Potato - Tub Question

[Deleted]

After a few hours of hard labour I managed to remove the old water tank from the loft space.

It measures 3' 1" by 1'9" by 1'9" deep

Question is, how many spuds do you think I can plant in it?

Thanks, Paul

[lottielady]

You can put 3 in a builders bucket Paul, so going by the measurements you gave for the water tank, I would times that by 4 or 6 with probably a few extra ones thrown in for luck. The size of the spuds, when you plant them in the ground, depends on how close you plant them. Just remember to water them really well once they start growing.

LLx

[Deleted]

Crikey, that much , best get some more chitting done.
Is there anything you can plant with them as a companion crop?
Thanks
Paul

[lottielady]

These are my spuds in bags last year in April



and again in May



There is quite a lot of top growth if you tried to grow anything else in with them it might struggle a bit. If you grow 1st earlies you can follow on with something else after.

The important thing is to keep adding the compost as they grow and make sure they have enough water.

LLx

[Susie Snowdrop]

Thanks to Lottie I grew tonnes of spuds in pots last year and they were ab fab!

Just go for, if I can do it anybody can

S x

[Deleted]

Nice, never thought of growing them in compost bags.
I'll give them a go on their own, we don't eat masses of potato's so I reckon we'll be able to give some away ;D.

I have another smaller water tank I have only put two in, I think I could have stretched that to 6 given the numbers you have recommended.

So if I remember all the advice... lots of drainage, 6" of compost/soil then the potatoes, cover in soil and then add more compost as they grow, and keep watered. I am hoping the foliage will help keep in the moisture, would it be OK to mulch them with something as well?

Thanks
Paul

[oldmoleskins]

paul said:

Crikey, that much , best get some more chitting done.
Is there anything you can plant with them as a companion crop?
Thanks
Paul

They'll get so big and leafy relatively quickly, I don't think anything much will thrive in their shade - though you might try some mint!

OM.

[Chuckles]

I'll be doing spuds in tubs too, not enough room in my veg garden for many. Have about 10 containers I can use from old plastic oil tubs to plactic pots and an odd bucket or two. I had a bonus 15 Lady Christl from T&M becasue they messed up my order so I'm up to the neck in seeds potatoes 51 so may need to try the plastic bag method as well.

[Deleted]

Another quick question

What do I do with all the compost/soil when the crop is finished. I can imagine there will be quite a lot of it left over. I obviously shouldn't keep it and grow spuds in it again next year - or can I?

Actually what type of compost/soil would be best?

Thanks,
Paul

[oldmoleskins]

paul said:

Another quick question

What do I do with all the compost/soil when the crop is finished. I can imagine there will be quite a lot of it left over. I obviously shouldn't keep it and grow spuds in it again next year - or can I?

Actually what type of compost/soil would be best?

Thanks,
Paul

Last first - almost anything... the best-buy "on offer" compost you can get - last year I used some cheap growbags.

And what after? well, you can use it at a pinch because you're hardly in the high risk area of spud growing - but it will be "exhausted" and will need enriching. Probably better to put it in the compost bin.

OM.

[Plocket]

I use pretty much anything but have been told that ericaceous is best - a more expert spud-grower than me will know better though.

I scatter the spent soil over the garden and use fresh soil for the next batch of spuds. Good luck with the water tank - it should be excellent!

[Deleted]

I was going to start a separate thread about spuds but I might as well ask my questions on here as they're related to the topic. I hope you don't mind Paul.

1. Can I grow maincrop potatoes in tubs ?

2. When should I buy my seed potatoes ?

3. How long can I keep seed potatoes from when I buy them to when I plant them ? I want to stagger my planting so that I don't get all my spuds in one go this year. If I buy them now, will they still be ok to plant in late April or early May ?

4. When should I be planting 2nd earlies ?

5. When should I be planting maincrop ?

Thanks folks

FA xxxx

[davidk]

Hi Andy!

Goodness! Where do I start?

Your question seems to be based on the fact that the procedure for growing potatoes in containers is in some way the same as growing those in the open ground. Not so I’m afraid.
Container grown spuds are just that – not earlies, second earlies or maincrop, just spuds in containers.
The main criteria for choosing varieties should be for those that yield small potatoes, for this reason I think growing early varieties for all sowings is preferable.

