[Tigerhair]

I heard Bob Flowerdew a few weeks back saying that potatos arn't the thing to put on a new plot.  According to him they encourage loads of pests and it's a myth about them breaking the soil up.  The huge amount of digging you do to put them in and get them out breaks the soil up, not the vegetable in themselves.

Thoughts?

[mumofstig]

I don't know why he said don't put them on a new plot 
I agree that it's the digging the gardener does that beaks up the soil though, all the spuds do is grow

[Aunt Sally]

According to him they encourage loads of pests

Did he say which ones ?

[Iain@JBA]

Well if he means that planting potatoes on an area that has been grassland into potatoes could encourage wireworm then I suppose he is correct. It would take about 3 seasons to rid the area of wireworm if they were there to start with.

If you are going to put potatoes into a plot that has been in grass for along time then I would try and remove the grass sods from the area and put them in the compost heap or somewhere similar out of the road.

[Ice]

He said that planting potatoes encouraged pests.  Planting in land that had been grassland doesn't encourage pests it just provides the pests that are already present something different to live on.  As for the digging, well that's hardly a revelation.

I think this needs further explanation from the ponytailed one.