2nd Early Potatoes

Hi all,

My 2nd earlies have been in for 12 weeks and last night I lifted one of the plants to see how they were getting on. There were quite a lot of tubers, ranging from average 'new' potato size to slightly bigger.

The trouble is, I'm not sure what I should be aiming for with 2nd earlies. What size should they be when I harvest them? Do I eat them as new potatoes? How long will they store for in hessians sacks?

The way I understand it...is that you can lift them as new potatoes and eat them within a few days, but if you want to store them then you wait for the foliage to die down before you harvest.

an 'expert' may be along in a little while 

2nd Early Potatoes are new potatoes they just take another week or 2.

Is there such a thing as an "expert" in this game?? we all have different opinions often contradicting. That's the fun of GYO, just try it and see how it goes.

I grow Kestrel, which is a second early to maturity for storage as a maincrop spud.

In my opinion a "new" potato is one lifted before maturity to eat ASAP whilst still young. Not all second early spuds make good new potatoes and I would include Kestrel in this.

I don't think you can say carte blanche that second earlies are new potatoes, nor first earlies. It's the point at which you dig them up.

the potato seeds are inside............they are no problem.
But pick them off if you think the children might eat them 

Time in the ground depends on the variety, so there is no hard & fast answer time wise, but the plant should be grown to maturity, i.e. the foiliage starts to die down.

As for storing new spuds - they never last long enough to see. I lift as needed.