Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: greenhead on June 03, 2010, 15:41

Title: Potato - When to harvest
Post by: greenhead on June 03, 2010, 15:41

Earlies - is the harvest time a set time from planting or after flowering, or when the haulms die down or some other point in time?

Thanks.

Title: Re: Potato - When to harvest
Post by: Zippy on June 03, 2010, 15:47

I'm going for a furtle tonight; none of them are in flower as yet but I can feel there are potatoes under there  :tongue2:

Title: Re: Potato - When to harvest
Post by: mumofstig on June 03, 2010, 15:50

theoretically it's 12 weeks, but the weather hasn't helped this year.
Mine were planted on the 17th March and last week I found about 5 pingpong ball sized potatoes, so decided to leave the rest a bit longer. Mine are Pentland Javelin and beginning to flower............I'm trying to be patient  :D

Title: Re: Potato - When to harvest
Post by: DD. on June 03, 2010, 15:54

Best way as mos said is to have a furtle.

Some spuds don't flower & if you wait for the haulms to die down, you'll have mature spuds, not nice new ones, which is usually the objective of the excercise with early spuds.

Title: Re: Potato - When to harvest
Post by: Aidy on June 03, 2010, 16:04

yep have scratch around, my lady xstal are ready so were eating ours now, they went in with paddy

Title: Re: Potato - When to harvest
Post by: greenhead on June 03, 2010, 16:06

Thanks Zippy, mum, DD (spelling corrected)  Planted Latona in mid April and they are just starting to bud - will have to wait a while.

Title: Re: Potato - When to harvest
Post by: JohnB47 on June 03, 2010, 16:39

Quote from: Aidy on June 03, 2010, 16:04

yep have scratch around, my lady xstal are ready so were eating ours now, they went in with paddy

My lady christl went in 15th March and still aren't flowering. Vanessa, planted same time, are flowering. A furtle might be in order.

Title: Re: Potato - When to harvest
Post by: DD. on June 03, 2010, 17:15

Lady Christl may not flower.

The British Potato Council database

http://varieties.potato.org.uk/display_description.php?variety_name=Lady Christl

states there is an absence of berries, which may mean no flowers.  Another (Dutch) web site say they are absent or of low frequency.

http://www.potato.nl/uk/about_potatoes/variety_catalogue/ras?frm_variety=66

Title: Re: Potato - When to harvest
Post by: Aidy on June 03, 2010, 17:55

With my earlies I never wait for the flower etc, I scratch and when the right size we dig, dig, dig n eat, eat, eat.