Donate to Remove ads

Got a credit card? use our Credit Card & Finance Calculators

Thanks to johnstevens77,Bhoddhisatva,scotia,Anonymous,Cornytiv34, for Donating to support the site

potatoes

wildlife, gardening, environment, Rural living, Pets and Vets
mutantpoodle
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 1007
Joined: November 7th, 2016, 4:21 pm
Has thanked: 509 times
Been thanked: 122 times

potatoes

#398543

Postby mutantpoodle » March 24th, 2021, 8:02 am

will potatoes grow acceptably well in an old plastic dustbin?
or will it be too dark while they are low down?

how much drainage would be reqd as not much water would get in at the top as not wide

bungeejumper
Lemon Half
Posts: 8066
Joined: November 8th, 2016, 2:30 pm
Has thanked: 2846 times
Been thanked: 3939 times

Re: potatoes

#398573

Postby bungeejumper » March 24th, 2021, 9:45 am

No expert here, but I believe spuds need six hours of good daylight every day, so I'd doubt that the depths of a dustbin would get that. But others have grown potatoes in buckets and carrier bags. Monty Don recently showed somebody using a cardboard box!

BJ

swill453
Lemon Half
Posts: 7962
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 6:11 pm
Has thanked: 984 times
Been thanked: 3643 times

Re: potatoes

#398581

Postby swill453 » March 24th, 2021, 10:07 am

Surely it's potato plants that need light, not the tubers? Potatoes under the surface of the soil won't get any light, so the dustbin will make no difference.

Scott.

sg31
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 1543
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 11:35 am
Has thanked: 925 times
Been thanked: 708 times

Re: potatoes

#398585

Postby sg31 » March 24th, 2021, 10:21 am


ReformedCharacter
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 3120
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 11:12 am
Has thanked: 3591 times
Been thanked: 1509 times

Re: potatoes

#398597

Postby ReformedCharacter » March 24th, 2021, 10:58 am

mutantpoodle wrote:will potatoes grow acceptably well in an old plastic dustbin?
or will it be too dark while they are low down?

how much drainage would be reqd as not much water would get in at the top as not wide

They'll definitely need watering, probably quite a lot of water. If you don't water you won't get many spuds and they'll be too small. The dustbin is black presumably and will get quite warm when in the sunshine. That will increase the need for water. You will either have to be very careful to give enough water without overwatering or add some drainage holes. I've grown spuds in plastic bags and they needed watering every day once they started growing away. Best to add fertiliser too. I've found that getting the water levels right is the trickiest thing. You might do well adding some bricks or stones at the bottom of the bin then adding compost and then the seed potatoes. Keep adding compost as the plants develop AKA 'earthing up'.

RC

Dod101
The full Lemon
Posts: 16629
Joined: October 10th, 2017, 11:33 am
Has thanked: 4343 times
Been thanked: 7534 times

Re: potatoes

#398620

Postby Dod101 » March 24th, 2021, 12:01 pm

mutantpoodle wrote:will potatoes grow acceptably well in an old plastic dustbin?
or will it be too dark while they are low down?

how much drainage would be reqd as not much water would get in at the top as not wide


I cannot think that an old plastic dustbin is going to create the ideal conditions for growing seed potatoes. Fundamentally they will not get enough light once they are growing and the 'shaws', the green foliage, will be yellowish and spindly. As has been said, your next problem is to water them adequately but not over water them. You can sort of address that by putting some form of gravel in the base before putting in the soil or compost with drainage holes drilled in the base and the sides. A lot of effort and no guarantee of decent results for a few new potatoes. Still, if it does produce results you will have the satisfaction of proving me wrong!

First earlies are the ones to go for, short growing season, and not very deep roots.

Good luck

Dod

jackdaww
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 2081
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 11:53 am
Has thanked: 3203 times
Been thanked: 417 times

Re: potatoes

#398637

Postby jackdaww » March 24th, 2021, 12:55 pm

.
you may well get some new potatoes , but probably no more than you started with .....

:lol:

madhatter
Lemon Slice
Posts: 333
Joined: November 12th, 2016, 9:25 pm
Has thanked: 566 times
Been thanked: 125 times

Re: potatoes

#398643

Postby madhatter » March 24th, 2021, 1:26 pm

I cannot think that an old plastic dustbin is going to create the ideal conditions for growing seed potatoes. Fundamentally they will not get enough light once they are growing and the 'shaws', the green foliage, will be yellowish and spindly.


I believe the method suggested for growing potatoes in a dustbin relies on covering the new shoots as soon as they appear at the bottom of the dustbin, and continuing in that way until the soil level is near the top, whereupon the shoots are allowed to get full daylight, and potatoes will (hopefully) have been forming from the bottom of the dustbin to the top.

I haven’t tried it with a dustbin though I did test the idea in a large bucket and it worked okay.

The depth of a dustbin compared to the rain collecting area of the top would probably require more care with watering than I took with the bucket, but I can see that it could be a more productive way of using a very small area for potato growing than just digging into the ground in the normal way, assuming one has suitable ground available in the first place.

