New potatoes in greenhouse

[Billy's lad]

I have been given some seed potatoes that are Rocket and Pentland Javelin that I would like to grow in bags in my new to me greenhouse Has anybody got any experience with this or am I wasting my time and a valuable xmas pressie ?

I am located in Bucks

[Penellype]

I've grown Rocket in bags in an unheated greenhouse - these are some of my notes. Bear in mind this was 2015, which was a mild winter. This may not work so well if it gets very cold.

15 Feb 3 seed potatoes planted in the greenhouse in bags in compost from last year's grow bags with BFB added, bags wrapped in bubble wrap with a piece of bubble wrap on top and put in a plastic mini greenhouses for extra frost protection.
20 Mar first shoots visible above compost, top bubble wrap removed.
7 May had a furtle in one of the bags and found 2 golf ball sized potatoes. This was about 8 weeks from the time when the first shoots appeared.
The remainder of this bag was harvested on 17 May and produced about 10 potatoes of varying sizes but all fairly small.
The 2nd bag was left until 27 July (I was also growing some Rocket in the greenhouse in 30 litre buckets, which performed slightly better than in the bags). Plenty of nice sized potatoes in the 2nd bag.

[Billy's lad]

thankyou for that big buckets seem to be popular and some extra insulation inside the green house

[Penellype]

I prefer the buckets to bags. Because they are rigid I find them easier to empty. I also found with the bags, when the foliage gets big and floppy it bends the top of the bag down and if you are not careful when you water it all runs out instead of soaking the compost.

[burnie]

If you plant them too soon there won't be enough daylight, better to chit them in a cool bright room and plant in a couple of months would be my plan.

[sparrow100]

I do mine in spud bags in the greenhouse. They are ok for a small, early harvest while the main lot are doing their thing.

[Billy's lad]

I hadnt considered daylight I was trying to get the spuds a little earlier but think I am going to have to be patient

[Penellype]

Leave them to chit in a coolish light place for a few weeks until the shoots are about an inch long. Don't leave them in the dark or in their bag or the shoots will be long, thin and weak and they won't grow well. Think of the chitting process as the first stage of growing them, then it makes you feel less impatient!

You will get potatoes faster by chitting them then planting later than if you bung them in cold compost in a greenhouse at this time of year.

[Billy's lad]

so to chit them my Dad said to get an old egg box and put them in there , I have an outside shed that is frost proof that has a south facing window would that be any good or out of direct sunlight ?

[Penellype]

Yes they sit nicely in egg boxes. A shed with a south facing windowsill might have quite widely fluctuating temperatures, and might freeze if it gets really cold. I keep mine on my east facing cloakroom windowsill, which is reasonably warm without being too near a radiator. Obviously you have to do what you can and you can always bring them indoors for a few days if very cold temperatures are forecast.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Rocket are a nice early spud and ideal for containers.

I plant my early spuds in 2 different ways, 1 in small containers in the GH for the earliest possible taste of new potatoes and 2 in dustbins outdoors for a larger follow on crop.

The seed will arrive mid Jan and be put to chit in egg boxes, the GH seed will be set late Feb/early Mar depending on the weather, this means the frosts should be finished by the time the haulms show. I give them at least 12 weeks growing time so I will be harvesting early/mid June.

[Dalrimple]

this thread as reminded me about some spuds I but in buckets back in august Sarpo mirra 's that i'd forgot to plant ,I filled 6 buckets and put 3 in each green house ,I emptied 3buckets about 3 weeks back and to be honest there wasn't many spuds in them and they where small But they were very tastie better than the Sarpo Mirra's that I grew as a main crop the year before ! so would I grow the again ? no it's not worth using the seed, it was just the fact that I'd got these seeds that I'd overlooked and gave them ago , will empty the other buckets out next time I go up the lottie! atb Dal.

[Potstubsdustbins]

If you want to grow main crop in containers IMO you need an 80lt plastic dustbin to make it worthwhile.

[Penellype]

How many seed potatoes do you put in a dustbin Potty?

[Billy's lad]

If I put them in the ground rather than massive containers outside I will have to dig another veg bed out or make and fill a raised bed neither is a problem but I was trying to get really early potatoes under glass
I have thought about heating the greenhouse but I am looking into this

I bought a 2nd greenhouse from ebay and it has a few missing panes of glass so I thought of replacing the roof glass with polycarbonate to help insulate the roof