[Middlesexbloke]

Hi. Have a problem with my potatoes this year, many of the plants (mainly, but not exclusively, maincrop varieties) came up weeks ago but have hardly grown at all. Most are not even a foot tall. It's a new bed which I cleared, dug over and manured over the winter. Most of my earlies are better but still not like last years big, robust plants. Have some potatoes growing in tubs/bags too but they're all romping away. Should I give the ones in the ground a good feed? If so, what with? Any ideas and advice appreciated.

[gavinjconway]

Did you add fertilizer before planting? How has the weather been? wet or dry? Too dry and they wont grow... too wet and they will get a bit lanky..

[Middlesexbloke]

Did you add fertilizer before planting? How has the weather been? wet or dry? Too dry and they wont grow... too wet and they will get a bit lanky..

I didn't add fertiliser, just dug in lots of rotted manure. I've watered a few times so don't think it's that, must be feed then? What's best to add to get good growth?

[jaydig]

Just a thought - was the manure really well-rotted? Is it just possible that there was just a bit too much of it, and perhaps it was too strong?If so, maybe the plants haven't developed the fibrous roots, and all the growth that you can see has come just from the tuber itself. I don't know if such a thing is possible, but try digging one up to see what is going on below soil level.

[Middlesexbloke]

Not totally sure how well rotted the manure was. I spoke to the lady who owns the stables when I picked it up and she said it had been there for over 6 months, bagged up. I also dug in some organic rotted manure from garden centre bags. I'll have a look and dig up a plant, it's a bit odd though as I did the same last year and the plants were loads bigger!

[gavinjconway]

Feed and water... the manure will be fine and should not contribute to small growth... I use fresh stable bedding 3"-4" thick on all my beds and grow great spuds.. no brag - just fact!!

[Spr0ut]

My beds - rich with fresh rabbit hutch scrapings (about six inches deep!) this springtime soaked all the rainwater we had up like a sponge and my seed potatoes really didn't like sitting in the wet. Didn't start sprouting until the weather warmed up and started to dry out.  I wonder of yours have had a similar wet start?

I am only just starting to harvest new potatoes and my maincrop are only showing the first few inches of the first sprouts - almost given up on them!

[gavinjconway]

How deep did you both plant the tubers?  three years ago in the very wet season mine were terrible..

[Spr0ut]

- about 4 inches deep in rabbit hutch clearings, on top of the soil surface. The growing medium looked nicely damp with manure and straw but then we got the constant rain and the whole lot turned into a sloppy mess. I had thought the seed potatoes had rotted but they started to sprout once the bed started to warm up and dry out in the better weather.

[Middlesexbloke]

Thanks for the replies, I'll try feeding with potato fertiliser and Vitax pellets and see how that goes!

[Salmo]

Applying fertilizer now will do little good. The nitrogen element will make the tops grow so they will look better but the phosphate and potash part will not get down to the roots.

They will probably turn out OK. Most allotment potatoes have excessive top growth.

What variety are they? They could just be a variety with smaller tops. You can look on the Potato Council's website where it will tell you.

As has been suggested dig one up and see what is happening under the ground.

[Middlesexbloke]

Ah ok, I'll dig up a plant to see what is going on underneath. The varieties are Ratte, a French gourmet potato and Pink Fir Apple. I've not grown either before.

[RaptorUK]

What variety are they? They could just be a variety with smaller tops. You can look on the Potato Council's website where it will tell you.

Here ?

http://www.varieties.potato.org.uk/varietyindex.php?page_no=1

[Yorkie]

That's right