Sorry - another spud question

[Ger-annie-um]

I've got all the gen about growing spuds in containers and ...........thanks to you grapes how many to put in a pot, what type of compost and even feeding BUT - how often do I feed the spuds and how much? I have 40L tubs, oh and is phostergen (?) the same as miracle grow.

Thank you

[hamesy]

I filled my tubs with roughly 6 inches of well rotten manure mixed with compost and then another inch of soil, placed my seed potatoes and covered in compost again. I'll probably chuck an hand full of BFB in a couple of weeks and that will be it.

[Paulieb]

I've got all the gen about growing spuds in containers and ...........thanks to you grapes how many to put in a pot, what type of compost and even feeding BUT - how often do I feed the spuds and how much? I have 40L tubs, oh and is phostergen (?) the same as miracle grow.

Thank you

If you use just multipurpose compost that should last for 6 weeks without additives.

Then I'd recommend something like tomorite to boost the tubers towards the end of their growing time, perhaps once a week for the last 3-4 weeks, as thats when the tubers start bulking up. This will differ depending on what type you're growing.

For most types this advice would suggest a gap in the middle. Now you could use a general feed, but I would think that wouldn't really help too much as you'd only end up with more foliage which isn't the aim. Personally I'd prefer the let the plant try to fend for itself to toughen it up so that when you do start feeding with a high potash feed its ready to go.

This year I've mainly used 50% old compost (from last year), with 50% new. Plus I've added some BFB and rockdust, and those potatoes seem to be motoring now, but its only an experiment!!!

[Capsid]

Some good advice here.

I'd invest in the potato fertiliser as this is correctly balanced for NPK and is different from tomato fertilisers.

[Kirk]

I would put half a bag of manure from a garden centre in with each container. The normal garden compost has nutrients added but these are washed out and used up pretty fast.

After that I tend to leave them alone to get on with it, other then watering when drying out too much.

It has worked fine for the past several years and that is what I am doing again this year.

[rob39]

I tend to use multipurpose compost 6" in the bottom then 3 tatties then cover with compost, then as Paulieb, tomato feed after about 6 weeks. Trying a mix of 3 tatties in some bags and 2 tatties in other bags to see if I get a better yield, also planting a couple of rows of 1 earlies and 1 maincrop in the ground to see if growing in bags is worth the extra cost to yield