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Potato harvest,what constitutes a good one?

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  • #1

    Potato harvest,what constitutes a good one?

    Swmbo raised a question whilst down the allotment this evening. I was digging up one of the potato plants (Maris Peer) and commented on the crop off the plants being "good", 2+ kilo off each of the three plants harvested so far and 3 kilo of decent sized spuds off this evenings.

    Now my wife asked me how I knew it was a "good" harvest as I don't really have anything as a benchmark figure to compare it to.

    So I suppose the question really is, what do you consider a good harvest off one of your potato plants and would you class my harvest as poor, average or good?
    It was dark. And cold. And very, very empty.

    And in the middle of all of the dark, cold, emptiness lay something darker, and colder, but very, very full.
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  • #2
    Cant help you with an answer in terms of a weight as productivity can vary from variety to variety and I an not that experienced myself as only in my second year of growing.

    But my instinct is too say if it makes you happy its a good harvest :-)

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    • #3
      I agree with Jilly. When I took my first Epicures from the grow sack in late May I got less than 1lb per plant but the taste was divine. Charlottes in the ground are giving 3lbs+ at the moment but should bulk up even more. Commercial growers have to go for quantity but I'm far more interested in the taste.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Jillyreeves View Post
        But my instinct is too say if it makes you happy its a good harvest :-)
        I like that.

        Get a small crop and complain it's a bad year.
        Get a medium crop and complain it's not a good year.
        Get a huge crop and complain it's a glut year.

        "Orinoco was a fat lazy Womble"

        Please ignore everything I say, I make it up as I go along, not only do I generally not believe what I write, I never remember it either.

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        • #5
          After a few blight years - and now a drought year, I'm glad to dig up anything edible!!
          "Nicos, Queen of Gooooogle" and... GYO's own Miss Marple

          Location....Normandy France

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          • #6
            Before you complain you really need to know what a good harvest is compared to bad one.
            you should get from a min of 100 lbs/45.6kg to a max 780lbs/353.80 kg of potatoes per 100 square feet/ 9.29 square meters this translates to at about an average 3.1 lb of potatoes per plant.
            Last edited by lacysue2; 17-07-2010, 07:39 AM.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by lacysue2 View Post
              Before you complain you really need to know what a good harvest is compared to bad one.
              you should get from a min of 100 lbs/45.6kg to a max 780lbs/353.80 kg of potatoes per 100 square feet/ 9.29 square meters this translates to at about an average 3.1 lb of potatoes per plant.

              hmm- to what variety are you referring to?
              Do salad potatoes produce less/equal to the 'old' varieties???...I pick some my Charlotte salad spuds smaller for the salads- and leave until they get huge for chipping during the winter months.(Very difficult to compare 'aveage yields)

              ..so- how can you determine what is average?- do you know of any helpful charts so that we can roughtly determine what is 'average' for each variety??...(that would be very useful when working out which variety to order for next season.)
              Thanks
              "Nicos, Queen of Gooooogle" and... GYO's own Miss Marple

              Location....Normandy France

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              • #8
                Oh - and what is your location lacysue??
                I'm in northern France..if you are in Scotland/Australia/Greece , we would have very different yield expectations

                ( could you please add your rough location to your profile so can relate better to what you say is 'normal ' for you?)
                "Nicos, Queen of Gooooogle" and... GYO's own Miss Marple

                Location....Normandy France

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                • #9
                  I don't gauge it totally on weight either, it does depend on the look of the spuds and the size. With my earlies I prefer to have more smaller (but not tiny) spuds but like larger ones with main crop. I know last year I got more than I could have imagined from the beds I planted up and didn't manage to eat them all before the earlies started this year so I'd call that a good crop. This year some of my main crops don't look very good by comparison but will have to wait and see if we go hungry

                  Some of us live in the past, always talking about back then. Some of us live in the future, always planning what we are going to do. And, then there are those, who neither look behind or ahead, but just enjoy the moment of right now.

                  Which one are you and is it how you want to be?

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                  • #10
                    Yesterday I turned out a bag of Charlotte (so from either 2 or 3 seed potatoes) and had enough to feed three of us for one meal <sigh>
                    Still - they tasted nice!
                    Quick question while I'm on - my homegrown potatoes almost always "explode" or disintegrate when boiling them - even the waxy varieties do this - any recommendations / suggestions?
                    S

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                    • #11
                      I always steam them, eating British Queens at the mo, agree with Alan Titchmarsh best flavoured for mash.

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                      • #12
                        I think that fresh dug potatoes are always prone to splitting as they have a higher water content than shop bought potatoes, and on boiling, the water expands quickly and splits the skins. Try boiling at a lower temperature.

                        Ian

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by gojiberry View Post
                          Try boiling at a lower temperature.
                          Surely the water wouldn't be boiling if it were at a lower temperature - unless you climbed a mountain, I suppose

                          Some of us live in the past, always talking about back then. Some of us live in the future, always planning what we are going to do. And, then there are those, who neither look behind or ahead, but just enjoy the moment of right now.

                          Which one are you and is it how you want to be?

                          Comment

                          • #14
                            Originally posted by gojiberry View Post
                            I think that fresh dug potatoes are always prone to splitting as they have a higher water content than shop bought potatoes, and on boiling, the water expands quickly and splits the skins. Try boiling at a lower temperature.

                            Ian
                            I doubt that very much. Commercially grown pototoes are sold by weight. Farmers increase the weight by over-watering. IMVHO.
                            Sent from my pc cos I don't have an i-phone.

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Alison View Post
                              Surely the water wouldn't be boiling if it were at a lower temperature - unless you climbed a mountain, I suppose
                              LOL

                              As someone who has tried to boil potatoes up a mountain, I'd recommend baking them instead!

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