[Jd1980]

Hi
I've taken on a 2nd plot so now have more room

Is growing 1st, 2nd and main crop potatoes too much ?

I've only ever done 2nd earlies.
Not sure if having the 3 types is necessary or if it's worth while .

To put into context we have plenty of room to have 2 rows of each, and are a family of 4 and use potatoes all year round .

Any help greatly appreciated.

[Nobbie]

I wouldn’t grow more than one row of the 1st earlies as the 2nd earlies should be ready a couple of weeks later and I find they have better flavour. Rocket is very fast growing, but once the tubers get large they taste of nothing much, whereas a 2nd early like Maris Peer are full of flavour.

[jambop]

Depends on how much you like spuds and how many people are going to scoff them. I grew only Charlotte potatoes this year the beds, because I had the seed, we got about 75kg back and for two people that is more enough. I am just going to grow one bed of potatoes next year. It would be fine if you could keep them the  same as when the were first dug but although they remain tasty they are just not the same six months after you dug them up.

[rowlandwells]

we always grow 25k of main crop potatoes and 3k of first and second early potatoes following the advise of our friendly gardeners on this site i grew a crop of second earlies this season [Kestrel ] and they where a terrific crop of spuds had a few blights as you do now the main crop is stored for winter and they usually last us around six months and i always end up giving some away

the varieties we grew this season where charlotte pink fir apple red duke of York but what you have to remember is have i got enough space to store the potatoes in a frost free place? i made myself a wooden frost proof potato storage box in the shed and don't forget mice and rats also love stored potatoes given the chance

although i have known gardeners to make a potato clamp for storing potatoes on there plot to overwinter there potatoes  but that involves quite a lot of work and has to be  done properly and frost proof to protect the potatoes

but having said all that we started to  grew quite a crop potatoes 30 years ago when there where six of us in the family and i used to supply my parents potatoes overwinter but now there's only two of us we still grow quite a large amount of potatoes can't give up those lovely spuds 

 

[jaydig]

I've given up growing main crop potatoes now mainly because of blight.  I don't like the taste and texture of the Sarpo varieties, although if you do, they are quite blight resistant. I found it a problem when storing maincrops that, although they look fine when they're put into the sacks, inevitably there comes a time when a smell of blight becomes apparent, and now the whole sack has to be emptied out to find the culprit/culprits before they rot too many other spuds.  I just buy mine a sack at a time, as and when I need them, from a local supplier and save myself the stress and the space needed to store them.
I now grow just one row of earlies, and three rows of second earlies, each row being 30' long.   Everyone has their own preferences, and what works for one may not work for somebody else.

[CHRISDONOHUE]

Experienced gardeners who have tried several varieties usually find several which they or their family like and give reliable crops.   Many with limited space concentrate on first earlies planted in mid-March which crop when bought new potatoes are at their most expensive.   The further north you are the more likely you are to get your potatoes hit by a late frost so main crop potatoes planted in mid-April may be a more reliable choice.   With a fair amount of space, I plant Charlotte (2e) for flavour and salad potatoes followed by Desiree (mc) for flavour and reliability with Christmas-time varieties from supermarkets (mc) for economy and good cropping potential.   The latter tend to be free of disease contrary to the advice given by every gardening book to only buy certified disease-free seed potatoes.

[Yorkie]

Experienced gardeners who have tried several varieties usually find several which they or their family like and give reliable crops.   Many with limited space concentrate on first earlies planted in mid-March which crop when bought new potatoes are at their most expensive.   The further north you are the more likely you are to get your potatoes hit by a late frost so main crop potatoes planted in mid-April may be a more reliable choice.   With a fair amount of space, I plant Charlotte (2e) for flavour and salad potatoes followed by Desiree (mc) for flavour and reliability with Thewordwemustnotsay-time varieties from supermarkets (mc) for economy and good cropping potential.   The latter tend to be free of disease contrary to the advice given by every gardening book to only buy certified disease-free seed potatoes.

Chris, I'm not sure if you have a mission to disagree with any authoritative sources, or just happen to do so, but as I'm sure you well know, there are very good reasons for the advice being given by all authorities, to avoid buying / using non-certified virus free spuds (and that's without looking at the plant health regulations about the sale of potato tubers).

The fact is that nobody can tell whether a seed tuber is virus-free on sight.  It's only when it's too late to stop others being infected by a virus, that you can tell.  One of our members on here was a professional potato seed merchant who was given a few seed tubers of an unusual but personally preferred variety by another person who was also experienced in growing seed potatoes.  Luckily, he decided to grow them in a quarantine area; they came up with a virus but because of his caution he therefore did not compromise his entire growing operation.  But it illustrates the point that you can't spot a virused potato before you plant it.

The risks of importing virus into an allotment site, if that is where our members are growing their potatoes, are significant.  That is why we advise - along with all other authorities - that you should not keep growing non-certified virus free potatoes on your plot.  We have a lot of gardeners reading this forum who are of mixed experience. We therefore cannot be cavalier, with irresponsible advice.

[rowlandwells]

I have to say that's very true what your saying Yorkie we always buy and grow certified scotch seed you can't beat um for quality seed  and the bulk of our seed come from one supplier

[snowdrops]

I made the break a few rules here & there but not the using  certified seed potatoes is a no no for me!