[Petediscord]

Have planted spuds in dustbins for the 1st time since feb, all spuds had chitted nicely beforehand. Cut holes in bottom of 2 different bins for an xperiment, 1 black plastic and the other metal.

Black plastic has done phenomal,about to flower, metal only half of the bin is 3/4 tall  !?

Hve been watering heavily and filling with soil up to top of growth when required, happy with black plastic - is there anything can be be done for the metal ?Im in North Kent ( not many peeps down here know about spuds in bins!) Cheers

[Aidy]

Pete, I am assuming you would like both ready at the same time? If it was me I would carry on so you get a little bit of a gap between them, are they new spuds or are you growing them as main crop?

[richyrich7]

If you want to speed up the metal bin then I would wrap it in black plastic as this will help absorb the heat from the sun better than the reflective metal, this is I suspect why you have such a difference in growth, also the plastic bin would hold on to it's heat better than the metal one. That's the theory anyway  

[Trillium]

It's possible you've been watering too much, hence the rapid growth in the plastic bin. Spuds need some water but not a lot or you get masses of leaf growth with little underneath. You can give the plants some liquid feed but cut back on the excessive watering. Just because the metal bin is slower, doesn't mean you're not getting a lot of spuds. Only time will tell.

[Jake]

It's possible you've been watering too much, hence the rapid growth in the plastic bin. Spuds need some water but not a lot or you get masses of leaf growth with little underneath. You can give the plants some liquid feed but cut back on the excessive watering. Just because the metal bin is slower, doesn't mean you're not getting a lot of spuds. Only time will tell.

Oh hell. Erm....how much is too much water. I was giving my container spuds a lot of water because I thought they'd need more than in the ground ones.

I'm only doing container spuds this year. :?

[Trillium]

Potatoes will take all the water they can get, but it does the tubers no good. From your description, I'd stop watering for a month. If you pinch dry soil between your fingers and it stays together, then there's water enough still. Otherwise, just have the soil slightly damp after watering and wait 2 weeks, maybe more.

[Jake]

Thanks

glad I was late planting them now.

[shaun]

ive cropped mine i couldnt wait anylonger,a bit on the small size but very nice  
i had 3 plants in a bucket and needed 2 buckets for the 4 of us.

[Petediscord]

many thanks everyone - shall try black plastic wrap and a little less water for my earlies
cheers