Potato Experiment - How many seed potatoes per pot?

[Penellype]

Apologies if there is another thread about this - I'm sure there was some discussion earlier in the year, but I can't find it.

I decided to try something new this year with my Rocket potatoes. Normally I use bags and plant 3 seed potatoes per bag, but this year I decided to use 30 litre buckets. These seem a little smaller than the standard bags in that they hold slightly less compost.

I had plenty of seed potatoes, so having planted 2 buckets of 3 I decided to do one bucket with 2 potatoes near the bottom, and another on the same day in as near identical conditions as possible, with 2 seed potatoes in the same place as the other bucket, and 2 more much higher up. Both of these last 2 buckets have now been harvested (the ones with 3 in have not).

Results:
2 seed potatoes yielded 3.3lb (1.5kg) of potatoes. Most of these were golf ball sized or larger and there were few really small inedible ones.
4 seed potatoes yielded 3.5lb (1.6kg) of potatoes from the same amount of compost etc. Many of these were smaller than a golf ball, although there were some larger ones. There were a lot of pea sized, inedible ones.

I found this interesting as I was expecting more potatoes in the bucket with 4 seeds, the higher up ones not competing for root space with the lower planted ones. I have watered them diligently, so it is unlikely to be a shortage of water, and indeed the potatoes don't have that dryish texture that you get when potatoes have been very short of water.

The buckets with 3 potatoes each were planted in a different sort of compost (fresh from the hotbin rather than from my recycled bin) and the later buckets were harvested earlier as they were developing spots on the leaves, which the hotbin buckets are not. Because of this difference, the yields from the other buckets probably won't be a fair comparison.

Interested to know if anyone else has a similar or different experience of growing early potatoes in layers in containers like this.

[Potstubsdustbins]

A few years back I tried it with an 80ltr dustbin, my thought being the uppermost seed would have more depth. They were set in two layers of three seeds.

Next to that dustbin I had one exactly the same but set in my usual way with four seeds about 6 inches from the bottom of the bin.

As it was an experiment I made sure that both bins were identical right down to them both being black. Both bins were watered and fed exactly the same and at the same time.

Both were harvested within an hour of each other. The result was pretty much the same as yours, the layered bin produced a great many very small, mostly unusable potatoes. Suffice to say I went back to my old way the next season.

[maverick451]

Hi

I did come across an article last year which tried a few different things inc different number of potatoes in each bag and using small vs large seed potatoes etc.

The only thing that seemed to work was the different layer method, I.e planting 2 seed potatoes but having one at the bottom and the 2nd one higher up, what I have learnt with this method is you have to plant both seed potatoes at the same time, it doesnt really work if you plant the first potato then fill the pot up as it grows and then add your 2nd potato and the first potato will be about 2 foot tall before the 2nd one emerges and gets crowded out.

I just fill the whole pot up in one go, the deeper potato is about 12-14inches deep but never seems to have a problem coming through.

[Penellype]

Hi

I did come across an article last year which tried a few different things inc different number of potatoes in each bag and using small vs large seed potatoes etc.

The only thing that seemed to work was the different layer method, I.e planting 2 seed potatoes but having one at the bottom and the 2nd one higher up, what I have learnt with this method is you have to plant both seed potatoes at the same time, it doesnt really work if you plant the first potato then fill the pot up as it grows and then add your 2nd potato and the first potato will be about 2 foot tall before the 2nd one emerges and gets crowded out.

I just fill the whole pot up in one go, the deeper potato is about 12-14inches deep but never seems to have a problem coming through.

I did plant all of the seed potatoes on the same day - I don't normally bother with earthing up, I just fill the containers when I plant them (unless I run out of compost). I was just surprised that twice the number of potatoes produced very little extra crop.

[Snow]

Great thread. Pleased to see people trying out different methods. I am doing a whole bunch of experiments this year as well.
- different composts
- different fertilizers
- different sizes of container
- different number of seeds
- different placement of seeds

I meant to try some with a few sprouts and some with all of them, but forgot and planted all without rubbing any off. I also planted to try large and small tubers, but forgot that too.

I haven't done this before so don't know what to expect, but figure it is worth the experiment to find out the best methods for next year. Interesting that it sounds like planting some higher up doesnt result in a lot more. I noticed last year that the potatoes were all where they are around the bottom and there was 'spare' soil above, which is why I thought it might be good to plant some higher as well. I guess we'll have to wait and see if I get the same outcome.

