Tatties

Hi

have been growing chitted potatoes since March ( first earlies- no idea of variety) The haulms look strong and healthy as do the leaves, however, bit concerned that its now July and no sign of flowers apart from one or two plants out of about 20....is it still early, should I have a careful rummage around to see whats happening, or is nature telling me I'm rubbish. Thanks

Some do not flower-what is the variety?-I would dig up one and see what you have

Have a look, if in the ground pull away some soil and see whats there, if in tubs put your hand in and feel down below, if you can find some decent sized ones pull them out and try to leave the rest to grow on a little longer.

I agree with the said advice Brycey, rummage around and find out what`s under them.

Netherfield....I didnt know you could just take out the ones that are a good size and leave the rest to grow some more..mine are in bags and they are charlottes but they really didnt flower much but dug up 2 and got enough potatoes for tea but there were loads of teeny weeny ones... they tasted beautiful..

I also have some maris piper for sept/oct can I pull them up before that and store them..if so what is the best way to store them ?

Hi flowergirl, to store potatoes, dig them up, and leave them somewhere to dry (normally just leave them on the surface of the soil for a few hours on a sunny day, but given the weather, perhaps on a table in a shed etc would be better!)  Brush loose soil from them with your fingers, but do not be tempted to wash them as this will affect their storage life.  Store them in paper or hessian sacks, never plastic bags (they will quickly rot in those.)

Thanks BobtheGardener...thats brill 

Maris piper is an early maincrop, so should be ready about 15/16 weeks,it's advisable to cut the haulms off and leave the spuds in the ground for 2 weeks for the skins to set and then store as above.

Alternatively you can pick them without the 2 week wait, they can be prone to slug damage,but be careful not to damage the skins.

After storage it's a good idea to check them after a fortnight, some times a bad spud can get through and spoil the rest of them.

And enjoy the Charlottes I've been taking a few out of each tub for the last fortnight and it's only today when I've completely emptied one,mainly because the haulm has started to die back.

Can I take it that the haulms are the storks and leaves..

Thanks Netherfield

flowergirl14... Yes thats right 'Haulm' is the stems of Peas,Beans Potatoes and Grasses.

Aye,,,I had a look and found a couple of marbles!! Will keep feeding and see what happens.....

This morning I turned out a potato container-this is the result from 4 tubers-the variety was homeguard and they will be joined with lamb shank later-not all of them obviously !!

Geof - I plant 5/6 tubers to one spud bag and expect to get 3 to 4 times more spuds, with a lot more larger one's. I may have been lucky in previous years with the varieties but believe me, that's not a good harvest. If the haulm is still lush and green, leaving them in a couple more weeks makes all the difference in size, less marble too.

Just had Red Duke of York for tea, it was pot luck dipping into the bag but every spud was as big as your larger one's. One of the nice things about having them so fresh is they don't need peeling, the skins just rub off.       

It was an experiment more than anything and though it was a large container-not large enough-I dont think-but the four tubers only cost 50p-so.....

The second container with the other 4 -I will leave for a few more weeks

There are still 2 more growing King Edwards for later

Let us know how your King Edwards fair, I've not tried that one. 50p is a good price, potato fairs are a good place to buy tubers,usually at competitive prices...

I left mine in longer this time before starting to harvest, tried to wait till the leaves died but didn't quite manage that. 

May try xmas spuds again, nows the time to plant. Last year the bags froze solid and couldn't be dug up till February  

I'm glad you said that Zoomer44. I was wondering if I was too late to try potatoes for Christmas. Mine will be in a container. And it will be my first time. But now I know, I can go ahead. Thanks.

I found this the other day

http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/planting/how-to-grow-potatoes-for-christmas/131.html

We emptied 2 out of 3 of ours at the w/e as they flowered a week or two ago & the foliage was going yellow.  With the sodden soil I didn't want to risk them all rotting off.

The big potato bag had charlottes in from seed potatoes. The crop was okay, half filled a large colander. Some really good large ones & a fair few marble sized ones. I was hoping for at least double that. They were lovely though.

The other huge tub had anyas in. I just chitted a few supermarket ones to see what would happen. The crop was the same as the seed charlottes & they were perfect. I know there are concerns with disease etc. which is why you're meant to use proper seed potato stock. As they go in tubs here, not in the ground I wasn't so worried & will definitely try it again one year with better weather.

Zoomer-have looked again at my picture-it is deceiving and there were nearly 3 kilo there-so am happy enough

...and it's it's not always the quantity but the quality which matters...I usually just over fill a large colander per bag, this year I'm leaving them in the bags and just dipping in, hoping the marble sized one's will grow larger.