Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Rainman on June 14, 2006, 08:14

Title: Early Pots when to pick
Post by: Rainman on June 14, 2006, 08:14

Is there an easy way of telling when early and main crop pots are ready to harvest other than digging them up

Title: Early Pots when to pick
Post by: Heather_S on June 14, 2006, 08:28

earlies - when the flowers open
maincrop - when the foliage dies back

at least i think that's the rules. I've been cheating and digging up some of my earlies already since I planted back in March.

Title: Early Pots when to pick
Post by: olde9856 on June 14, 2006, 08:59

Ive been digging earlies for 2 weeks now. I tend to pull back some of the soil with my hands and when I see tubers I start to dig.
With maincrop they can be left till the foliage completley goes but keep a lookout for blight.

Title: Early Pots when to pick
Post by: GrannieAnnie on June 14, 2006, 16:20

What about second earlies, do you dig them as earlies i.e. when they flower, or wait til foliage dies like maincrop?  I thought the international kidney I'd bought were earlies, then realised they are maincrop here in England, so I haven't actually got any earlies, just second earlies!!!

Title: Early Pots when to pick
Post by: Heather_S on June 14, 2006, 17:31

i've read that 2nd earlies should be treated like main crop but I guess you have to treat them as the gap inbetween earlies and maincrop  :roll: These potatoe variaties are confusing.

Title: Early Pots when to pick
Post by: olde9856 on June 15, 2006, 08:43

Not very scientific but I go onto my second earlies as soon as the earlies are finished :D

Title: Early Pots when to pick
Post by: GrannieAnnie on June 15, 2006, 19:40

that's not much help if you haven't got any earlies olde9856!!!!  Dug up one plant tonight with another one that self planted from last year.  the self planted one was a red king edward, and although the potatoes weren't very big, there were 19 of them on there!!!  So we had a nice meal tonight!!!

Title: Early Pots when to pick
Post by: olde9856 on June 16, 2006, 08:07

Try the same idea of moving some of the soil by hand and if tubers are showing begin digging if not recover and try again in a couple of days.

Title: Early Pots when to pick
Post by: fishwife on June 16, 2006, 22:05

I heard the flowering thing for earlies too. Planted mine late though cause of the wet on my heavy clay soil! So I'll have to wait a bit longer for the tatties.