Planting potatoes

[Oliver Buckle]

It is not the normal time I plant potatoes, but I had some Red Duke of York first early seed potatoes left over and sprouting. I thought 'Quite a short growing period, I might get them before the weather starts freezing, and if I put them in bags I can move them into the greenhouse if it gets bad early.'
Not anything I have ever done before, but nothing to lose trying.
Surfing the web I come across a newspaper article, 'Three veg to plant in Autumn for Christmas dinner'. First one, potatoes, "Pick a fast growing variety like Red Duke of York ..."
Well well. The only thing is this was in The Daily Express. Normally I don't believe anything I read in that. Maybe it's doomed to fail.

 

[Meadowlark]

If your luck continues, you may get some mature at 80 days or small ones even earlier according to my research.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

It has been so dry I have loads of small ones for next years seed. I am taking to planting in bags, it was impossible to water them in the ground, the ground was so dry it all just soaks away. I was digging a hole to move a choisia and got down a foot with no hint of moisture. It is raining a bit this morning, but it will take a lot of rain before the water table is back to normal.

 

[nao57]

Potatoes are a good thing to practice on. They are 1 of those plants that you can grow a very large amount of food in a very small space. That's perfect for conditions now where you all in the UK have such a bad drought.

Although I have to say I've not had very good luck with potatoes. In some of my first years gardening I got them to work and even got some good poundage off them. But since then our soil has so much hard clay that its hard to get them to expand and tuber properly.

I'm not sure why this is... but if the soil you put them in is too compact then they have trouble tubering. Not sure the fix to this.

Are people that grow potatoes just... loosening the dirt around them all the time? Is that how they get them to be able to expand right?

Potatoes also need a lot of nutrients, because they use them. So you want especially make sure the fertilizer for them has good amounts of potassium and phosphorus. And then secondary; magnesium and calcium.

Potatoes can handle some cold. This you can tell because the ones you left in the ground the previous winter will be sprouting fairly early in the spring. Although I'm not sure how far that cold tolerance actually goes as a limit.

Potatoes can be grown in buckets and bags. Although to do so you have to have extra fertilizer beyond the mark it seems to get them to work. (Would a faster growing variety need more fertilizer than normal also??)

I ... wish I had more data for you. I haven't been able to get them to do very well. And I'm very frustrated with trying to get them to sprout. I do get potatoes and the plants to grow. But I just can't get them to tuber right, beyond having a few large marbles for potatoes at the end that aren't enough to eat. But you might have better soil than me. You might be able to get it to work. Some people do potatoes very well. And your climate seems like it'd be perfect for them.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

And your climate seems like it'd be perfect for them.

It used to be, but things are changing. This summer started fairly dry, and got dryer, almost no rain in July and the first 25 days of August and the ground is parched. Potatoes like the sun on their tops, but they like their roots cool and damp, wet even. That is why Ireland is regarded as great for potatoes, they are the first ones to get wet winds blowing in off the Atlatic. I watered them fairly consistently, but when it is that dry the water just dissappears almost as soon as you put it on. In a wet Summer I can dig a foot deep hole and in fifteen mins. it will have four inches of water in the bottom, now I could dig that same hole and there are two inches of damp on top where it has been raining the last few days, then bone dry all the way down. I am switching to bags, the water doesn't go anywhere and the plants get all the benefit. I roll the tops down and plant in the bottom six or eight inches, then roll them up as the plants grow adding soil. I can control what the soil is like by adding compost and sand, and when I harvest tip it out to improve my beds (I also am on heavy clay with not a great deal of top soil on it).
The one thing people do wrong when growing in bags or containers is having them in full sun. The root systems hate getting too warm, but it is pretty simple to put something in front of them so the bag is in the shade and just the top plant gets the sun.

 

[nao57]

It used to be, but things are changing. This summer started fairly dry, and got dryer, almost no rain in July and the first 25 days of August and the ground is parched. Potatoes like the sun on their tops, but they like their roots cool and damp, wet even. That is why Ireland is regarded as great for potatoes, they are the first ones to get wet winds blowing in off the Atlatic. I watered them fairly consistently, but when it is that dry the water just dissappears almost as soon as you put it on. In a wet Summer I can dig a foot deep hole and in fifteen mins. it will have four inches of water in the bottom, now I could dig that same hole and there are two inches of damp on top where it has been raining the last few days, then bone dry all the way down. I am switching to bags, the water doesn't go anywhere and the plants get all the benefit. I roll the tops down and plant in the bottom six or eight inches, then roll them up as the plants grow adding soil. I can control what the soil is like by adding compost and sand, and when I harvest tip it out to improve my beds (I also am on heavy clay with not a great deal of top soil on it).
The one thing people do wrong when growing in bags or containers is having them in full sun. The root systems hate getting too warm, but it is pretty simple to put something in front of them so the bag is in the shade and just the top plant gets the sun.

Next year is going to be a SUPER El Nino. And it may have some other stuff in on top of that. This means the weather and winter next will be crazier than this year. People already know this and you can find people talking about 'super el nino'. It would do well to get very prepared. By knowing this ahead of time you can plan ahead.

This means it will move and push the jet streams out of their normal places. Which we can see is what happened this year also. Some places got bad water measurements when they should be above average, and vice versa. It also means droughts for many areas but crazy weather also. It could also mean very rapid swings of temperature both up and down faster than it should be.

Hope this helps.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

It also means droughts for many areas but crazy weather also. It could also mean very rapid swings of temperature both up and down faster than it should be.

Hope this helps.

It doesn't sound like it will help

Seriously, I am thinking more and more about container growing, moisture is easier to regulate and I can change the aspect or even put them under cover for wild weather events.

 

[Sluggy]

The only problem with growing potatoes in containers is that you plant the seed potatoes on a layer of of compost then build up the layers as the stems grow so you finish up with a container of soil and trying to make sure your watering reaches the bottom without it becoming water logged. However there are a few solutions out there how to manage the watering. Watch your back if moving the containers as they can be very heavy.