[MoreWhisky]

Can anyone please tell me the spacing for Pink Fir Apples as ive not grown these before?

Cheers MW.

[Martin]

Its a main crop, so I do mine at 15 inches.

[Weed]

Hi, I planted them as earlies, the spacing on the pack suggested 10 inches between and 12 inces between rows. Never tried them before so can only go by the pack. Hope this helps.

[8doubles]

I would go for the 15" spacing if you have room. Fir Apple roots do tend to wander a long way often up to the surface so best keep them well earthed up.

[DavidT]

Do you plant them upright, or laying down?

[Iain@JBA]

Plant between 12 and 15inches and you can lay them flat on their side.
They are a very late maturing variety so they should be planted as early as possible.

[Weed]

ian@jba, i was sold these as earlies, if they are late maturers, are they any good as earlies?

[Iain@JBA]

To be honest weed I have never tried to harvest them as earlies.
It would be interesting if you lifted a shaw as an early just to see what size they are.

[Pompey Spud]

Hi.

Nope..they will be tiny.

The haulm takes a while to get going but is fairly tall when it does.

I had a big harvest last year from a few rows and they make nice salad spuds.

[Kristen]

I lifted some "early" (a while after I'd finishing harvesting my earlies though!) last year and there wasn't anything much to be found ... I wanted them for Summer Bar-B-Qs and they weren't ready. But I didn't make a note of the date when I did harvest some last year , but they were planted on 1st April.

I read with interest to "get them in early" ... haven't planted mine yet this year, and they have barely chitted compared to the others. I'll make a note for next year to start them earlier. I leave planting my spuds to first week of April otherwise its a nightmare earthing them up to keep any late frost off - but I reckon the P.F.A. would be safely underground still!

[Weed]

i was hoping that they would make a good salad crop, i.ll try a few early and post the result, otherwise i'm in for a bumper mains harvest!

[Iain@JBA]

My top tip with any late maincrop is to plant them in pots early indoors and then transfer them straight into the ground at this time of year. It normally puts them 3 weeks ahead which can be very useful.

[Kristen]

You use those thin polythene "liner pots" don't you Iain?

Can you remind me what size they are please?

I have to say I thought you were nuts when you described it last year, but I can see the sense now!

[Kristen]

Ah ... I think this is the thread I need

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=39557.msg470485#msg470485

[Iain@JBA]

You can plant them in ordinary 3inch plastic pots and then transplant them outdoors or into the polypots as I call them. For these types of maincrops I think they are best grown outdoors in the soil. The polypots come in different sizes but I use the 17litre polypots for the final growing stage. The people that exhibit at Chelsea start their spuds off in 3inch pots and have been known to pot them on if weather is still no good for planting outdoors. I also have a secret project underway about growing potatoes early but I can't tell you