Potatoes in pots

[rary]

This coming year I will be growing my potatoes in pots, so was wondering how other Grapes cultivate their pot grown tatties, do you use compost or soil only, or a mix, do you add feeding in the bottom layer or above the seed potato and do you fill the pot up as the potato grows or top it up when you set it up and how regularly do you water the pot and finally are you pleased with the results

[Cadalot]

In square and round flower buckets & 3 Litre buckets - 60% Verve Compost + 30% Coir & 10% soil with a dash of potato fertilizer, water as necessary for first early spud start in the greenhouse and go out side as the weather improves and I need the space. I have an experiment lining up Alans Allotment: Compost Humification Agent

New Potatoes from Flower Buckets Alans Allotment: New Potatoes

The rest go in the ground using a hand Auger http://cadalot-allotment.blogspot.co...ng-sunday.html

[Lumpy]

Bucket - Spud - MPC - Water - Eat

Yes, I know not alot of help.........................

[burnie]

Poor results for me last year, small crop and small tatties, back in the ground for me.

[Vickilou]

we've tried every which way, pots , tubs, potato bags, rubbish results
We could be tipping out to soon or not feeding/ watering, (I don't know
I do know that a neighbour plants old pots out of his cupboard in old compost, in a plastic pot, in a north facing front garden ( amongst the begonias ) never waters or feeds, no earthing up, just left to it and gets better potatoes and more of, than me
There's no justice

[bramble]

I have grown them in half barrels and directly into the ground. I use seaweed underneath them and rotted leaves. The crop in the ground is always much better than the containers. Having said that they are still edible, just less of them and smaller size..

[roitelet]

Early and late crops in flower buckets. 50/50 soil and homemade compost and a handful of general purpose fertilizer = good results. Just don't let them dry out.

[Lumpy]

Maybe the mixed results are because of the varieties. I only use Charlottes because as 2nd earlies they generally miss any blight outbreaks.

I've never tried main crop as I think they need more space than my containers will give them.

[rary]

You have a good point there Lumpy so
Two other questions
What kind of potatoes do you grow in tubs.. earlies or late
And what variety do you recomend

[Lumpy]

Charlottes - 2nd earlies.

The beauty of buckets etc is that you can start them off in a shed etc so you get an earlier planting.

This year we had huge buckets that worked really well but made it difficult to harvest them without tipping the whole bucket load out. We were swamped with tatties.
This year I am going back to smaller buckets as they are easier to empty and lighter to move.

I was given so good advice on here (sorry I can't remember who the gent was) about watering. Fill the watering can and just empty the whole lot out in one go - that way the water is forced down to your lovelies.

[Bren In Pots]

I grow Charlottes in recycling boxes 3 to a box with a mix of dalek compost, soil and leaf mould, fed with comfrey and kept well watered. I get a good crop so this way works for me.

[Penellype]

I find potatoes in containers work much better for me - in the ground they get eaten by slugs or other wildlife so even if you get a bigger crop, some of it is likely to be inedible. I also find them vastly easier to harvest from pots rather than the ground, with less likelihood of damaging the potatoes.

I grow mine in (usually) re-used compost or freshly made compost from the hotbin, with some added bfb and sometimes vermiculite (if I remember). I have used potato bags but vastly prefer 30 litre buckets for ease of harvest. I start them early, planting 3 seed potatoes per bucket in March (February for first earlies) and keeping the buckets under cloches for as long as possible to give them maximum warmth. I also use the sunny part of the garden until it is needed for things like tomatoes and courgettes, after which the potatoes have to go on the raised beds against the north facing garage wall.

Watering is important and can be tricky. This year I just sloshed it in with a watering can, and it might not be a coincidence that I got quite a bit of blackleg on some of the varieties. Previously I have tried milk bottles with holes in the bottom to let the water out slowly, which works ok until the foilage covers the milk bottle or the holes get blocked up. Standing the buckets on soil rather than paving gives the plants a chance to get some water from the ground if they are desperate (which they never should be). I feed them occasionally with tomato food.

