A few questions...(pictures inline thread, not attached)

[chris]

Not really sure if I should split these up into seperate ones - lemme know if I need to

Righty.. just been out in the garden - thought I'd harvest a sack of spuds. These were planted 20th March. Lots of top foilage, flowering too - figured I'd have a look in one sack anyway.

3 Charlotte chitted seed spuds planted - 2 rotted. Harvest is:



Really exciting finding them as I didn't really know what to expect (first time growing spuds).

Q's - Does this seem about right for 1 spud? Should I have left it a litle longer? I have 2/3 more sacks of Charlotte with same top growth/flowering.

Next up, Rocket - 3 spuds, chitted planted same day:


Again, 2 rotted - this compost was much more moist than the Charlotte sack - it was further in the group of sacks I have on my decking, so I presume that's why. Larger spuds, but less - the reason why I harvested this was I was a bit concerned at the halums/stems - they were resting on the soil, and had started to rot.. I checked the leaves, and saw:



After having a Full Smith Blight alert the other day, I thought I'd harvest it anyway - wasn't sure if it's blight or not, no other leaves are like this.

Qs - Am I right in thinking that both Charlotte and Rockets are 1st earlies? If so- why such the differnece in harvest? I noticed that the spuds were all along the halum/stem under the compost, where as the Charlottes were at the ends of root "shoots"... due to different varieties?

(continued in reply to thread)

[maypril]

Not really sure if I should split these up into separate ones - lemme know if I need to

I would. You're more likely to get a better response if you use one thread for each specific issue. Personally, I'd delete your second post in this thread and put it into a new thread.

3 Charlotte chitted seed spuds planted - 2 rotted. Harvest is:

It's very hard to examine yield from a basic photo. You really need to put a ruler next to the spuds before taking the photo so that it's easier to get an idea of the size.

Q's - Does this seem about right for 1 spud? Should I have left it a litle longer? I have 2/3 more sacks of Charlotte with same top growth/flowering.

Assuming those are standard size decking boards, it looks like you have a small yield. I don't think it's abnormal. You've harvested very early so that's what you should expect. The earlier you harvest, the smaller the yield.

You should certainly have left them longer if you were expecting a higher yield. We've had a very late start to the season because of the bad weather.

Qs - Am I right in thinking that both Charlotte and Rockets are 1st earlies?

No, charlotte are second early, rocket are first early.

[taff]

flea beetle, yup, and leaf miner on the beetroot.

[chris]

Thanks - I'll split them up in work later this morning.

Can I compost the leaves with leaf miner in?

[Two_Sheds]

1) you don't have to take out all the spuds at once. If you furtle, you can pick off the large ones and leave the rest to grow on.

2) Your leaves were rotting due to sitting in water, not Blight

3) Compost the leaf miners, they will soon run out of food and die in the compost bin

4) Yield depends on so many variables. One being the number of shoots on the seed potato itself. Some gardeners rub off most of the shoots in an attempt to get fewer, but larger, potatoes

[chris]

Sweet - thanks. I did try to furtle int he sacks, but most of them were so low down it was quite difficult I'm going to leave the others a few more weeks / until they start to die down..

Interesting little critters those miners - must be hiding as I split the leaves apart to try and get a look at them.

[Flummery]

Charlotte is a second early. I used Lady Crystle for my tub. You would have got a bigger harvest if you'd left them a couple of week - and watered really well in between. Not bad for an early harvest though.

[chris]

Ya live n' learn! Looking forward to them lightly cooked with a casserole tonight though! the small uns, the baby can have