Chitting and planting potatoes

[anthonyjb]

spuds

thanks Jacob

[SarzWix]

Potato container growing video Grow Your Own - Growing, How To Grow Tomatoes Growing Fruit & Veg - Recipe Advice, Organic food Gardening, Chickens, Seeds for Sale

Yes, do take them out of the airing cupboard They need to be on a windowsill, in a cool room if possible, but light is essential.
The instructions that came with your planters should be spot on. Potatoes grow off the stem of the plant, so the depth is just as important as width for containers.

[deezyb]

hi self raising - please see link from Tattie Man posted on his thread about container potato growing

If you do a search for him on the Vine, he has contact with the potato suppliers you mention- I'm sure he'll be able to help you out!

see link Potato container growing video Grow Your Own - Growing, How To Grow Tomatoes Growing Fruit & Veg - Recipe Advice, Organic food Gardening, Chickens, Seeds for Sale

[deezyb]

aaaah! I see SarzWix beat me to it!

I watched the video, I found it useful as I grow all my potatoes in containers...although I usually just use inside out compost bags - they work just as well.

[aes]

Fantastic, thanks for your input! Can anyone shed some light (no pun intended) on the fact that if the seed tatties are exposed to sunlight, will their going green affect the end result (hopefuly a plentiful supply of my favourite veg). Up until now - their darkened airing cupboard has sprouted some fat wee white shoots, so I have moved them to a windowsil in our spare living room, which is quite cool but gets sun light, to see if that makes a difference.

Once, again thanks!

[Redpepper]

Greetings Helly! Try a bright, frost-free place to encourage sturdy dark green shoots. I found chitting helps with the first earlies, but doesn't really help or hinder with maincrop varieties.

[Redpepper]

I put five seed potatoes in a bucket today and covered them with about 3inches of compost. They are Hunter variety but the instructions didn't say when to harvest. I don't even know if they're first or second earlies. Can anyone help?

Hi Marthaclematis! Think Hunter is a second early.
I'd try harvesting one tuber to check its size after the flowers have wilted and if it's not large enough, the crop mght need another week or so to mature. This method seems to work well for me.
Hope this info was useful!

[Cosmo and Dibs]

If I plant the spuds with the shoots pointing up, do I rub off the shoots that are pointing downwards?

[norazina]

Hi folks,

I've got about 10 maincrop potatoes (off farmer's market) that have been forgotten in the drawer and sprouted quite nicely. I have got them sitting on the egg carton on north facing windowsill now and they have currently got about 1/2" sturdy shoots.

I do not want to plant them direct in the beds and risk introducing deseases, but can I grow maincrops in buckets like early? We were supposed to travel to UK beginning of March and I was planning to get my seeds potatoes then, but we had to postpone the trip. Well, I really want to grow potatoes this season, and going to plant those into buckets anyway, but just wondering if anyone has done it before and has got some good tips to share?

Thanks,

norazina

[tattieman]

Hello everyone. AES have I done you out of a bag? you should have had 4 potato planter bags? You should probably plant about easter up there. You do not have to put all 5 potatoes in if you do not want to. Your potatoes should go green when exposed to light and that is normal.
Cosmo and Dibs do not worry which way you plant them as the shoots will grow upwards.
Norazina you can grow maincrops in pots but they need alot of space to grow as big as possible.

[aes]

Tattieman - didn't realise it was you who I had ordered from! There just seemed to be three bags with the kit and four bags of seeds!? It's not a problem though - I will make use of a 25kg coal sack! I will plant the tatties the way that is suggested, you all clearly have more of a clue than I! Also does it matter if the plants are sheltered from the wind or should a bit of wind not do them any harm!?

Cheers!!

[tattieman]

I will send you another bag if you pm me. The wind will not do any harm until the shoots appear at which stage they could be snapped by the wind and that will affect your crop size. Some people put a cane down one side of the bag and carefully tie the haulms to it as the plant grows.

[womble]

I heard something that interested me at the weekend. Bob Flowerdew says that earthing up first earlies is pointless, he was talking about growing them in pots, but I guess in the soil is the same. Main crops do well from it as they do continue growing new shoots up the earthed up stems, first earlies don't.
Second earlies are apparently somewhere between the two types.


I have a question about growing shop bought potatoes. If they are grown in pots to stop disease etc, then what do you do with the compost afterwards? Is it safe to put in the normal spud bed if the plant hasn't shown any problems?

[norazina]

Norazina you can grow maincrops in pots but they need alot of space to grow as big as possible.

Tattieman, thanks for reply. I've got some 10", 30 ltr buckets, if I were to put one tuber per bucket, would that be good enough space wise?

[tattieman]

Norazina they would be perfect for maincrop potatoes.