Lady Crystal and Red Duke of York

[redser]

Hi - I have a couple of questions on these if you dont mind.
I planted a few of each in large pots in early February in the tunnel for extra earlies.

The Red Duke of York are flowering now. So is this the good time to give them a feed of liquid tomato food?

Also, do Lady Crystal have flowers? I thought these would be earlier than the Duke of York but they dont have any flowers (yet???).

Thanks a lot!

[Thelma Sanders]

Lady Christl rarely has flowers see this website
Variety

I don't usually wait for earlies to flower, have a rummage in the pots and see if the spuds are big enough yet

[redser]

Thanks a lot Thelma, that's a good website!

[snohare]

is this the good time to give them a feed of liquid tomato food?

As the idea behind tomato growing is to grow lots of fruit, I'm not so sure that this wouldn't be counterproductive - it's likely to encourage the tattie seeds at the expense of the tuber growth, because it has the higher ratio of potassium(I think it's that) that will encourage flowering rather than foliar or root growth.
Personally, I would be feeding something like seaweed feed, comfrey tea, or if you really want to go commercial, potato fertiliser, rather than tomato feed.
I can tell you that urine worked well on my RDOY's...

[redser]

Thanks snohare, I have plenty of that
I thought it was strange too but I'm sure I read somewhere that tomato feed is good for spuds in the later stages. Especially since I have plenty of it on hand for the toms later in the summer!
Cheers

[redser]

I suppose potatoes are fruit when you think about it, its just that we tend to keep the tubers covered with soil to stop them growing green and to protect them from frosts.
So to answer my own question, yes feed them now with tomato food

[Paulieb]

I harvested a bucket of Lady Christl spuds this week (planted 6th Feb) and after 14 weeks I would normally expect about 600g from one spud. However due to the extremely slow Feb and March I only harvested 70g of very small ones. Very tasty though!

The plant looked pretty substantial but had no flowers,and coincidentally my RDOY potatoes are just starting to show some flowers.

As the idea behind tomato growing is to grow lots of fruit, I'm not so sure that this wouldn't be counterproductive - it's likely to encourage the tattie seeds at the expense of the tuber growth, because it has the higher ratio of potassium(I think it's that) that will encourage flowering rather than foliar or root growth.
Personally, I would be feeding something like seaweed feed, comfrey tea, or if you really want to go commercial, potato fertiliser, rather than tomato feed.
I can tell you that urine worked well on my RDOY's...

You are correct that Potassium is used for flowers and fruits, however looking up in my Diploma notes it is also used for secondary thickening (when a plant goes woody or parts thicken up). This is also what happens to potato roots. The roots grow then the end of each roots thickens up into a potato, which hopefully explains why potassium is good for spuds.

Having said that plants need a good amount of all NPK right through the whole growing process for all sorts of different functions, aside from the obvious well known functions.

Hope that helps.

[redser]

Brilliant! Thanks for that Paulie, it does make sense. I'm going to be a bit more patient with the spuds and give them a good feed and a few more waterings. They were very slow to break the surface with the cold alright so I suspect there's not much going on yet.
Thanks

[Potstubsdustbins]

I start my earlies on tomorite week 7 or 8. Feed them once a week until harvest, I started this regime some years ago and noticed a considerable increase in yield.

I have RDoY and LadyC in pots and dustbins but the weather has not been conducive to a early harvest this year. My notes tell me the ones in BFBs were planted on 05/03 in the GH but the first sign of germination was 29/03 I will therefore furttle back end of this month.

I have been growing LadyC for a number of years some in BFBs and some in dustbins, these are left to grow on to about 15 to 18 weeks for chippersw and bakers, still never seen one flower.

Potty

[rustylady]

I suppose potatoes are fruit when you think about it,

No, they're not. The fruit referred to is the tomato like fruit that follow the flowers.

[marchogaeth]

My RDOY are ahead of the LC's in bags in my tunnel. Flowers just coming out on the former planted 25/2. They get pee!

[mothhawk]

Thought for a brief mo that you were starting a bodice ripper redser

"Lady Cristal and the Red Duke of York", a historical tale of betrayal and passion, gardening and potatoes, to rival Lady Chatterley!!!

[redser]

I start my earlies on tomorite week 7 or 8. Feed them once a week until harvest, I started this regime some years ago and noticed a considerable increase in yield.

I have RDoY and LadyC in pots and dustbins but the weather has not been conducive to a early harvest this year. My notes tell me the ones in BFBs were planted on 05/03 in the GH but the first sign of germination was 29/03 I will therefore furttle back end of this month.

I have been growing LadyC for a number of years some in BFBs and some in dustbins, these are left to grow on to about 15 to 18 weeks for chippersw and bakers, still never seen one flower.

Potty

Thanks potty, great detail as usual, I gave them all a feed this evening. Furtled a little but found nadda.

No, they're not. The fruit referred to is the tomato like fruit that follow the flowers.

Thanks

My RDOY are ahead of the LC's in bags in my tunnel. Flowers just coming out on the former planted 25/2. They get pee!

Mine will too.

Thought for a brief mo that you were starting a bodice ripper redser

"Lady Cristal and the Red Duke of York", a historical tale of betrayal and passion, gardening and potatoes, to rival Lady Chatterley!!!

'This tale will make you laugh, cry, and pee, all at the same time'

[solway cropper]

I've already had a few meals of earlies grown in containers in the greenhouse and planted mid February. Like Paulieb the yields are dramatically down although there is plenty of top growth and the feeding regime is broadly similar to previous years. I use BFB as a general fertilizer in the potting mix and then alternate feeds of seaweed tea and tomato feed. This cold spring seems to have had a significant effect on tuber production but I'm hoping the outside plantings will do much better now things are a bit warmer.

[Alison]

In theory my first earlies in the tunnel should be ready by now (ie if you look at the calendar) but I'm leaving them an extra couple of weeks this year as they got off to such a slow start. As they're in the ground I don't feed them at all but prepare the ground well and let the soil feed them but obviously in pots it is rather different.