Quandary: potato bags v dustbin?

[SusieG]

The Lady Christl tubers x 7 arrived yesterday:
Do I grow in a) potato bags (which I've used before) or
b) large black dustbin

Have read the Potato thread for info, but don't know whether to bang em all into the dustbin or put them into 2 or 3 potato bags ....

Then, to earth up or to cover completely .........

Advise please, I can't seem to make a decision!!!!

[Containergardener]

Toss a coin

How about some in bag , some in bin ? Then you cover both decisions. I'm going with the don't plant too deep advice received as mine arriving late (not arrived yet).

[Bigmallly]

I'm sure Potty grows his spuds in dustbins, how many seeds he puts in I don't know. I'd hang on for a while & see if he sees this thread.

[roitelet]

I would have thought that the bags would be easier to harvest than the dustbin. I grow 1 tuber to a flower bucket and usually get a meals worth at least from each bucket. Easy to harvest too just tip the bucket into a barrow and away you go.

[BUFFS]

I grow mine in cut down dustbins for over 10yrs now and put 3 tatties in each one, when I want to remove the crop I lay a 6 x 6ft tarpaulin on the ground in the back yard and tip the whole lot onto it, as I clear the soil/compost I shovel it into old compost bags and stack them round the back of the g/house, I put some bfb into the soil the following spring and bed the new tatties on a bed of seaweed, this gives me great tatties and after the third year I put the soil onto the veg patch and remove some "patch soil to use as tattie soil so preventing build up of any nasties..

[Potstubsdustbins]

I grow Lady C two ways.

(1) As a first early I grow in small containers much like Roitelet and average 2 good boiling's per bucket.

(2) Lady C are also my favourite chipper so I also grow some as a second early in dustbins. 4 seeds to a bin start to harvest at about 18 weeks, this gives a mix of large chippers and smaller new potatoes.

I have tried more than 4 seeds to a bin with no increase in yield.............

[SusieG]

Thanks all
As I've not tried the dustbin method before, I'm going to put some in there, then the rest in grow bags and see how it goes.
Interesting to see how they fare .....

[Potstubsdustbins]

This time of year I drop your seed onto 3 to 4 inches of compost and cover with about the same. You want the haulm up and doing its magic soonest.

[BUFFS]

Thanks all
As I've not tried the dustbin method before, I'm going to put some in there, then the rest in grow bags and see how it goes.
Interesting to see how they fare .....

don't forget to drill 4-6 x 10mm holes in the base for drainage, as I did on one dustbin when I first started so that I ended up with tattie soup..

[Potstubsdustbins]

^^^^^^^^^^^^Bin there done that

[SusieG]

Ooooh, yes!! Thanks Buffs
Tattie soup is good, but not a bin full..!!!!

[BUFFS]

my tatties , that have been sitting outside since the end of march, start of april , are now 12-18 ins out of the tubs and the tubs have been topped up to the max, just as they forecast minus temps for the weekend , don't you just love british summers...I got a shock earlier in the week, we have been days without rain, I know, I don't believe it either, usually getting our warmer rain by now, I had to go and find the water hose, remove years of cobwebs, and get the outside tap turned on, to water my tatties, I don't usually have to do anything, I plant them out, wait a bit and then crop them, but having to provide water as well, I am not used to that, seems like hard work to me, made me feel quite fragile, I will have to go and have a lie down now, still recovering from the shock.... I am not used to all this toil ..

[SusieG]

Buffs, quite a shock to the system eh, this watering business..!!!

[Containergardener]

My spuds order is apparently on its way at last, my next question(s)....

What compost do you use?
Veg or multipurpose
Veg /potato feed or bfb

I need more compost and wondering which to load up on as need tomato bags too.

[Potstubsdustbins]

I use MPC with extra granular potato fertiliser. Then after 5 to 6 weeks start to feed, first high nitrogen for green growth then change to high potash as the tubers form.

Watering is the real key, once the haulm is up forget rain the greenery is the best natural umbrella ever. Further just because the surface of the compost is wet doesn't mean its wet down below. If your not sure stick your hand in to find out.