Topic: Spuds - Should I be worried?

[Moggle]

This was my potatoes at the end of april.



Now they have gone completely mad, and almost taken over everything. Sorry for the fuzziness, but you still get the general idea.



Mother in Law was amazed that they'd got that tall, and said it wasn't normal. They are in a 15 inch square pot, and have been given a couple of feeds of miracle grow, to boost the nutrients from the compost. They are second earlies (charlottes) and were planted about 9 weeks ago.

So should I be worried?

Thanks all in advance

[Muddy_Boots]

Hi Moggle,

Not going to be much help here but, no doubt, when home from the lotties the others will be here to guide you.  

Instinct tells me that they have leafed so much because they are in a pot and, therefore, you cannot earth them up as they develop.  My feeling would be to pinch out long growth in order to put effort back underground and not into leaves.

Nevertheless, they look very healthy so just wait for someone who knows what they are talking about and don't panic!  :D

[cleo]

umm dee daa-umm-perhaps just a teeny bit OTT on planting?-but you will get a crop of little tates.

Stephan

[kenkew]

Stop feeding. You're encouraging leaf not root.

[Moggle]

Well when I planted them I put a couple of inches of compost in the bottom of the pot, and then put the seed spuds on top of that. In the top photo, I had already earthed them up a couple of times, so I've earthed up as best as I could.

Had another look yesterday and it looks like some flowers are developing. I hope this is a good sign.

Ken, I fertilised cause I thought there might not be enough nutrients in the compost to give a good crop. Oh well I will stop feeding now and just water madly and hope that I get some sort of crop.

Stephan, little taties are fine, as long as I get some.

[john_miller]

Look O.K. to me, Moggle. Just a bit 'drawn' due to insufficent light. If they are budding then they will not get much taller. One feeding of Miracle-Gro won't hurt them as potatoes are heavy feeders, indeed, they benefit from a shot of N around this time to help develop the starches that are the basic constituent of tubers.

[Moggle]

Thanks again John for your help.

By drawn do you mean pale leaves? I'm hoping this is the light reflecting off the leaves, and the photo being a little misleading. They couldn't be getting much more sun (when it shines) as they are on a south-east facing balcony, that gets shed loads of sun. They really don't look that pale in reality.

[Mrs Ava]

I think John means drawn as in tall, like they are reaching for the light.  (Do you John?)  Look good to me Moggle, you have the most productive balcony ever!  ;D

[Wicker]

I'm still full of admiration for your initiative, Moggle.  Just think if all of us with only balconies were so productive - could solve the lack of rainforest problem do you think?!

[john_miller]

Took the words out of my mouth, EJ.
Moggle, 'drawn' as in etiolated- a stretching of the plant due to a combination of poor light and/or too hot. That the plant is still self-supporting means that the etiolation is not significant but it is discernible to me- hence 'bit'. That wall on the right of your picture will be casting a significant amount of shade (in plant terms). The foliage colour looks fine.

[Moggle]

Thanks Wicker and EJ, I can't wait till I get my first harvest off the balcony!  ;D

John, thanks again for your help. Its quite possible that heat could be contributing to them being tall. It gets really hot out there on the balcony.

I can't really move them though at this stage, cause if I move them to where they were in pic no 1, they would shade everything else, and that's now where all my tomatoes and peppers are.

I guess I will just give them another month or so and hope for the best.  :)

[tim]

The awful test is - how long can you wait before you 'dig' them??
Outdoors you can scuff around & look for gold!  = Tim

[piglit]

Sorry to hijack with as slightly unrelated question BUT where did you get your organic peat free grow bag?? I have zoomed in but can't see!! I need some.

Thanks,

Alice

[tim]

Meant to mention - the bag on the left is a HUGE bag??

Organic Catalogue bags are peat - but washed down, not dug peat. But at £7.50/bag? Too much for me! = Tim

[Moggle]

No worries piglit, I have hijacked many a thread myself  ;D

The peat free growing bags came from B&Q and were about £1.50 or so.

I'm not sure they were the best thing for my toms, as they are fairly 'granulated' being made from so called composted bark, and I find them to be abit too free draining, which I think in the baking sun will be a bad thing for those toms and peppers that I have planted in them.

Er, there was a posting a while back with a link to a Which magazine test of a bunch of growing bags and composts, many of which were peat free. I'll go and have a bit of a search for you.

Tim, already had a bit of a dig around on the weekend, to see if anything had happened, and probably did more damage than good.  :-\

Sadly not a huge bag, but a nice full levingtons bag (peat, but would reccomend), with another one hiding at the back.  :P

[Moggle]

Ah, here it is, originally posted by Tim, thanks Tim.

http://www.which.net/gardeningwhich/shopping/compost.pdf