Personally I also use early varieties because they are quicker to grow and do not produce such a bulk of foliage as others, using maincrop often results in a container yielding just two or three large potatoes.
To avoid the glut & dearth scenario just make successional sowings.

Feeding isn't really necessary, but if you must, a foliar feed of liquid seaweed once a fortnight will be all that is needed.

To sum up, just buy a big bag of your favs now and sow them as and when!

[Deleted]

Oh, I see ! And there was me thinking I was being all clever to buy different types and such like. Oh well, I might just buy 2 lots of charlottes then because they were good last year and just plant a couple of tubs every couple of week until mid May and then hopefully we'll have spuds for a couple of months rather than all in one go like last year.

Thanks DK, top advice as ever.

FA

[lottielady]

Give Lady Christl a try FA - they are really nice. Don't know if you remember but the ones I sent Susielast year took AGES to get to her and she had a good crop and I had them chitting for a fair while before I sent them to her. I was also really late putting in my maincrop spuds last year and they were ...erm....well very wrinkly when I planted them - I was also very late digging them up but there was a fair old crop from them. Give it a go maybe do them at fortnightly intervals and see what you get.

LLx

[davidk]

You're welcome, Andy!

Hope what I said made sense - Swift, Rocket and Arran Pilot all seem do well in containers.

[davidk]

Hi Lottie!

Although I've heard and read reports of Lady Chrystl, I've never grown them.
How do you rate them?
Are they of a waxy texture?
What size are the tubers?

[Chuckles]

I've done some Lady Christl in tubs for the GWD spud trials and have also got Swift in tubs too

[lottielady]

davidk said:

Hi Lottie!

Although I've heard and read reports of Lady Chrystl, I've never grown them.
How do you rate them?
Are they of a waxy texture?
What size are the tubers?

I really liked the taste David and they were much nicer than the International Kidney. In my opinion they tasted like ' new spuds used to taste' so I was impressed with them. They were a good cropper too ( I was too excited about them to weigh them) and some were a bit on the large side for 1st earlies although I thought the crop from the lottie tasted much better than the crop in containers. I wouldn't say they were waxy though.

These were the first ones from the lottie last year



LLx

[davidk]

Lottie - They certainly look nicely shaped and the right size.

I think it would be fair to say that those grown on open ground will always be of superior taste, although anything home grown will be of superior quality.

[davidk]

Lottie - this is a sample of 'Rocket' dug from my garden last year.

[Susie Snowdrop]

The Lady Christl I got off Lottie last year were delicious and certainly a good cropper.

This year I'm trying Rocket and Arran Pilot so that I can make comparisons! Both will be grown in containers of some sort.

Is is too early to plant the first batch??

S x

[davidk]

Hi Susie!

Good luck with your Rocket & Arran Pilot tatties, I'm fairly sure it's safe to plant them now.
If they've broken the surface and we do have a late frost forecast, it would be advisable to cover them with newspaper or earth them up.

It's worth remembering that even if they do get frosted, they will regrow, it just sets them back a little.

Btw, Arran Pilot is a very old variety, but is still superb for its taste qualities.

[Susie Snowdrop]

Thanks David

I've just got another batch of first earlies to try...........they're called Winston. Anybody tried them before?

S x

[Susie Snowdrop]

Planted my first batch of Arran Pilot today ;D.

I planted 6 in an enormous pot and 3 in organic potato bags . We just got these in at work so I thought I'd give them a try. Will post some pics soon.

Anybody ever tried these pot bags? To be honest I think they're a bit of a rip off! They only hold 40ltr of compost and are £3.99 each . The instructions are to open the top of the bag and push the seed pots to the bottom. No 'earthing up' required , just watering.

It will be interesting to see how they compare with the big planters.

S x

[oldmoleskins]

Not seen pot bags - that £3.99 includes compost, I suppose (would expect to use £2-3's worth in tub-growing)...any chance of a pic?

OM

[Susie Snowdrop]

oldmoleskins said:

Not seen pot bags - that £3.99 includes compost, I suppose (would expect to use £2-3's worth in tub-growing)...any chance of a pic?

OM

Will do OM, I'm off until Friday but will take my camera in and take some pics.

S x

[Deleted]

I bought my 2 varieties of seed pots yesterday. I'm trying Maris Bard and Kestrel. I'm going to bung the first lot in this weekend and then plant a pot of each every 10 - 14 days or so until the end of April. Hopefully that'll keep them successional rather than having a glut like I did last year.

FA x