Really poor potato harvest

[Lazgaot]

I'm very disappointed with my potatoes this year. I know we had a bad winter and got caught out by a freak frost mid may....but we're well into July and I haven't lifted a single new spud from the lottie yet!

I lifted a healthy looking flowering new potato plant yesterday and got 2, yes two, potatoes off it! I was so annoyed I planted it back in the hole to hopefully produce more! The "free" potatoes (charlotte) dotted around the plot from last year have yielded about 1kg of spuds each!

I know its dry at the moment but the soil down under is still damp as I'm watering every few days.

The only other thing I can attribute (blame?) it on is that I bought the seed potatoes from a local center and not Tattieman as I did last year. The shallotts from the same garden center have been very poor too.

Anyone else having a poor harvests?

[OverWyreGrower]

My 1st earlies haven't been particularly good - we needed 5 plants worth to feed 2 of us!

I haven't furtled any further yet - my 2nd earlies are huge and very foliage-y and I'm resisting peeking for a few more weeks, in the hope that the rain we're getting now will boost them a bit...

[Tractor Boys]

The problem is that down south we are not getting any rain and I fear that there will be no chance of my spuds been boosted. My yields have been really low so far.

[ZeroMac]

My 1st earlies haven't been particularly good - we needed 5 plants worth to feed 2 of us!

My 1st's were also poor this year. only two or three spuds from each plant.

I'm just hoping that my mains will be better. (as long as we get some rain!!)

[Bigmallly]

Same here, it's been dry for 3 weeks now & I have about 10 sacks of earlies still waiting to flower, lots of greenery & looking very healthy with buds.

[Flummery]

I can't really water mine as there's an underground tank on the site which has been empty for ages. I take water in 2 litre plastic milk bottles but I use it on new plantings and fruit. I rarely have enough to give the spuds a drink. I will lift the first root for Sunday but I don't hold out much hope.

[glenrobbo1968]

we lifted 3 earlies and only got a slack handfull, hopefully things will improve with the next plants

[Patchninja]

I thought it was just me! Only 2 per plant!

[Nicos]

1lb of each plant so far and ever so tiny.
There's tons of top growth though- I'm hoping that we get a bit more rain to swell them.

Once the leaves start to die back , I presume the spuds stop growing????

[Nykied]

My earlies are in those potato collapsible tubs and I emptied one last weekend. I got enough for about 2.5 meals for two.

Stupid question - I planted 3 seed potatoes in that tub - would that equate to 3 plants?

[womble]

My earlies are in those potato collapsible tubs and I emptied one last weekend. I got enough for about 2.5 meals for two.

Stupid question - I planted 3 seed potatoes in that tub - would that equate to 3 plants?

HAH!

Good question. Obviously yes, one seed potato, one plant.

But, what happens if you have more than one sprouting eye on each potato and you don't rub it off, so you get more than one shoot. You can cut the potato into sections and grow each one separately.
So if you have 3 eyes growing, do you have 3 plants growing, just together?

[tattieman]

The only other thing I can attribute (blame?) it on is that I bought the seed potatoes from a local center and not Tattieman as I did last year. The shallotts from the same garden center have been very poor too.

As much as I would like to say YES to your question I have to be honest and say NO.

I have found that my own home grown potatoes have been down on size and quantity.
The severe hot weather has stressed the potato plants and many have flowered as a sign of stress and not of being ready to produce tubers.

The small potatoes that form are also dying off at the tuberisation stage and that is causing low tuber numbers. I am so glad that this year I included nutrimate in my compost mix as it has stopped the potato plants from withering and they have only had extra water once this year.

I would say on average I am lifting 1-1.5kg of potatoes per plant.

The only thing I can say is things can only be better next year and that the summer planted potatoes should be a good crop this year

[Two_Sheds]

Me too: average 5 spuds per plant, and teeny tiny

[SarzWix]

Mine are pathetic too My earlies are all in pots at the allotment, and I'm so short of water, I can't spare much for them at all. It's doubly galling because last year my spuds in pots all suffered because I was on crutches and couldn't manage watering, this year I'm more than capable, but have no water to use! Ah well, my tomato and cucumber crop is looking very promising - it's swings on one side and roundabouts on the other

[solway cropper]

In terms of pounds of usable spuds per plant mine have so far averaged
Epicure- 1
Dunluce-1.5
Charlotte-2.5

Not great but better yields than some seem to be having. As tattieman says, it's been a very odd year but hopefully the recent rain we've had up here will fatten them up a bit. I should add that the Epicure were grown in containers and harvested small as I just love the taste