Potatoes

[eitoof]

I planted some roosters and records Monday evening. Was I too late?

Any tips for a potato novice?!!

[Mo]

Keep your fingers crossed.
Last year I was a bit late planting mine, and blight struck early. I always dig them up when I see the leaves going very blotchy so there wasn't much time for cropping.
More info & pictures from RHS

[lancashire lass]

Fingers crossed you may just get away with it but a lot depends on the weather at the end of the growing season as Mo mentioned - shame you planted main crop potatoes as these need a much longer growing period (22-24 weeks) than second earlies (16-20 weeks) Both potatoes you've got are good for disease resistance (Record has some late blight resistance but still keep an eye on them), and I personally found Rooster was exceptionally good at slug resistance.

Potatoes are one of the easiest vegetables to grow providing all goes well. Most people plant their potatoes way too early hoping for an early crop, but this spring has been long drawn out and we've not had the rise in temperatures you would hope for, especially in May so you won't be too far behind. At least frosty weather should be behind us now which can kill off the top growth. As they grow, you might just want to earth up soil round the base of the plants - normally done to protect the leafy growth from frosts - but also the tubers that tend to form just under the surface are prone to greening, and earthing up may also give some protection to tubers should blight strike.

After the plants flower, this is when the tubers in the ground start to develop. You can put a top dressing of sulphate of potash down (or if not sure what to do, a lot of places now sell fertilizer especially for potatoes which takes the guess-work out of it) but more importantly, during dry spells of weather (we hope) keep the soil moist otherwise you will end up with small potatoes. In case you were wondering, potassium in the potash helps the plants to move the carbohydrates into the tubers which bulks them up.

The main pests of potatoes are wireworm, eelworm and slugs. To be fair, I haven't had eelworm problems but wireworm can do damage, especially if you have planted the potatoes in ground that was recently covered in grass. Tell tale signs are little holes on the potatoes. Slugs are probably even worst especially during a wet summer - these are not the garden variety slugs but keel slugs which live in the soil. Some potato varieties like Rooster have good slug resistance, but some varieties just attract them. I don't know how Record fares.

Main crop potatoes are lifted after the leaves start to die back - according to RHS, they recommend cutting the foliage back and leaving it 10 days before lifting. Have to say I've never done and usually the plants are well dead before I get round to it LOL. Try to choose a warm dry day if you can, use a fork to gently lift up and spread the potatoes on the soil surface or a tarpaulin to dry off for a couple of hours. You don't want to put them into storage while the soil around them is still wet. Normally you don't wash the potatoes before storing but a lot depends on how the crop looks.

[Mo]

but more importantly, during dry spells of weather (we hope) keep the soil moist

Yes, but you can overwater too. Them you get huge, tasteless hollow tubers that rot.

The main pests of potatoes are wireworm, eelworm and slugs.

If the lumps missing from the spud have teeth marks, and there are holes in the soil beside each plant - then it's probably rats. (nice to have a 'wildlife friendly' garden). But that doesn't happen every year.

Potatoes are one of the easiest vegetables to grow providing all goes well.

Yes - them and runner beans. And my bean seeds failed to germinate this year. Still it is good to eat your own crops, straight from the plant. Nothing beats it (unless it's a new-laid egg, still warm from the hen)

[Mo]

LL. Do you think that the more you earth up the longer stem producing tubers you have, so bigger crop. I'm never sure when to stop.

[lancashire lass]

LL. Do you think that the more you earth up the longer stem producing tubers you have, so bigger crop. I'm never sure when to stop.

I don't know - but if I put my thinking cap on, I don't think it would make for a bigger crop as the earthed soil is merely protecting the tubers under the soil surface (from light and blight spores) and not providing additional nutrients/water that the roots are not already tapping into.

[billnorfolk]

I planted some roosters and records Monday evening. Was I too late?

Any tips for a potato novice?!!

They say you can plant , or sow anything in June and still get a crop ,if it stays like today will catch up with those planted 6 weeks earlier .Thunder storms torrential rain then out comes the sun temps of 25 degrees

[eitoof]

Thanks everyone so much.

I now have some lovely little rows of potato plants!

Will start to earth them up when they get a bit bigger and a bit of potash should help later on.

It's quite dry here in Ireland since the day I planted them (only a couple of light rainy days) so I'm debating whether to water them - yea or nay?