Page 2 of 3

Re: Potato Help please

Posted: Sat May 02, 2020 8:41 pm
by daylen
Yorkshire Andy wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 8:28 pm Over time you can get diseases in the soil ...but what do the farmers grow ..... Which is what we get in sacks from the supermarket..... Crop rotation even in a small ISH veg garden is key. I'm on a 3/4 year rotation on the allotment to try and keep pests at bay be it onions and bottom end rot or similar...
Ah, thanks Andy. I didn't clock that the diseases were in the soil. For some reason I read it as in the potatoes. Crop rotation is key then. Thanks :)

Re: Potato Help please

Posted: Sun May 03, 2020 2:51 pm
by ForgeCorvus
daylen wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 8:41 pm
Yorkshire Andy wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 8:28 pm Over time you can get diseases in the soil ...but what do the farmers grow ..... Which is what we get in sacks from the supermarket..... Crop rotation even in a small ISH veg garden is key. I'm on a 3/4 year rotation on the allotment to try and keep pests at bay be it onions and bottom end rot or similar...
Ah, thanks Andy. I didn't clock that the diseases were in the soil. For some reason I read it as in the potatoes. Crop rotation is key then. Thanks :)
One of the causes of the Great Famine in Ireland was due to growing the same crop (potatoes) in the same small plots because that was the only thing that produced enough food to sustain the tenants family.

Re: Potato Help please

Posted: Mon May 04, 2020 7:38 am
by grenfell
diamond lil wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 7:03 pm I just throw them in the ground. I used to use ordinary kitchen potatoes that had got old, this year I bought seed tatties.
Until a few years ago when the council asked people to not put food waste in their garden bins i would plant what we called "bin tattiers" . These were potatoes , the ordinary kitchen type , that people had chucked simply because they had started chitting. It's funny how people go off them when they start to sprout. My sister in law is one of those and she dropped off a bag at ours recently for that very reason. So mostly mine have gone in chitting but i tend to agree that it's not absolutely necassary. After all self sets are just regular potatoes that have been left in the ground.

Re: Potato Help please

Posted: Mon May 04, 2020 9:38 am
by featherstick
ForgeCorvus wrote: Sun May 03, 2020 2:51 pm
daylen wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 8:41 pm
Yorkshire Andy wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 8:28 pm Over time you can get diseases in the soil ...but what do the farmers grow ..... Which is what we get in sacks from the supermarket..... Crop rotation even in a small ISH veg garden is key. I'm on a 3/4 year rotation on the allotment to try and keep pests at bay be it onions and bottom end rot or similar...
Ah, thanks Andy. I didn't clock that the diseases were in the soil. For some reason I read it as in the potatoes. Crop rotation is key then. Thanks :)
One of the causes of the Great Famine in Ireland was due to growing the same crop (potatoes) in the same small plots because that was the only thing that produced enough food to sustain the tenants family.
Steady. It was the only thing the tenants were allowed to grow for themselves. Ireland exported thousands of tonnes of grain and many live animals to feed the UK's war effort while native Irish were dying from the Famine. But they weren't allowed to eat the grain.

Re: Potato Help please

Posted: Mon May 04, 2020 9:40 am
by featherstick
korolev wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 1:50 pm Wifey has had some seed potatos delivered. does she need to "chit" them before planting or can they go straight in the mud ?
Chitting is a way of slowing growth in stored seed potatoes until planting season has started. It prevents them putting out great long brittle white shoots if they are kept in the dark. It's not a precondition to planting. At this time of year, just get them in the ground as soon as you can. As an aside, they are hungry and thirsty crops, so will benefit from feeding.

Re: Potato Help please

Posted: Mon May 04, 2020 9:45 am
by featherstick
Yorkshire Andy wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 8:28 pm
daylen wrote: Sat May 02, 2020 6:06 pm I don't mean to hijack the thread but...

All the articles I read said you can but you risk a build up of disease as seed potatoes are grown in strict conditions and are tested to be disease free.
Or is this talk just protectionism from the seed potato growers?! A bit like the old tales about mandrake root!

Over time you can get diseases in the soil ...but what do the farmers grow ..... Which is what we get in sacks from the supermarket..... Crop rotation even in a small ISH veg garden is key. I'm on a 3/4 year rotation on the allotment to try and keep pests at bay be it onions and bottom end rot or similar...
It's both in fact. If you don't rotate, you'll get build-up of disease in the soil, as well as depletion of fertility and micro-nutrients. But also, seed potatoes are (or should be) "certified disease free". Many of the UK's seed potatoes are grown up the west Coast of Scotland, where windy conditions mean that disease spores - especially blight - can't land. It's a big industry for Scotland. Although it might be a bit of protectionism too.

Re: Potato Help please

Posted: Mon May 04, 2020 10:16 am
by korolev
Thanks for the advice. I remember my dear old mum always seemed to have egg boxes full of old spuds on her windowsills. Whenever I commented she said they were chitting but I never asked any more.

Re: Potato Help please

Posted: Mon May 04, 2020 10:45 am
by Yorkshire Andy
I do green manure through autumn into winter ..

Field beans
Mustard
And clover to put some goodness and organic matter into the soil only in my second full year on the allotment and the soil is noticeably better

Plus fresh chicken manure and the pelleted stuff

Only bought field beans once ..I leave about half a dozen bean plants in to flower then let the pods dry on the plant and pick shell then dry in the greenhouse on trays until ready to replant at the end of the season......

Help suppress the weeds too

Re: Potato Help please

Posted: Mon May 04, 2020 9:37 pm
by grenfell
Nice little bonus today at work that fits in with this thread. Cutting down the hedge and customer asked me if i wanted some seed potatoes . Took her up on the offer and she reappeared with a couple of dozen along with some peas. Won't make me self sufficient but a nice gesture. Got the potatoes in this evening.

Re: Potato Help please

Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2020 7:34 am
by Raven
I hope i'm not hijacking the thread...my question is in a similar root though!

I was told by the someone that I needed to deflower my potato plants so that they could focus on growing the potatoes?!?

Is that even true?

My grandparents never did it and I doubt farmers do...Ideally I want big potatoes though....