Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: matt80 on June 30, 2010, 09:20
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Hi all,
My 2nd earlies have been in for 12 weeks and last night I lifted one of the plants to see how they were getting on. There were quite a lot of tubers, ranging from average 'new' potato size to slightly bigger.
The trouble is, I'm not sure what I should be aiming for with 2nd earlies. What size should they be when I harvest them? Do I eat them as new potatoes? How long will they store for in hessians sacks?
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Oh, they are Estima by the way :)
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The way I understand it...is that you can lift them as new potatoes and eat them within a few days, but if you want to store them then you wait for the foliage to die down before you harvest.
an 'expert' may be along in a little while :lol:
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I agree.
But I'm not an expert!
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2nd Early Potatoes are new potatoes they just take another week or 2.
Is there such a thing as an "expert" in this game?? we all have different opinions often contradicting. That's the fun of GYO, just try it and see how it goes. ::)
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All potatoes could be new potatoes if you dig them early enough ;)
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I grow Kestrel, which is a second early to maturity for storage as a maincrop spud.
In my opinion a "new" potato is one lifted before maturity to eat ASAP whilst still young. Not all second early spuds make good new potatoes and I would include Kestrel in this.
I don't think you can say carte blanche that second earlies are new potatoes, nor first earlies. It's the point at which you dig them up.
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my second earlys have got green balls growing on the top of them. They look like green berries!!! Thats not right is it!?
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the potato seeds are inside............they are no problem.
But pick them off if you think the children might eat them :ohmy:
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Thanks for the replies. How long should a potato be in the ground for it to store well? How long would a 'new' potato keep if its stored well?
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Time in the ground depends on the variety, so there is no hard & fast answer time wise, but the plant should be grown to maturity, i.e. the foiliage starts to die down.
As for storing new spuds - they never last long enough to see. I lift as needed.