Compost

[anthonyjb]

Hi all

Can you reuse mpc to grow spuds in if added chicken pellets

Thanks Anthonyjb

[Bigmallly]

Hi Anthony, You could grow spuds in it but I would leave out the pellets as they are alkaline & may encourage scab.

[Penellype]

I reuse all my old compost - I have a dedicated compost bin into which I empty anything that I am not going to reuse immediately. I add blood fish and bone to it when I plant, as this is a balanced, slow release fertilizer. I then tailor any extra feeding to the type of plant that I am growing.

[bario1]

You can buy specific potato fertiliser which you could add to your compost - I got some from the pound store - 1 box did all my bags.

[Potstubsdustbins]

I have found that just using specialist potato fertiliser does not give the same yield as when you also add a basic 7-7-7 fertiliser like BF&B or growmore. I might be a trace element thing, but mine always get both these days.

[Two_Sheds]

Chicken manure is on the alkaline side (which encourages scab, as BM says), and it's highest in nitrogen (which is for leaf growth).

For spuds, you don't want massive leaves, you want spuds.

[Potstubsdustbins]

How true it is I don't know, but they always used to say about main crop the better the haulm the better the yield. The theory being that as the haulm dies back its energy goes down into the spuds.

Being an oldie myself on main crop I always go high nitrogen for the first 14 weeks and then change to high potash for the remainder of the growing season. Not sure if it makes a difference but as I get good yields I don't see the point of changing.