Poor potato crop

[Chooklady]

Hello

I planted some chits from the £1 shop a while ago and I have just got round to harvesting them from the sacks they were grown in. Oh dear... just under 1lb of tatties from 4 plastic growers....

Lovely big green leaves and flowers, great soil and plenty of sun and water/shade too

Could it have been the chits? My husband noticed that they were a bit leggy when I planted them. Any ideas?

My raspberries are not doing too well, my tomatoes scorched and went in the compost for the council, the herbs scorched too, no potatoes.... I'm not too good at this growing lark

[Potstubsdustbins]

What variety and how long had they been in the ground? Also you do not mention feeding your containers.

[Penellype]

How disappointing for you

What variety of potatoes were they, and had the foliage died down? My first earlies (Pentland Javelin) have died down now but the rest (Charlotte, Desiree, Sarpo Mira) still have green foliage so I am not harvesting them yet as they may produce more or bigger potatoes. The other question is what did you grow them in? Did you feed them at all? mine are grown in a mixture of rich home made compost and shop bought MPC, but if you just filled the bags with soil they may have been in need of a feed. The long chits are unlikely to have been the problem unless they broke off when you planted them, but even if they did the potatoes would have grown more.

[Strawberry patch]

Hello

I planted some chits from the £1 shop a while ago and I have just got round to harvesting them from the sacks they were grown in. Oh dear... just under 1lb of tatties from 4 plastic growers....

Lovely big green leaves and flowers, great soil and plenty of sun and water/shade too

Could it have been the chits? My husband noticed that they were a bit leggy when I planted them. Any ideas?

My raspberries are not doing too well, my tomatoes scorched and went in the compost for the council, the herbs scorched too, no potatoes.... I'm not too good at this growing lark

Thats what happened to me last year chooklady..I bought "charlotte" and "Maris piper" and put them in sacks and only got about the same as you..Jeeeez i thought what a waste of time and energy..But i tried it again this year and the results have been awesome..Funny thing is i did nothing different..Try again next year chooklady

[alldigging]

Water.
Almost certainly the main problem, then feed.

If they dry out they take forever to get wet again - requires really good soaking I think.

[Two_Sheds]

.Funny thing is i did nothing different..

but the weather may well have done some different

[Two_Sheds]

my tomatoes scorched and ...herbs scorched too

everyone makes beginners' mistakes: successful growers learn from them. Scorch is easily prevented by shading the greenhouse

Herbs shouldn't even be in a greenhouse

[Martin H]

Herbs shouldn't even be in a greenhouse

Agree ... except I am finding that Basil does nicely at the feet of my tomatoes.

[Kirk]

I tried planting in the ground once then gve up and returned to growing in containers - large pots of about 2 foot high and similar at the top. Always found this worked best. Not sure on the nature of the bags you used.

I use about a 50/50 mix of compost and manure, and throw a half gallon of water on each pot about every 2 or 3 days.

Not sure if a lot of foliage is really that good. Say this as the reason I gave up with planting in the ground was I got a huge amount of foliage but almost nothing in the way of potato's. Was half convinced they either produced potato's or lots of green.

The other aspect is that foliage takes water and evaporates it off, thus the compost gets dry quicker.

I also now tend to grew "salad" potato's like Anya and PFA, they suiit my use better.

I would go with the feed and water combination as the culprit.

[Chooklady]

I used Duke Of York first earlies and popped them into green plastic growing potato sacks, also from the £1 shop. They were planted in May.

They were grown in my own compost with added shop bought to top up, admittedly I only fed in the last week with sulphate of ammonia and epsom salts in water.They were watered regularly though, lots of it too in this weather and not till the early evening.

The plants hadn't died down, I thought that the time given that I had waited (pack said 10-11 weeks) that they would be ready. So I got emptying and found very little. One bag had non at all despite having a plant sticking out of the top.

I don't have a greenhouse so no plants were scorched in there, they are outside lined against a south facing white wall. Maybe they do need some protection from this heat. I'll put them in a different place next year.

I never water foliage as I understand that it scorches the leaves. Maybe they need watering from underneath?

[Nannysally99]

I would agree about the feed water combination. Mine are drowned twice daily and fed once a week. I start them off in recycling bags with MPC and a handful of foul smelling potato fertiliser and a bit of Blood fish and bone.,once the haulms get going, then it's weekly feeds of tomorite or liquid growmore. My spuds are brilliant, don't despair, take this as a learning curve and get your fertiliser and water regime right from the off next year. Good luck

[Richard Eldritch]

Pound shop seed potatos are deeply rubbish. They're always small, shrivelled and soft with huge brittle shoots ( ya really can't call them chits at that stage)
Personally I think the better the quality and condition, the better the crop.

[Potstubsdustbins]

RD of York need a minimum of 12 weeks to get a decent crop. That and lack of feed would be your problem. The compost will be 'dead' by week 5 or 6.

With first earlies I usually give a high nitrogen feed after week 5 to promote strong green growth and change to high potash at week 8 or 9 depending on how things are looking.

As to watering my main crop in dustbins are getting a 2 gallon bucket every day in this heat. As I have said before spuds are 80% water so providing your have good drainage you really can't give a mature plant to much.

[Chooklady]

Yes, food and water it is then and not £1 chits Great advice Potstubsdustbins What I did get though were lovely:

Potato Frittata:

I boiled them in small chunks, fried them in EV olive oil and added halved cherry tomatoes to the big frying pan. Poured over 6 beaten eggs, parsley, grated cheese and allowed to set. Bung under hot grill till brown. Serves 3 for two meals with salad, crudites and houmous

[Potstubsdustbins]

That sounds delicious don't suppose you have room at your table by any chance