Charlottesquare
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 1775
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 3:22 pm
Has thanked: 105 times
Been thanked: 560 times

Re: potatoes

#398644

Postby Charlottesquare » March 24th, 2021, 1:29 pm

The secret is to start with limited soil and keep adding it, so 4-5 inches soil below tuber, place, cover it with soil. As it grows through keep adding soil, earthing up. If you stick it in the bucket with 2 ft of soil on top day one I would not expect much.

A potato fertiliser and watering at the right time is also worthwhile.

We have a small garden with very limited open beds, mostly paving/gravel with pots, but each year for years I have grown Charlotte salad potatoes in pots and bags, some not much more than a small heavyweight bin liner, it works fine (though can be untidy and the earth spillage onto the gravel can be annoying)

Strangely this year no tubers ordered, I am humming and hawing but have three enormous pots awaiting apple trees where normally I would site the tatties so maybe my subconscious is telling me I am trying to fit too much into the garden.

Edit- for soil read mix loam/compost.

jackdaww
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 2081
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 11:53 am
Has thanked: 3203 times
Been thanked: 417 times

Re: potatoes

#398652

Postby jackdaww » March 24th, 2021, 2:15 pm

jackdaww wrote:.
you may well get some new potatoes , but probably no more than you started with .....

:lol:


==========================

something else to think of ...

no need to buy "seed" potatoes , just get them from the supermarkets , a wider choice , cheaper and just as good .

:) :idea:

Charlottesquare
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 1775
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 3:22 pm
Has thanked: 105 times
Been thanked: 560 times

Re: potatoes

#398655

Postby Charlottesquare » March 24th, 2021, 2:24 pm

jackdaww wrote:
jackdaww wrote:.
you may well get some new potatoes , but probably no more than you started with .....

:lol:


==========================

something else to think of ...

no need to buy "seed" potatoes , just get them from the supermarkets , a wider choice , cheaper and just as good .

:) :idea:


Sometimes not a good idea doing more than once into the same soil, potato blight

bungeejumper
Lemon Half
Posts: 8066
Joined: November 8th, 2016, 2:30 pm
Has thanked: 2846 times
Been thanked: 3939 times

Re: potatoes

#398657

Postby bungeejumper » March 24th, 2021, 2:43 pm

Charlottesquare wrote:
jackdaww wrote:no need to buy "seed" potatoes , just get them from the supermarkets , a wider choice , cheaper and just as good .

Sometimes not a good idea doing more than once into the same soil, potato blight

I was once told that the reason why Scottish seed potatoes are preferred is that it's too damn cold up there for blight. This seems like a suitable place to ask if it's true?

BJ

Dod101
The full Lemon
Posts: 16629
Joined: October 10th, 2017, 11:33 am
Has thanked: 4343 times
Been thanked: 7534 times

Re: potatoes

#398658

Postby Dod101 » March 24th, 2021, 2:53 pm

bungeejumper wrote:
Charlottesquare wrote:
jackdaww wrote:no need to buy "seed" potatoes , just get them from the supermarkets , a wider choice , cheaper and just as good .

Sometimes not a good idea doing more than once into the same soil, potato blight

I was once told that the reason why Scottish seed potatoes are preferred is that it's too damn cold up there for blight. This seems like a suitable place to ask if it's true?

BJ


Not entirely. I used to have a large vegetable garden and grew all the usual stuff including seed potatoes, both earlies and main crop. Depending on the weather and the location of the bed I could certainly get blight. If not in an open and well 'aired' area I got blight often enough and if it was particularly wet year I also got blight. It did not happen that often though and it was dampness in all its forms that did for them not cold.

Dod

ReformedCharacter
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 3120
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 11:12 am
Has thanked: 3591 times
Been thanked: 1509 times

Re: potatoes

#398660

Postby ReformedCharacter » March 24th, 2021, 2:56 pm

bungeejumper wrote:
Charlottesquare wrote:
jackdaww wrote:no need to buy "seed" potatoes , just get them from the supermarkets , a wider choice , cheaper and just as good .

Sometimes not a good idea doing more than once into the same soil, potato blight

I was once told that the reason why Scottish seed potatoes are preferred is that it's too damn cold up there for blight. This seems like a suitable place to ask if it's true?

BJ

I doubt it. The Scots suffered their own version of the Irish potato famine, the Highland potato famine:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_Potato_Famine

Although it is possible that the devastation by Potato Blight encouraged the development of high standards of seed potato certification in Scotland

RC

Dod101
The full Lemon
Posts: 16629
Joined: October 10th, 2017, 11:33 am
Has thanked: 4343 times
Been thanked: 7534 times

Re: potatoes

#398661

Postby Dod101 » March 24th, 2021, 2:58 pm

madhatter wrote:
I cannot think that an old plastic dustbin is going to create the ideal conditions for growing seed potatoes. Fundamentally they will not get enough light once they are growing and the 'shaws', the green foliage, will be yellowish and spindly.


I believe the method suggested for growing potatoes in a dustbin relies on covering the new shoots as soon as they appear at the bottom of the dustbin, and continuing in that way until the soil level is near the top, whereupon the shoots are allowed to get full daylight, and potatoes will (hopefully) have been forming from the bottom of the dustbin to the top.


