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Post by dianthus on Apr 24, 2015 13:02:27 GMT
PS Have a look at website photos of blight in both species, so you'll know what to look for. The crop can be lost in a couple of days, but usually the first symptoms are brown rotting at leaf edge or at node points on stems. 
Blight was the cause of the Irish Potato Famine  |
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Post by dianthus on Apr 26, 2015 13:02:51 GMT
And back to potatoes.......... 
Planted my first earlies - Rocket - today. Soil warm enough now.
Have 85 seed potatoes to get planted into bags! roofgardener ...... I can't count properly...... I have 105 tubers. I forgot to count the Chicago in egg boxes that I'd found another spot for, in the garage. Not grown them before, so any feedback from anyone who has, would be appreciated.
65 now planted, with just the Picasso and Chicago left to put into growing bags.
The Rocket are peering through and will get their first top up this week. 
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Post by roofgardener on Apr 27, 2015 6:17:17 GMT
105 spud plants ? WOW ... thats practically AGRICULTURE, Dianthus. You should have a fabulous crop come September. I had a pleasant suprise myself. Whillst foraging in the Spare Room, I stubbed my toe on a newspaper-covered metal tray. On investigation, I discovered it was some MORE potatoes left over from the previous years crop. Only around 5, but a good size, and sprouting little legs and arms. Naturally, I dropped what I was doing, and sped off to Planet Wilkinson to buy a cheap (£5.00) kitchen waste bin, which rapidly became Spud Bin #4. If memory serves, I now have 10 potato plants growing, with another 9-10 planted but not yet through. A small endeavour compared to yours, but still a record for me. |
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Post by dianthus on Apr 27, 2015 6:57:47 GMT
Nearly half of them won't get to September, Roofie. They are first earlies and will be 'fished' for, like tickling trout, out of the 10litre buckets and recycled mesh potato bags from my local greengrocer. He saves me some, for free, from his Egyptian and Cyprus imports, and they have black liners with drainage holes in them. I roll the tops over to give a low bag, place two potatoes in there, and gradually unravel the bags as I top them up. They usually only get to about a foot high with soil.
Two weeks or so, after I have removed the flower buds as they arrive, I have a feel down the sides of the buckets/bags, and fish out the bigger potatoes, leaving the tiddlers to grow on a little longer.
It's so disappointing to lift the first potatoes from the ground, to find you have dug up four useful sized and twenty under an inch.
With my earlies, I only pick what I need and they scrape like a dream.  |
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Post by Rosie on Apr 27, 2015 8:15:53 GMT
If my neighbours cat digs up my spuds again it will end up in a stew for supper  I remember a couple of years ago my Epicure spuds got blackleg  another nasty disease of potatoes. |
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Post by roofgardener on Apr 27, 2015 8:59:03 GMT
Ahhh... now then... flowers ? I assume these have to be removed ?
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Post by dianthus on Apr 27, 2015 9:11:44 GMT
If my neighbours cat digs up my spuds again it will end up in a stew for supper I remember a couple of years ago my Epicure spuds got blackleg another nasty disease of potatoes. Sounds nasty...... off to check the Potato Board's website.
My farmer friends were the unfortunate recipients of those Dutch potatoes that had that rot, and they had to stop growing seed potatoes. Hung out to dry, they were, and the authorities didn't back them and get their compensation, as they should have done. 
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Post by dianthus on Apr 27, 2015 9:29:32 GMT
Ahhh... now then... flowers ? I assume these have to be removed ? They don't, in the commercial world, as it isn't economical to have labour hand pick them off the binds, but, if you remove them, then the plant focuses it's energy into tuber growth to replicate, rather than berries and seeds.
Do you also know about the 'way up' to plant your seed potatoes? The place where the potato was formerly attached to the feeder root it grew on, goes downwards into the soil.
I know you can ask a lot of questions here, roofgardener , but having a copy of Dr DG Hessayon @the Vegetable Gardener' is very helpful. My copy is a first edition and thirty yrs old, but I still use it for pictures of pests and diseases. I looked on the online bookstore, and they have a complete gardener edition.
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Post by Cherry on May 2, 2015 8:39:29 GMT
SueA I thought I would let you know on here, as you inspired me, that I have a 15 litre and a 20 litre pot, and another 20 litre which I would need to empty, and an even bigger enamel wash bowl with handles, for bathing babies possibly, picked up at a farm auction. I will buy the potatoes this morning and see what pots I need. Here goes!
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Post by Cherry on May 2, 2015 13:36:06 GMT
There are only maincrop potatoes left which have 6 to 8 inch stems coming from them. Never mind. I obviously was not meant to grow them. I am getting stronger by the minute too.
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Post by dianthus on May 2, 2015 15:32:39 GMT
There are only maincrop potatoes left which have 6 to 8 inch stems coming from them. Never mind. I obviously was not meant to grow them. I am getting stronger by the minute too. That wasn't what you were hoping for....... my Picasso are early maincrop, but, as they are a waxy potato, they make a great new potato, too.
I found this out when my late father decided to dig up the row I'd planted in their garden, ignoring the four rows of earlies and second earlies....... there went my baking potatoes for the coming winter! I was gutted.
My local The Factory Shop - formerly Woolies store - had packs of Rocket and Arran Pilot in stock this morning, Cherry.
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Post by sweetpea on May 2, 2015 17:20:04 GMT
Unlike the Royal Baby, my spuds have yet to put in an appearance.
Mind you the way the weather is today I wouldn't like to be out either.
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Post by Cherry on May 2, 2015 18:57:39 GMT
Thanks dianthus. We have The Factory Shop in Downham Market, so that may be worth a try. |
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Post by dianthus on May 2, 2015 19:50:25 GMT
Unlike the Royal Baby, my spuds have yet to put in an appearance. Mind you the way the weather is today I wouldn't like to be out either. I have eight.... but not babies! |
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2015 20:03:32 GMT
Growing Rocket (1st early) and Charlotte (2nd early). No show just yet but the heavy rain and warmer temps should bring them on. Also growing (in 17 litre polybags) Blue belle (maincrop) for coloureds and Casablanca (early) for whites. I reckon Charlotte to be the finest flavoured potato eaten early or fully mature....
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another nasty disease of potatoes.