[Spunky]

I'm a bit gutted I planted only 2 penellype I wanted to try the 4 potato thing in a 30l pot but forgot!
It's interesting you had loads of pea sized it's still early so the next pots will be interesting
Did you notice where the pea sized ones were? We're they random or in the upper or lower part of the pot?

[Jungle Jane]

I plant mine in a similar way because I found it does improve yield,but it can also depend on the seed potatoes used,some will be better seeds I think. I use 40litre bags,put 2 potatoes near the bottom north & south position,cover with compost just to the tip of the root (about 2-3inches growth) then I place 2 more seed potatoes east & west position,cover them just above their roots (4-5 inches) with compost. So the seeds are quite near each other. I found that tip a couple of years ago,I googled images etc. This year the bags I've harvested are a different variety,I had some very small inedible ones,this isn't normal,I sowed them 25th February,they were indoors until April/May so they've had time,but not much sun. The bags that look ready to harvest now could have tiny ones in too,so I want to leave them as long as possible.

[Potstubsdustbins]

This year is about a month short by my reckoning. By that I mean the weather we have experienced has robbed us a month of growing time.

One thing I have found but only with main crop in a dustbin is that if I earth up as the plants grow I do regularly get some good spuds quite near the top of the bin. Only last year for instance I threw my usual 2 gallon bucket of water into one of the bins and uncovered one. But this only seems to happen with main crop I have not seen it with early spuds.

[Penellype]

I'm a bit gutted I planted only 2 penellype I wanted to try the 4 potato thing in a 30l pot but forgot!
It's interesting you had loads of pea sized it's still early so the next pots will be interesting
Did you notice where the pea sized ones were? We're they random or in the upper or lower part of the pot?

Pretty much throughout the pot.

[Penellype]

I plant mine in a similar way because I found it does improve yield,but it can also depend on the seed potatoes used,some will be better seeds I think. I use 40litre bags,put 2 potatoes near the bottom north & south position,cover with compost just to the tip of the root (about 2-3inches growth) then I place 2 more seed potatoes east & west position,cover them just above their roots (4-5 inches) with compost. So the seeds are quite near each other. I found that tip a couple of years ago,I googled images etc. This year the bags I've harvested are a different variety,I had some very small inedible ones,this isn't normal,I sowed them 25th February,they were indoors until April/May so they've had time,but not much sun. The bags that look ready to harvest now could have tiny ones in too,so I want to leave them as long as possible.

That's pretty much exactly how I planted mine.

[Penellype]

This year is about a month short by my reckoning. By that I mean the weather we have experienced has robbed us a month of growing time.

One thing I have found but only with main crop in a dustbin is that if I earth up as the plants grow I do regularly get some good spuds quite near the top of the bin. Only last year for instance I threw my usual 2 gallon bucket of water into one of the bins and uncovered one. But this only seems to happen with main crop I have not seen it with early spuds.

I regularly find watering uncovers maincrop potatoes which do seem to produce a lot more potatoes near the surface than earlies do. I'm experimenting with using milk bottles with holes in as drip waterers but htey are rapidly becoming completely hidden by the foliage.

[maverick451]

I did plant all of the seed potatoes on the same day - I don't normally bother with earthing up, I just fill the containers when I plant them (unless I run out of compost). I was just surprised that twice the number of potatoes produced very little extra crop.

Here is the blog trial I mentioned

Sue's (Very Unscientific) Potato Trials - Blog at Thompson & Morgan

[Potstubsdustbins]

#11 I am starting to be in the same boat. The haulm is now so well established that it is getting difficult to see the compost. Still lets hope that's a sign of a good harvest to come, the old timers used to reckon so anyway.

[spamvindaloo]

First year of growing spuds (or much else really) but I planted my maincrop in a bed and the first earlies (Lady Christl - as recommended by Potty, I think) in 30 litre pots. They all had two potatoes at about one third up and I had some seed potatoes left so some pots got a third seed at around two thirds up. All grown in fresh compost with added spuds galore (fertiliser).

No idea what is going on inside the pots but the foliage is so dense and wide that it's difficult to see much of the pot at all - I'm hoping that's a good sign Planted 21st April so hopefully I'll know in a few weeks.

[Potstubsdustbins]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^ One tip ignore the rain we have had lately the haulm is natures best umbrella. At this stage watering is critical as the spuds themselves will be forming and they are about 80% water.