[rubberfrog]

I generally grow Swift, Picaso and Cara and I generally had to waste half of them due to slug damage.  This year I grew in poly bags and the results have been amazing, good yields and not a damaged potato in sight.  Although more expensive than straight in the ground the results are well worth it, this will be my method from now on.  Plus there is no need to use pellets when planting which is even better.

Give a few bags a go next year and see the difference.

Thanks

RF

[devonbarmygardener]

I only grow a few spuds in the ground now - Lady C's this year - as I prefer the new potatoes grown in bags of compost.
Very little damage from the Lady C's in the allotment bed (I don't think they're slug resistant - someone correct me if I'm wrong), but never a hint of damage in the spud bags

[mumofstig]

Ideal for a few tubs/bags of earlies, but much too expensive to grow more than a few.

[devonbarmygardener]

It is the more expensive option that's for sure, but I do like the result
I've got a cheap MPC supplier locally - £1.95 a bag so that helps. I buy chicken poo pellets in bulk too

[rubberfrog]

It is the more expensive option that's for sure, but I do like the result

Got to agree here it is more expensive, but  when you tip one out and everyone of the spuds are in perfect condition, it makes it all worth it.  It is so frustrating when most of them have holes in them, which you usually find when you get them home and wash them.

All from one 17 litre bag, grown in compost with a handful of potato fertilizer mixed in the bottom third.

[Kenilworth]

I don't grow main crop for that reason only earlies and second earlies they are out the ground before the slugs and blight get going.
A farmer near me sells Picasso at £5 a 56lb bag so it is not worth the bother of Main crop.

pretty much my approach as well, when I can buy a 25KG sack of spuds from the local farm for £4 to £6 and you look at what your returns are for growing and the relevant issues plus space taken on the plot it doesn't quite make sense to me.

[realfood]

Grow Sarpo Axona or Mira. Blight and slug resistant.

[greenhead]

Same problem here - I wish there was a slug predator - please send my way!!

Mike.

[Kristen]

A farmer near me sells Picasso at £5 a 56lb bag so it is not worth the bother of Main crop.

pretty much my approach as well, when I can buy a 25KG sack of spuds from the local farm for £4 to £6 and you look at what your returns are for growing and the relevant issues plus space taken on the plot it doesn't quite make sense to me.

I vacillate on this ... storing Main Crop spuds, and them not all sprouting before Christmas, is a challenge ... whereas the farmer has a cold store that takes care of that problem, and bought bulk from farm shop/gate they are cheap.

But a year or two back, when we had a dreadful summer, it turned out that the "farm gate" spuds were imported as the farmer didn't have enough. That started to worry me ... my understanding is that farmers here dessicate the hulms of spuds, prior to harvest, with acid - which is probably benign? - whereas it used to be done with Gramoxone;  Gramoxone has been banned in the EU for a while, but is still used widely elsewhere outside the EU and I am not sure I want to eat anything that has been treated with that, or other "who knows if they will be banned soon" chemicals.

All I need is a cheap cold store and space enough to grow my own Main Crop Spuds