[jazzbyrd]

I have  a black household size dustbin (not wheelie bin) and was thinking about growing potatoes in it next year.

Can maincrop potatoes be grown in a bin? How many seed potatoes do I plant in the bin? What depth?

Thanks for your help with this.

Jazz

[DD.]

You don't need anything as deep.

18" will do, this is about the depth of the commercially available spud planter.

I suppose you could cut it down & get maybe half a dozen or so spuds in it. I wouldn't advise just growing in the bottom of the full size bin as the sides will block off most of the light.

[compostqueen]

yes you can use it. I'd make holes in the bottom with a power drill

You can fill it with cheap growbag compost. My lotty mate mixes in a bit of potato fertiliser and slug pellets. I didn't bother with either and got good results  

I've done Cara very successfully but they have huge foliage so I think the smaller foliage variety would be preferable, eg Picasso.   I'm not sure what varieties are suitable so I'd refer to the seed catalogues but I've done all sorts. I had a load of odd spuds given to me buy a lotty neighbour who only plants in even numbers.  I put rather too many of them in my container, spacing them out in the bin but at different levels and they were fine. Next time I would do fewer spuds to get bigger sized ones as I like chips and jackets.  I think you can use the spuds you like to eat just as you would choose them if putting them in the ground.

[Mash Mad]

I some times grow my potatoes in pots or bins. I had some shop potatoes
left in the house (new potatoes) so I let them sprout and planted them.

They were loveley!

[theakston_uk]

I'm growing Picasso in 1 bin and Valor in another. Have got a quesion about earthing up. As soon as the green shoots appear should I be covering them totally with compost, or should I let them grow a few inches out of the compost and cover part of the shoots? I've been covering them totally and have to do it almost everyday which is surely a good sign.

[Faz]

I bung mine in bog standard builders buckets and pots of a similar size and get a decent crop of new potatoes in them. The advantage of the builders bucket is that I can carry them out of the greenhouse easily as I start some of them early

[digalotty]

builders buckets are great,  so are bins but as DD said cut it in half will be best

[joyce c]

Am new to veggie growing.  Have planted seed potatoes in bins, also added a couple of my house potatoes that had gone to seed.  Can anyone tell me, if the house pots will give me a yield. 

[Yorkie]

They will probably give you a yield, but for future reference it's not advised to use them as they are not certified virus-free.  In pots it probably doesn't matter too much, so long as you do not intend to put the exhausted compost onto space where you will later grow veggies. 

NB. If you've mixed the seed tubers and supermarket spuds together, see whether you can tell which is which by appearance and taste when they are harvested 

Out of interest, how many tubers did you put in the dustbins?

[Elcie]

Dustbins should be fine although perhaps you don't need so much depth.  I have used the black flower buckets that a number of supermarkets give away for free and they are growing well.

[sunshineband]

Mine are in the famous buckets too (at home) and have flower buds now. Be interesting to compare the yield with thise in the ground at school 

[theakston_uk]

Out of interest, how many tubers did you put in the dustbins?

I put 4 tubers in each bin.

[Oliver]

....  a quesion about earthing up. As soon as the green shoots appear should I be covering them totally with compost,

Yes
O

[joyce c]

They will probably give you a yield, but for future reference it's not advised to use them as they are not certified virus-free.  In pots it probably doesn't matter too much, so long as you do not intend to put the exhausted compost onto space where you will later grow veggies. 

NB. If you've mixed the seed tubers and supermarket spuds together, see whether you can tell which is which by appearance and taste when they are harvested 

Out of interest, how many tubers did you put in the dustbins?

Only 4 in each bin.  I'll remember your advise and will discard the exhaused compost, to be on safe side.   

[theakston_uk]

Another question, sorry to be a pain.
Should I keep earthing the spuds up until they reach the top of the bin, then let the plant grow? Or should I earth up until the bin is 3/4 full then let the plant grow? I've put a couple of inches of gravel in the bottom of the bin and about 8 inches of compost, then the tubers and covered them with compost.