How to crop rotate when you want lots of spuds?

[jersey bean]

I can't get my head round it . I have the space to rotate my crops, but we will always want more spuds than anything else.

How can I do this when I don't want four equal quarters (if that makes sense)?

How does everyone else manage?

Thanks!

[VirginVegGrower]

Two beds 9 x 16 feet devoted to spuds. More spuds planted next to field at bottom of our lane. Still not enough...7 x bags, 5 tubers in each!

[solway cropper]

This year I've grown all my taties in containers which are spread around the plot, on the lawn and the hard standing. I've got about 110 spuds growing away nicely and only a quarter of the veg plot taken up with them. That's how I do it.

[mrpaulbradley]

Yup I was going to say bags. I use the re-usable shopping bags you get in Sainsburys etc. Cost around 40p each. You can lift, manouver, rotate, as much as you like! (not being flippant - genuinely you can make sure all get fair share of sun, water, shelter as required)
It's amazing the amount of 'dead' space you can use up- in close to hedges for instance.
I still have a couple of traditional beds for my earlies - but that's only because I can then re-work them for other crops.

[mrpaulbradley]

Ps. Meant to say; if you go down the bag route from supermarkets, remember to punch a few holes in the bottom for drainage.

[Snadger]

If you really like growing and eating spuds so much just plant half your plot with spuds and half with everything else. Next year swap these two areas around.

Ok this isn't the ideal recommended rotation and roots may follow roots in a few places but as long as you don't grow spuds in the same place each year, keep the soil in good heart with regular mucking, the 'rotation police' shouldn't catch up with you!

Sometimes I think we gardeners get too hung up on rotation.(originally devisd for farmers!) I personally try not to follow like with like, but on the odd occasion I have to, its not the end of the world as long as its not a regular event!

[Alison]

I have mine split into equal quarters (find that potatoes are so much easier in the ground, the crop is better and you don't have to water) but as with other people don't want the same space for each type. I get round this though by having the right space for things like potatoes (which is about the same I want for brassicas and then fill in the spare spaces in my roots and legume beds with courgettes, sweet corn, pumpkins etc which can fit in anywhere and it balances the plot.

[bethduckie]

As long as you are following a vague rotation plan, it should work. It's only if you tried to grow spuds year in year out in the same patch without fertilizers ertc that you might have issues.

My 'other' group is very much bigger than my brassica, beans or alliums groups, and I suspect it always will be!

[Flummery]

The bloke on the plot next to me has grown his potaotes in the same patch for 26 years! No visible problems. Just try not to grow 2 things in the same space 2 years running. Crop rotation was mainly used so that you took advantage of nitrogen fixers for the following year's hungry crops. Now that we tend to feed more, that's not too important. You don't want to get soil diseases building up but a bit of judicious juggling and not being too hung up will do.

[King Carrot]

I grow my spuds in the same place each year as nothing else will really do well there. The patch is surrounded by trees which have formed a light blocking canopy by the end of June. I try to get the spuds in as early as possible so they get max growth before the light level lowers. I have eelworm problems, black pill milipedes and slug problem so have learnt to grow eelworm resistant and use the slug nemotodes and try other things like soot to annoy the nasties. I chuck a lot of seaweed and fertilizer in when I set them and have no problems with poor growth or harvest - I do set rows at 4 foot apart to stop too much competition for light which seems to be working well.

[hamsterqueen]

I have grown my spuds on bags and pots for the past 4 years, I can put them on a patch of concrete ( base of an old greenhouse I think) and leave space in the beds for something else. i used ot get hung up about rotation , but now just stick things in spare corners if space becomes available. Not sure a garden veg patch is really big enough to do proper rotation.

I was wondering how potato farmers manage- any ideas?

[jersey bean]

Thanks everyone, lots of good ideas (I can alwayas rely on GYOers ).

Hamsterqueen - I had read this in Rosie Boycott's 'Our Farm', where a farmer gave her a print-out which set out exactly what was applied to his main crop Estima in 2006. Spraying before planting - nitram fertiliser. 6 days later, 2 more fertilisers. On planting, a fungicide - Amistar - goes into the ground with the seed potatoes. On top they spray Mocap (the only chemical described by the farmer as nasty). A month later, the first of the weedkillers are applied after the spuds have germinated but before they leaves have emerged. Linuron inhibits germination of any invading plantlife and Pdq is a contact killer.

3 weeks later, they begin spraying for blight. The farmer has a forecasting system and that year they sprayed 8 times. Farmers that don't have this system spray every other week. Later, a trace element - a tonic for the soil - is added and later again another trace element is added to top up what has been taken out of the soil. Also a slug killer. When the potatoes are judged to be the right size, a herbicide is sprayed over, stopping the natural growth of the potatoes when they are at the right size. And apparently this list of chemicals is less than many of his competitors. Eek!

If that doesn't make people 'grow your own' I really don't know what would. And for potatoes destined to be crisps they spray on a sprout suppressant. Is nothing sacred?

[Snadger]

Thanks everyone, lots of good ideas (I can alwayas rely on GYOers ).

Hamsterqueen - I had read this in Rosie Boycott's 'Our Farm', where a farmer gave her a print-out which set out exactly what was applied to his main crop Estima in 2006. Spraying before planting - nitram fertiliser. 6 days later, 2 more fertilisers. On planting, a fungicide - Amistar - goes into the ground with the seed potatoes. On top they spray Mocap (the only chemical described by the farmer as nasty). A month later, the first of the weedkillers are applied after the spuds have germinated but before they leaves have emerged. Linuron inhibits germination of any invading plantlife and Pdq is a contact killer.

3 weeks later, they begin spraying for blight. The farmer has a forecasting system and that year they sprayed 8 times. Farmers that don't have this system spray every other week. Later, a trace element - a tonic for the soil - is added and later again another trace element is added to top up what has been taken out of the soil. Also a slug killer. When the potatoes are judged to be the right size, a herbicide is sprayed over, stopping the natural growth of the potatoes when they are at the right size. And apparently this list of chemicals is less than many of his competitors. Eek!

If that doesn't make people 'grow your own' I really don't know what would. And for potatoes destined to be crisps they spray on a sprout suppressant. Is nothing sacred?

Frightening!!!!!!

[hamsterqueen]

I'm glad I have planted zillions of spuds..I don;t even want to think about what they do to tomatoes