Nicola potatoes what went wrong

[Gogledd]

Hi all, where to start...at the beginning I suppose l.... March i planted out 4 bags of nicola potatoes in potato bags. Fed with phostrogen and potash regularly, watered well and everything seemed to be going swimmingly, earthed up when new growth formed and leaf growth was good, infact by the end it looked like the canopy of an ancient rainforest

The pic was taken about a month ago and the foliage had doubled if not more in size, the foliage including the bag was topping 5ft secured with bamboo canes to support weight etc.

Lovely flowers formed and I thought I was in for a bumper crop...

Fast forward to last night when i emptied 2 bags and all I had was a handful of smallish potatoes

My questions are

1: what have I done wrong

2: how can I improve yields

3:varieties for high crops suggestions

Any help would be great


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[Potstubsdustbins]

If I am right Nicola are a second early and will need 18 weeks at least from setting to harvest, could this be your problem?

With both main crop and second earlies I like to let the haulm die right back before harvest.

[Gogledd]

Thanks for the reply, I've pulled them due to the fact that the Halims had all fell over and looked like they were dying back, I might have been wrong, but surely there should have been more taties in there than there were even if they were tiny or am I wrong ( second year growing potatoes and they didn't do well last year either)


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[Jeanied]

I had the same problem with taters that the school gardening club grew using potato bags - they were chucked out because there was no growth on top any more and nothing much in the bag. I think the mistake was lack of watering every day.

[Bill HH]

I would say not enough water, they really do need it. But given the large amount of top growth do you think you have been giving them too much nitrogen? This will create a lot of leaf growth at the expense of the roots. Mine are in containers and I put a handful of chicken pellets and a handful of BFB at planting, but then only use tomorite in the later stages.

[salilah]

Re watering, mine are watered once a week with a hose (30secs each) so that the water comes out the bottom - I find without this, they are way too dry as the foliage stops the water getting into the bag

Mine are grown in a mix of black fenland soil and well-rotted horse manure (Denise's Delight!) - so I don't feed them at all - unless the leaves are going spotted yellow when they get a dose of epsom salts

I dug my first bag of earlies (Foremost) last night - reasonable crop though a fair number of small ones - they went in around 20th April or maybe a week earlier, so I wasn't expecting that many - my notes say 100d for first early, 120 day for second early...

Sorry haven't grown Nicola so don't know that variety - I do know the year I had really poor yields was very dry and I didn't water much? So that would support Bill's thoughts...

[Nannysally99]

I have great crops from all my potatoes grown in bags. They are watered EVERY day, that's the key to it I think. They get a tomorite feed every Friday as well

[Gogledd]

Thanks for the replies guys I'm going to take the advice on board, just hoping to get myself sorted so next year we can all get at least 1 potato each haha cheers


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[Richard Eldritch]

I think you've over fertilized them. I just put Blood fish and bone in the bottom 4 inches of the bag, put the seed tats on top and put another 4 inches covering them, then earth up as they grow. They don't need feeding every week. Like a lot of people I'm using Dan@Allotmentdiarys technique which works well for me.

[Nannysally99]

Thanks for the replies guys I'm going to take the advice on board, just hoping to get myself sorted so next year we can all get at least 1 potato each haha cheers


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This is our second year growing spuds Gogledd, like you we learnt the hard way. With a few failures and a little knowledge under our belt we have doubled our potato crop and currently can't eat them quick enough lol. Main crop spuds in the ground is this years new venture. You just wait and see what questions I will be asking in a couple of months time....

[Gogledd]

Thanks guys, I've just been out and pulled another bag for tonight's tea and I've pulled out 3 and a half pound of second earlies from 1 bag, I think there we're around 5 seed potatoes in the bag is this a good return? Finding it hard to get a benchmark of what return per seed potato you should get


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[Bill HH]

Thanks guys, I've just been out and pulled another bag for tonight's tea and I've pulled out 3 and a half pound of second earlies from 1 bag, I think there we're around 5 seed potatoes in the bag is this a good return? Finding it hard to get a benchmark of what return per seed potato you should get


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Its not good but its not bad either, you could have got 7lbs from 3 seeds if all went well. But its the taste that counts, enjoy. I think 5 seeds in a bag sounds a lot unless its a very big bag, 3 might have yielded more.

[Gogledd]

Thanks bill, I guess it's a massive learning curve i planted 3 then layered with 6 inches of soil then 2 more, then a few more inches of soil and earthed up until the top of the bag, i will do some trials next year i think to find out what's the best amount of seed potatoes, I'm enjoying the learning curve and the taste is good!


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[Bill HH]

Thanks bill, I guess it's a massive learning curve i planted 3 then layered with 6 inches of soil then 2 more, then a few more inches of soil and earthed up until the top of the bag, i will do some trials next year i think to find out what's the best amount of seed potatoes, I'm enjoying the learning curve and the taste is good!


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I am on a learning curve two, I am a believer in giving things room to grow and have never been impressed with plating spuds on top of spuds, lots of demands for space, food and water, better just to get another bag IMO. The trouble with the learning curve is it lasts so long you forget what your learnt in the first place.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Why water is essential to a good crop of potatoes...............Because the potato you harvest is 80% yes 80% water.

Therefore lack of water equals lack of spuds simples.

I have never grown spuds in bags I use plastic dustbins and recycled plastic cold water storage tanks for second and main crop. I water as posted above using a two gallon bucket in this hot weather about every two days. They start life with recycled compost sweetened with 777 growmore and a handful of potato fertiliser. This is depleted after about 6 weeks of good growth, they then get high nitrogen until we have about six weeks left to harvest when I change to high potash.

Yield for Picasso main crop is anywhere between 20 to 24 pounds for 4 seed potatoes.