a go and i'll make sure to post whether it works or not.

Ta

[Sanjo]

We had a talk at a recent Horticultural Club by a very knowlegable guy, a member of the National Vegetable society, who grows all his potatoes in bags. When they are ready he cuts off the haulms (leaves and stems to you and me) lets the bags dry out and stores them in his garage. He reckons they keep fine for months that way as long as the compost is allowed to dry out and is kept dry. The skin does harden a little but remains scrapable for some time.
So, unless you are going on a world cruise, they should be fine.

Great news, as that's what I was thinking of doing. Thanks for the question, and welcome to the vine.

[Suky]

Thanks to everyone one for the quick responses.

Great forum, I only came across this site today and appreciate everyone taking the time to respond. I especially like the advice from Sulky. Who came up with the answer I wanted /hoped to hear! I'll give it a go and i'll make sure to post whether it works or not.

Ta

Ooh don't let my other half see that or he will have a new name for me Mind you, after 33 years he has a few already!

[Noodles]

We had a talk at a recent Horticultural Club by a very knowlegable guy, a member of the National Vegetable society, who grows all his potatoes in bags. When they are ready he cuts off the haulms (leaves and stems to you and me) lets the bags dry out and stores them in his garage. He reckons they keep fine for months that way as long as the compost is allowed to dry out and is kept dry. The skin does harden a little but remains scrapable for some time.
So, unless you are going on a world cruise, they should be fine.

I did this before when moving house and it worked fine. I didn't get around to emptying them for a couple of months and the potatoes were still fresh as a daisy!