Topic: potatoes in pots

[Vegemite]

hiya.
still not due to get my allotment until much later this year, so I am having a go at potatoes in pots. have don the chitting thing, and planted them about 2 or three to a big pot. I have covered them with soil and will keep covering as it grows up. (Ended up giving half the seed potatoes away as I've already filled about six pots!) and tips on avoiding bugs etc? My mother in law said she did it a couple of yers ago and slugs wrecked the lot.

also, how many potatoes would you expect to get from each seed potato.

Sorry, I'm such a virgin to all this!

kylie

[Hyacinth]

Hello Kylie, I grew potatoes in pots last year and all mine this year will be in pots too. If you've not already introduced slugs into the pots with the soil you've used, you treat them exactly the same way as anything else in pots, ie hostas, that slugs might like...last year I stood my pots on shallow dishes of water (working on the theory that slugs can't swim 8))....worked for me. Not enough water there to be taken into the pot to rot anything. Or you could use a copper or velcro! (done that as well) barrier...or stand them on a dish of thick crushed eggshells, etc...?

As for how many pots per seed potato......errr....how long's a piece of string?  ;D

[Vegemite]

aw thanks alishka its nice that someone replied!!!!

i have plastic pots with raised holes, and i have put cracked terracotas pots and pebbles in the bottom which should hold some water- i might do the saucer and eggshell thing as well. from a naughty non- organic point of view, would chucking slug pellets around the base of the pots help? i presume not to put it inn the soil as with earthing up pellets would end up resting against the potatoes...

honestly though- i don't know if i should be excpeting three or ten potatoes on average from a tuber.. its all new to me!

[saddad]

It really is anybodies guess... if they were large seed pots then 5x the weight you put in could be expected. Keep them well fed and watered and some varieties will produce a few large tubers per plant, others loads of tiny ones esp if not well watered. Some "Late Mains" are very slow to form tubers so if you dig them early you get nothing, some earlies bulk up well but go hollow if left too long...

We plant @ 30 kg and get back ten fold, but don't really feed or water, just leave them to it, they don't always get earthed up! Some 19th Century varieties had names like 40fold....
 :-X

[Vegemite]

oooh... what do you feed them with? sorry- it didn't say about feeding them on the pack?

will water regular-  how exciting! i just love the idea of popping out to the garden and digging up some potatoes and grabbing a handful of rocket- yummy- the problem will be stopping my daughter doing it each time she goes in the garden then. last year i was lucky to get to eat about five cherry toms she just picks and scoffs the lot!

[Barnowl]

I'm trying potatoes in pots (actually bags) for the first time this year. From what I've read, if you do your topping up with e.g. compost, multicompost or something similar with nutrition in it, rather than ordinary soil,  you don't need to feed, just make sure they don't dry out.

[Vegemite]

thanks- will do

[Chris Graham]

First time for me too, but mine seem to be growing very well.

These are Rocket potatoes and I have 4 buckets of them in the greenhouse.

[Vegemite]

wow! mine are still lumps in dirt at the moment.  >:( not the most patient person, me. probably best though. the peas started to sprout up the other day and my two year old went around with her finger poking them back down into the soil.  :o

[veggie lover]

How many potatoes do you put in a pot? ??? This may be an option for my left over tubers ;D

[saddad]

Depends on the size of the pot, we do 4-6 per black dustbin... 1-3 in large plant pots...
They like lots of nutrients so give them some general like BFB or growmore if it doesn't offend your organic sensitivity...
 ;D

[philcooper]

From my local horticultural college 1-2-3

For a 12" pot 1 miancrop or 2 second early or 3 first early

Do please feed them, liquid high potash, such as maxicrop or home made comfrey liquid.

If you just water them you will get just watery potatoes

Phil