[celtbhoy]

i leave my spuds in the ground after foliage has died off??

[Aunt Sally]

Hi there celtbhoy, nice to see you around ! How are you ?

I believe you can leave them in ther ground until September for main crop.

First Earlies are best harvested in small quantities & eaten straightaway when fresh in June & July.
Second Earlies and Salad varieties can also be harvested in small quantities and eaten when fresh in June and July.  Alternatively, if the skins are allowed to ‘set' - i.e. they don't rub off when lifted - cut the foliage down to stop continued growth, lift in September and store as per Maincrop varieties.
Maincrop varieties can be lifted from September onwards and stored as long as the tubers are lifted in dry conditions or are dried properly.  Store in a hessian sack in a cool, dark, frost-free area.

[celtbhoy]

hi aunty, hope you are well, im good to go!!,
went in on st patricks day, (17th march) flowered about 3 weeks ago, wilting like f..., so can i chop off dead foliage and just leave in ground?

[Yorkie]

In theory, yes.  I was still digging up my Charlottes in March? April? this year.

However, the longer you leave them in the ground, the more of a risk you run of underground slugs having a chomp at them.

[celtbhoy]

so whats the best way to lift/store them?

[compostqueen]

you lift them with a fork on a sunny day (if poss) and then you can leave them to dry which makes it easier to rub the soil off before bagging up in hessian or paper sacks. Cool dry place is needed to store them, away from mice which will eat the lot, bag and all    Eat the ones which may have dinks or fork holes etc first  

You have to keep checking your stored spuds as if one rots it will set off rot in the others

Good luck  

[celtbhoy]

if they are in sacks..how are you to check for rot??? :roll:

[DD.]

You take them out.

[compostqueen]

You open the sack and have a look  :roll:   Carefully though as you don't want to bruise em     I get the sack and carefully lay it on the floor then tumble a few towards the front of the sack and generally have a good look, and discard any bad ones