Potatoes in dustbins - Advice please Alice

[Grandpadragon]

Hi Alice
In a recent thread which I now cant find (Typical!) you said you'd had better results in buckets than dustbin can you tell me more please as I've got 4 Charlotte growing in one bin (doing well) and I've been offered 2 more bins

[Alice]

Hello Grandpadragon, yes I did think I got better results from buckets than dustbins. Last year I was growing Charlotte in Buckets. I got about 4lbs potatoes per bucket. (I believe this is a big crop for a bucket, but it was consistent over about 14 buckets) I also grew some in a dustbin and only got 7 lbs. It didn't seem a good return for the amount of extra space and compost. It wasn't an exact trial but I can't see that they were treated any differently and they were fed and watered the same. I'm sticking to the buckets.
If you are going to grow in dust bins - tip - its difficult to get water right to the bottom in such a big container. I put a piece of plastic tube with holes drilled down the sides, down the middle of the bin, so that I could water into it and make sure water was getting right to the bottom.
Good luck with your potatoes.

[Paulottie]

Alice, I think you might get a better return from a maincrop in the dustbin or tyres, you have the chance to keep on earthing up. I agree, earlies don't need so much space and time -they are perfectly happy in a bucket. It also allows you to lay the bucket on its side, slide it off, pick out the biggest spuds, and replace the bucket without disturbing the plant. My 93 yo neighbour used to have it down to an art.

GP I dont know about dustbins -use them for carrots and compost -but Bob Flowerdew stuffed the walls of the tyres with straw to save compost. Maybe polyseyrene or straw could partially fill a dustbin if you wanted to use it for earlies?

[Cutecumber]

Paul's logic is infallible - after a point, the potential crop does not increase in direct relation to the amount of space.

If you think about it, if that were the case, we would put one potato in a field and get a massive crop - cool!

I don't think I have found the optimum size for my potatoes yet - we just have to keep on experimenting.

[queen of the cobs]

our plot is a bit funny about container gardening - we aren't allowed to have baths and buckets and so on with veg in them. I'm not sure how they are going to react to my carrots and parsnips in old water bottles trick. I'll probably get told to plant them all out in the heavy soil and I'll be left with funny shaped veg!

[Flummery]

Useful if your allotment committee is prepared to host a 'humourous veg' competition?

[Grandpadragon]

Alice - Good tip re drain pipe but too late for this year as pots up to top of bin
Thanks for all the info.

Paul - Great tip about tipping bucket on side will try that, the straw tip good for anyone growing in tyres but I'm not worried about cost of compost as I have been given a huge pile of well rotted horse manure about 20' x 10' x 4' and after advice from Nick I'm growing my toms as well as the pots in it. All doing well and it seems to retain water better than GP Compost.

[andrewo]

I've planted in bins and buckets, and I am now leaning to the latter, it's far easier to harvest and you can get more in the space. I did do a test last year, I planted a bin up of Cara and three buckets of Cara, same space taken up. Three tubers in each, the bin produced just over 1lb - annoyed wasn't in it - and the bucket produced 21/2lbs.

[moggssue]

Any ideas why there should be so much difference? Is it the watering?

[andrewo]

No, they got the same amount of water, however, maybe due to the ratio size, buckets vs bins, the water was more contained in the buckets, less likely to be lost through surface evaporation or run off.

[moggssue]

I was thinking maybe the water didnt make it down to the bottom of the bin, assuming it was taller than the buckets? I'm using old compost bags turned inside out and empty catering size marg tubs but its farrrr to early to tell what sort of crop I'll get, some are only just sprouting!

[Cutecumber]

Ok this is getting confusing...

Andrew - do you mean that you put one potato in each of three buckets, and three potatoes in a bin, the total amount of growing media being the same? Or do you mean you put three potatoes in each of three buckets?

The surface area of the buckets is actually greater, relative to the mass of the bucket, than the bin. (I think that's what I remember from school physics!) So, it would tend to lose more water rather than less, from surface evaporation.

Where were the containers and what colour were they? Perhaps there are sun/ heat issues at work, too.

It is very hard to do "scientific" tests because even with the same type of potato, same space and the same growing media, you get a different crop from each tuber. When you change one variable, it's then not easy to say what is making the difference.

It's fun to try, though!

[andrewo]

Three potatoes in a bin, three potatoes in a bucket, the bin was made of metal, standard waste bin. The buckets were black - standard builders buckets (I have now moved to black plastic flower pots, large size, for 2007). They were next door to each other in the garden. There are variables at play, mainly I think, the height issue, the bin being higher up and more susceptible to wind - the bin's surface, that in contact, soil/sky was greater than the individual bucket (being wider and deeper). Location is south facing. It makes interesting topic - nothing can be scientific, not without a control and I have noted that some varieties do better in containers than others.

[Cutecumber]

Ah, I see. Thanks for the clarification.

I am using three of a new type of potato bag - I like them so far, they are strong, stable and a good shape, they support the top foliage very well. I just hope they are light-proof enough. I will be comparing their crop to that of three large black plastic heavy-duty pots. They are roughly the same in capacity (about 50 litres) but are different in shape.

I have used smaller pots before, but it was so hard to keep them moist once tubers were growing that I moved up to larger pots - it's still difficult, mind you! What I must try is increasing the number of tubers in each - I have only tried three so far.

Overall, my crops are still larger than when I did them in the soil - the little space I have is naturally sandy and dry and needs a lot of extra help. Not ideal for potatoes.

[Grandpadragon]

I think Pauls ealier comments to use maincrop in the dustbins is probably right as I suspect that early varieties will only produce a smallish crop no matter what. So its King Edwards for me in the dustbins next year to see if I can get 2 tons per bin I used Charlotte this year because thats all I had