time to get the spuds out.

[brownfingers]

Or is it? All the foliage has died down on mine, but do they really need to be lifted all at once, or can you leave them in the ground rather than bagging them up?

[Martin H]

I remove the dead foliage but don't hurry to lift them. There's a risk that the slugs will get them though so don't leave it too long.

[solway cropper]

I've lost about a third of my crop to slug damage this year so I'd be inclined to get them out of the ground asap.

[Roker lassie]

Mine were not as good as last year, mainly too many slugs and eelworm damage. I grew home guard in the ground but had a bumper grow of pentland javeline in the containers. As the previous posts say it is ok to cut most of the foliage down but slugs can be a pain! maybe lift and store them in a clamp outdoors?

[TrialAndError]

Can't slugs get into clamps? They get everywhere else! Actually, that's a serious question, I was wondering about clamp storage myself.

[Tripmeup]

I generally leave them in the ground for as long as possible....Dug some in early Spring this year

[brownfingers]

I've not had any bother with slugs or snails so I may risk leaving them in a while yet. My biggest problem with this years spuds has been scab. Probably need to make the spud beds a bit more acidic?

[Alison]

I let the stems etc die down onto the soil and then leave them a good month or so while it's warmer weather as if I lifted them now they'd be inclined to start sprouting (learnt this the hard way). Usually try to have them all dug up by the end of September-ish though as it's a hard job and I like to get it out the way before it gets too cold out there.

[Roker lassie]

Clamps can be great for storage, i make mine with course sand wich seems to put off those slimy critters and protects the spuds from frost wich is on its way up here!

[Mr Bones]

I normally use a fork to harvest spuds but after tweaking my back the last two rows were lifted using a trenching hoe (azada). First time I've used it for that but it worked brilliant. No back strain and not a single spud damaged.

[Two_Sheds]

My soil is dry & sandy, and never waterlogs, so I leave my spuds in the ground until I need them. Not all slugs attack spuds, mainly the small underground keeled slugs. This year my red spuds got slugged but not the white ones