That is interesting. I had not heard of that but then I have never tried growing potatoes in that sort of container. Maybe I should. So instead of the root system spreading out laterally and getting potatoes from that, you are encouraging the root system to develop vertically and getting hopefully, potatoes to develop from the vertical root system.

Thanks for that.

Dod

todthedog
Lemon Slice
Posts: 397
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 4:24 pm
Has thanked: 165 times
Been thanked: 118 times

Re: potatoes

#398677

Postby todthedog » March 24th, 2021, 4:28 pm

I have had success with a black bin bag with holes at the bottom. A couple of sprouted supermarket spuds (Charlotte ). Cover with compost water, when green sprouts show unroll the bag top up with compost, repeat until bag is about half full keep compost moist. Harvest. Seems to work for me.
Good luck

Nimrod103
Lemon Half
Posts: 6473
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 6:10 pm
Has thanked: 939 times
Been thanked: 2261 times

Re: potatoes

#398687

Postby Nimrod103 » March 24th, 2021, 5:14 pm

I will be growing potatoes again this year in large pots. They were very successful last year, and I just used some old supermarket spuds which were sprouting. As mentioned above, the correct way is to see the new shoots and leaves forming then bury them in more earth/compost. Do this successively till you reach the top of the pot/bin/whatever. They need good drainage, and plenty of water in the summer, also plenty of fertilizer.
The advantage of pots is that they seem to be disliked by slugs, and if you use new compost each year, it avoids the issue with blight spores in the soil. I make new potting mixture each year from a mixture of leaf mould, bonfire ash, and rotted stuff from the compost bins.

I will be planting Pink Fir Apple this year. I've never grown it before, but it is supposed to be the best variety of all.

jackdaww
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 2081
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 11:53 am
Has thanked: 3203 times
Been thanked: 417 times

Re: potatoes

#398699

Postby jackdaww » March 24th, 2021, 6:22 pm

bungeejumper wrote:
Charlottesquare wrote:
jackdaww wrote:no need to buy "seed" potatoes , just get them from the supermarkets , a wider choice , cheaper and just as good .

Sometimes not a good idea doing more than once into the same soil, potato blight

I was once told that the reason why Scottish seed potatoes are preferred is that it's too damn cold up there for blight. This seems like a suitable place to ask if it's true?

BJ


==========================

i understand they are less likely to carry virus diseases if grown in colder climes , such as scotland - and alaska .

growing them in the same plot year after year invokes an eelworm problem .

blight is inevitable in much of the uk , especially the milder and damper west .

when blight strikes here , i immediately cut off the haulm and then dig them up .

i store them in used pillow cases - easily obtained from charity shops - and easily washed .

after a fortnight they are all tipped out and any with blight removed .

repeat this again a fortnight later .

they will usually keep then till march, at which point removing the sprouting shoots is too much bother .

i grow about a dozen sacks (pillowcases) a year , its a lot of work , but satisfying and pesticide/fungicide free .

:mrgreen:

Nimrod103
Lemon Half
Posts: 6473
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 6:10 pm
Has thanked: 939 times
Been thanked: 2261 times

Re: potatoes

#398703

Postby Nimrod103 » March 24th, 2021, 6:31 pm

Nimrod103 wrote:I will be growing potatoes again this year in large pots. They were very successful last year, and I just used some old supermarket spuds which were sprouting. As mentioned above, the correct way is to see the new shoots and leaves forming then bury them in more earth/compost. Do this successively till you reach the top of the pot/bin/whatever. They need good drainage, and plenty of water in the summer, also plenty of fertilizer.
The advantage of pots is that they seem to be disliked by slugs, and if you use new compost each year, it avoids the issue with blight spores in the soil. I make new potting mixture each year from a mixture of leaf mould, bonfire ash, and rotted stuff from the compost bins.

I will be planting Pink Fir Apple this year. I've never grown it before, but it is supposed to be the best variety of all.



To add to this. As I recall, Bob Flowerdew used to grow potatoes in old car tyres. As the shoots grew, he would add a tyre and fill with earth. He built up a pile of 4 or 5 tyres before he stopped.

Charlottesquare
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 1775
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 3:22 pm
Has thanked: 105 times
Been thanked: 560 times

Re: potatoes

#398725

Postby Charlottesquare » March 24th, 2021, 7:58 pm

bungeejumper wrote:
Charlottesquare wrote:
jackdaww wrote:no need to buy "seed" potatoes , just get them from the supermarkets , a wider choice , cheaper and just as good .

Sometimes not a good idea doing more than once into the same soil, potato blight

I was once told that the reason why Scottish seed potatoes are preferred is that it's too damn cold up there for blight. This seems like a suitable place to ask if it's true?

BJ


It can certainly be cold though there are degrees of cold, I am east coast, Edinburgh, colder and dryer than say Glasgow, but Aberdeen can be eye wateringly cold. It may well be true, blight is apparently caused by humidity and warm weather, we certainly see little of the humidity I have seen in the south of England here, though being near a coast may be partially why. (In fact when staying in the south east I wonder how you ever manage to get to sleep)


Return to “The Natural World”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests