[fatbelly]

An old timer on our site has said that when he plants his spuds he puts manure in the bottom of the trench only and not spread all over the planting area.
I am used to spreading the muck everywhere and then planting, has anyone tried planting in a trench with manure at the bottom of it and no where else.
What were yields like?
Thanks in advance FB

[Kleftiwallah]

That's just what my old Dad used to do.  So can't be that wrong !    Cheers,   Tony.

[rowlandwells]

my only answer fatbelly is from experience when we set spuds on the farm we would spread potato fertilizer on the ground  before planting on the lottie i don't spread any dung on the ground or in a trench as i was always told manure attracts slugs so i tend to grow my spuds on  brassicas  ground that was mucked the previous year

i know my father in law used peat in trenches when setting his seed spuds and he always had good spuds on  his lottie but he was growing on light sandy soil myne is a bit on the heavy side 

it will be interesting to see how many set there spuds this way because my crop was down last year without using potato fert

[DD.]

I manure the bottom of my trenches, waste of manure doing the bit in between rows where nothing is growing.

I also throw in a sprinkling of slugs pellets, although I can't prove they do anything!

[fatbelly]

I also throw in a sprinkling of slugs pellets, although I can't prove they do anything!

DD, last season I scattered some slug pellets in each trench and I had noticeably less slug damage on my spuds. It could also have been because we had a dry spring and early summer which helped keep the blighters down.

[savbo]

DD, do you put the spuds straight onto the manure or dig it into the bottom of the trench?

[DD.]

Straight on, it's very well rotted, 2 years at least.

[AndyRVTR]

If you have no well-rotted manure, try putting some compost on the bottom of the trench with some pellted manure.. seems to work ok for the BBC.... 

[Kristen]

Straight on, it's very well rotted, 2 years at least.

Me too. And in the tubs I grow spuds in the greenhouse. Folk say it improves the flavour doing it like that (not tried a side-by-side test though ...)

[stompy]

I heared Manure pellets cause scab on potatoes 
I put manure in the bottom of the trench then wetted newspaper and then the spuds and cover.
I usually get a good crop, gonna try the slug pellet trick next time though as i got a bit of damage last time.

[Stevens706]

This year I am going to sprinkle slug pellets around the plants before earthing up so to have the pellets near where the tubers are forming. Had a bad year last year with slug damage.

[fatbelly]

This year I am going to sprinkle slug pellets around the plants before earthing up so to have the pellets near where the tubers are forming. Had a bad year last year with slug damage.

This is another idea I will try this season in addition to my pellets in the trench trick.

[Chicken Pete]

Reading this subject today I had to laugh as only yesterday I was talking to an 'old timer' who has forgotten more about veg growing than I will every learn However, he mentioned how he digs a trench 9/10" depth puts in a layer of manure and then puts the potato on top.
He swore by the potato 'Majestic' so (you have guessed it) I am going to try this this year.
Fingers X'd