Potatoes

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nitiram

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Potatoes
« on: November 21, 2005, 15:06 »
Have had my lottie since July this year, in Grimsby,N.E Lincs. Am busy planning crops for next year and have opted to grow Lady Balfour a 'second early' and Juliette which is a salad potato...don't ask me why just liked the sound of them!    Trouble is, have only grown potatoes at home in a big plant pot and have absolutely no idea how to grow them on a larger scale. Asking around the old folk on the site (I am the only female and the only one under 60, just)   has produced conflicting advice so am still confused.

So....how do I plant out potatoes...do I:

a) dig a big trench, plant at bottom then slowly earth up
b) plant potatoes very deep and not really earth up
c)  earth up first then plant potatoes deep into the heap.

Is there any different treatment for salad potatoes????

All the books i have read, and even the seed catalogues assume that everyone knows how to plant pots...well I don't!!   Help

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John

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Potatoes
« Reply #1 on: November 21, 2005, 15:39 »
Hi Nitiram

My method for potatoes is to dig over the soil then to draw a trench about 6 inches deep into which I put comfrey leaves and then place the seed potatoes on top of this drawing the soil over so it starts off level.
As the haulm grows, draw soil up over most of the haulm (especially if frost threatens).
The potatoes form at or just below ground level and we need to prevent light from making them turn green.

A good handful of fish, blood and bone helps them after about 6 weeks as well.

You can just trowel a hole and drop them in if you wish, but you still need to draw soil up the plant later.

A method I have not tried is to place the seed potato onto the soil or some compost and cover with black plastic or straw, cutting a slit in the plastic to allow the haulm to grow through. The idea is that the plastic / straw stops weeds and light getting to the crop and you can harvest very easily.

If you have eelworm on your plot, sow agricultural mustard after you harvest the potatoes. This confuses the little beasts into developing prematurely and keeps them down.

My big enemy is the slug and this year I am going to try nematodes to see if I can keep the damage down.

Hope this helps
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nitiram

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potatoes
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2005, 15:44 »
Explain about the black plastic idea....don't I have to plant them in a hole first? Where do the potatoes grow if not planted? It sounds a good way of growing spuds though. How do i know if I have eel worm on my plot?   Probably a daft question..

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John

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« Reply #3 on: November 21, 2005, 16:15 »
As I understand it, you just lay the seed potato on the ground and cover with the plastic. The potato then roots into the ground and the haulm is pulled through a slit in the plastic.
Come harvest time, you lift the plastic and pick up the potatoes. As I say, I've not tried it but that's what I have heard.

Found this on eelworm>
Symptoms: This microscopic pest can survive in the soil for 20 years in the absence of any potato crop. It tends to be common on allotments, where potatoes are often grown without using a crop rotation.

Infected plants will tend to die back early, sometimes in patches, and yields will be reduced. Where soil is severely infested, growth and cropping may be minimal. To confirm the presence of eelworm, check in July/early August. Carefully expose the roots of a potato plant and look for pinhead sized white, yellow or brown cysts on the roots. A magnifying glass may help!

Hoe that helps

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nitiram

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potatoes again
« Reply #4 on: November 22, 2005, 06:33 »
The plastic sounds interesting John....About the eel worms...I have to grow potataoes to see if they get infected? can't I check before I plant to see if I have eel worms?

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John

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« Reply #5 on: November 22, 2005, 08:39 »
I don't think so - they're not that bad a pest if kept in check by rotation. The mustard trick was used by people growing potatoes on the same patch on alternate years.

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olde9856

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Potatoes
« Reply #6 on: November 24, 2005, 12:33 »
I layout my spuds on the soil surface, then dig a trench to the side of them throwing the dug soil onto the row of potatoes. Once haulms show through I cover with lawn mowings. This is the way I was shown by my Grandad some 40 years ago and it has worked well for me and it did for him also.

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nitiram

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potatoes
« Reply #7 on: November 24, 2005, 14:16 »
Never heard of this way of doig it either. Does it make any difference  how you plant the earlies, second earlies, main crop, salad spuds?

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John

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« Reply #8 on: November 24, 2005, 18:20 »
I think some people on our site 'plant' on the surface and put soil on top. Personally I would worry about them getting enough water but I suspect the lawn mowings act as a water retaining mulch.

I'm fairly conservative in the way I do things - if it works, don't fix it.

Attended a NVS lecture on Tuesday. He grew his potatoes in peat filled bags which were sat into a trench.  He mixed the peat (5,800 litres of it using 2 cement mixers!) with nutrients and fed regularly as well as watering with seep hoses connected to a custom built valving system

Good way to win prizes at a show but  a bit extreme for our purposes, methinks!

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John

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« Reply #9 on: November 24, 2005, 18:27 »
Sorry, senior moment - forgot to answer your question..
Quote
Does it make any difference how you plant the earlies, second earlies, main crop, salad spuds?

No - except you should space 2nd earlies and maincrop more than 1st earlies

I go with around a foot apart in 2 foot rows for 1st earlie, 15 inches for 2nd and about 18 inches in 30  inch rows for maincrop.

'Salad' potatoes are usually 2nd earlies - I love Anya, which is a knobbly spud but tasty and productive. Charlotte have been mixed - one good year, one bad.

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olde9856

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« Reply #10 on: November 25, 2005, 11:38 »
You are right about the water. I irregate regularly by filling up the trenches between the rows with water from our well.

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John

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« Reply #11 on: November 25, 2005, 12:29 »
What's your soil like?  Mine is pretty heavy clay, but improving as I keep working it.

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olde9856

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« Reply #12 on: November 28, 2005, 08:41 »
Im on the river Wye floodplain near Hay-on-Wye and our soil is river gravel and I mean gravel. Raised beds for carrots and parsnip etc.

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John

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« Reply #13 on: November 28, 2005, 10:20 »
Water is going to be a bigger problem for you than me. Our heavy soil holds water well and the underlying clay pan layer acts as a seal. This is a benefit in some ways and a curse in others.

Whatever soil you have, it seems the answer is the same - lots of organic matter!

Hay-on-Wye - lovely area of the country  :)

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olde9856

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« Reply #14 on: November 28, 2005, 11:28 »
Wonderful area until the river comes up into my fields



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