[muntjac]

when your spuds are going along nicley  here a tip i employ . when your next raking soil up onto your haulms ( leaves and stems )  throw a bit of sulphate of potash on the soil  before you rake it up this will mix it in for ya . what this will do is give your growing spuds a great boost and it WILL increase the size of your tatties and it will  also give you a load more spuds per plant . do this when they are a foot tall and again when 18 inch to 2ft tall after flowering , if your after new spuds do it when the haulms  are going well  a couple month after planting the seed . always remember that no spud will grow without plenty of water ,do not water direct down onto the haulms this can go down inside the stems and cause them to rot off .normal rain is fine but heavy amounts of water cause this problem .  also dont just splash them with water give thema good soaking once a week  twice if its a dry weather period  

[John]

Good tip, Muntjac. For the organic grower you can feed with comfrey tea - which is similar to tomato feed - for a similar result.
One champion potato grower told me that the biggest mistake people make is to not feed their potaoes enough. Lots of people don't even try and feed them then wonder why they get a pathetic crop,  but if you don't know...

[Dan]

Is potash not organic then?

[shaun]

is that why you see big sprinklers giving it loads over the spud fields all summer long,
tip of the day
when your driving around going about your own business stop and have a look over the hedge  

[John]

Is potash not organic then?

Oh can of worms this can open. Strict organic growers do not use chemical fertilisers.  So 'Fish, Blood & Bone' is organic but 'Growmore' isn't.

There is a benefit in using comfrey tea or a manure in that other and micro-nutrients are provided.

Although I'm not strictly organic myself, I minimise my use of chemicals including chemical fertiliser.  Having said that, the difference in my sweetcorn after adding some urea ( a high nitrogen fertiliser) was huge. I used to use dried blood but that has become harder to find in recent years.

[agapanthus]

But surely potash is a natural mineral? ie Boulby Potash Mine near Staithes. :?  :?

[muntjac]

there are natural forms of all fertilisers  .potash from the ground or ash fire is organic .. man made isnt . if you do not give plants potash they die ..... as wil all other fertilisers . the trouble is the description .... fertiliser has been generally linked to chemical additives ....but it aint .. there are chemical fertlisers and organic  fertilisers .......... dump the word fertiliser and substitute .. nutrients    now my blooming head hurts  ...all this for a flipping spud .,....


please when ya reading my stuff ....... i aint organic im a " get food on the table  by any means " kinda guy "

[ziggywigs]

I always add Growmore when i'm planting to the trenches, then when they are a bit further on as Munty describes i throw more on the ridges, then add again when my last earthing up is done.

In  the height of summer if it's been execessively hot and the ground is dry i spray mine for 1/2 hour once a week whilst the tubers are forming, usually only needs it for about four weeks i find.

[Aunt Sally]

Is potash not organic then?

'Fish, Blood & Bone' is organic but 'Growmore' isn't.

I'm afraid that is a distinction made by humans, not by plants  :roll:

[Dan]

Well im trying to be organic? i have used "organic" fish blood and bone...
also ash from the woodburning stove and ash from my metal dustbin incinerator...i thought ash contained potash? which is a natural thing?

but i hear you....not all "fertilizers" are chemical?....so if i buy anything i make sure it clearly states its organic.

[shaun]

planted some earlies today and had a bit of a play/experiment
i done 6 rows the conventional way ie dig a trench with manure added planted and backfilled and ridged them up,
on the last row i barrowed the manure straight onto the soil spread it about a bit then rotavated it in gave it about 4 passes so it was well mixed in,put the string line up and trowled the spuds straight in and earthed up into a small ridge.
so it will be intresting to see if there is a major difference.yield or size of spud.
but my 1st thoughts are there wont be any difference at all.

as for feeding your spuds after you have planted i just cant see the point if you prepair the ground and use plenty of manure when planting,all they will need then is watering.

[noshed]

Cheers Munty good tip

[Aunt Sally]

but i hear you....not all "fertilizers" are chemical?....

 :shock: Everything in the world is a chemical Dan  :!:

[mandycharlie]

Talking about watering,

If you don't water from the top, do you water from the the side/trench then?

[mercury]

Talking about watering,

If you don't water from the top, do you water from the the side/trench then?

I put the hosepipe in the trench till they've had a good soaking mandy