Varieties I've grown in buckets or bags:

Earlies:
Maris Bard - nice tasting but small crop of very small potatoes
Duke of York - very disappointing, small and flavourless
Rocket - huge crops of very early potatoes but not a lot of flavour
Lady Christl - fair crops of decent potatoes with a lovely flavour, but a lot got blackleg
Charlotte - decent crops of good tasting potatoes

Maincrop:
Desiree - large crops of decent sized good tasting mashers/chippers
Sarpo Axona - blight resistant poor imitation of Desiree
Sarpo Mira - big crops of sometimes huge blight resistant potatoes which store well. Flavour not brilliant.

Harvest size is very variable - 0.5 to 3kg potatoes per bucket. The biggest harvests come from buckets of Sarpo Mira/Desiree/Charlotte grown in the sun, watered well and fed occasionally. I had just over 2kg from one bucket of Rocket that had been left the longest before harvest in 2015. Last year was very poor, which was probably due to a late frost which set the plants back - the Charlotte were particularly badly affected. 2015 was a much better year overall than 2016 for potatoes.

[BUFFS]

As we are both in Ayrshire we should get the same results, I use 50ltr tubs and they are filled firstly with 6ins of seaweed collected from troon beach, tatties inserted and 6-8ins of compost,gpc, then put in to cover them, as they shoot I put another 6ins on top with a handful of BFB, when they sprout again I top up to within 2ins of the top lip, another handful of BFB and that's it, each tub gets a gallon of water every 2-3days unless it is tipping down (greeting), I use charlotte, salad blue and highland burgundy so that's a white, blue and red tattie, and all have good taste but the highland tend to go to a mush if used as a boiling tattie, salad blue make amazing blue chips, and the charlotte are great boiled, all available from gemmells by drongan. Well worth the effort..

[Potstubsdustbins]

My first early Lady C are grown two ways one as a first early, way 2 as a second early.

Way one starts soon after the seed arrives, a couple of weeks chitting and planting early February. MBFBs approximately 12ltrs are 1/2 filled with regenerated MPC with added potato fertilizer and one seed set, this is covered to within 2" of the top of the pot with regenerated MPC but no potato fertilizer. Watered in well these are left in the green house until the space is required, at this stage and time of year they are checked once a week for watering. Should they need watering they are sprayed with Miracle Grow. Once the haulms are up I like to give them a good dose of tomato food.

In 10 to 12 weeks one bucket should produce enough new potatoes for 2 to 3 boiling's for two people

Way 2 starts later in the year, usually late February planting in 80 dustbins, using three or four seed per bin. 6" of well regenerated MPC completed with potato fertilizer in the bottom, place seed equally around bin and cover with 4" of old compost, water and pop the lid on. This will ensure any natural heat generated during the day will stay in the bin longer than normal. As the haulms break through remove the lids to allow the haulms to do their work only replacing the lids if frost threatens. When the haulms reach 4" high add 2" of compost, keep well watered, I like to use Miracle Grow every other watering until the haulms reach the top of the bin then change to tomato food. Fill the bin with compost to within 4" of the rim, this will allow room for tuber growth and watering. As the year progresses I like to water using a 2 gallon bucket, just slosh the lot into the top of the bin, this will insure your compost is moist right down to where it is needed at the roots.

At 18 to 20 weeks your ready to have a look, a quick furtile will tell you all you need to know. This will produce a mix of tubers some small enough to be used as new potatoes and a good few that will make excellent chippers and bakers.

For main crop I use Picasso just as above but I like to leave them 26 weeks or until the haulms have died back completely.

I also grow some Picasso in old 35 gallon plastic water tanks which are usually the first of the main crop onto the table.

Don't underestimate the need for water, good drainage will get rid of any excess and you can always replace the food that has been washed out. To little water will spell disaster, a potato is over 80% water at harvest so no water no harvest.............

[Potstubsdustbins]

Lady at harvest and a row of dustbins containing Picasso showing an excellent umbrella, the rain means nothing when you grow in pots.