Topic: Potatoes - this is a really baisc question

[Suzanne]

You are going to think me completely simple with this one, but I haven't grown potatoes on my allotment before. Now I have a second plot and have bags more room I thought I would give them a go.

I planted my chitted tubers a couple of weeks ago and did water the holes when I planted them. But it hasn't rained since. My gut instincts say that potatoes are hardy little beasts and as they have been sat around since end of January chitting - so to speak - they won't mind waiting for the rain. But I also realise I am a complete and utter novice at this and could be wrong. I don't really want to ask the chaps at the allotment as I am not really convinced that they think much of my gardening skills and this question will just confirm their worst fears!

Help
Suzanne ???

[allaboutliverpool]

Leave them. They have their own inbuilt water supply and will be busy pushing roots out to find more. The longer they are out of sight the safer they are from frost.

http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments1_homepage.html

[Trevor_D]

Yes, let them be. The only time you need to water potatoes is when they are in flower. And only then if it's a dry spell.

[Suzanne]

Thank you. I'll leave them be and stop worrying.

[milkybardave]

Oh B**gger

As a complete novice also, I've been watering mine..... Do have some lovely growth though.

Should I stop with the water????

Dave

[Trevor_D]

Yes!

By "lovely growth" you mean top growth, ie. the bit you don't eat and the bit that will get frosted next week when normal weather returns! I earthed mine up yesterday to cover up the top growth, and the earlies have been covered with straw from day one.

[antipodes]

I planted a lot of spuds end of March and only this week have I seen the tops! I can't get the hang of that "Hilling" business so once they are a bit taller I will put straw around them.
I think that potatoes are pretty hardy and don't need much water. My very early planting (yes, a bit foolhardy) got a bit frost bitten by a couple of days of very chilly temperatures: on a friend's advice, I hoed off the dead bits of growth, gave them a little bit of water and in fact they have sprung up again. They are a good plant for the newbies like us ( that probably scare the heck out of our plants, wondering what we are going to do next to try and kill them off  ;D  ) and there is something magical too about harvesting spuds - by then the top bit is dead, you root around under the plant and lo and behold - a spud! no, 2...no wait, 5, 6...  beautifully firm and earthy smelling. A proud moment *little tear in the eye*

[glow777]

I planted a lot of spuds end of March and only this week have I seen the tops! I can't get the hang of that "Hilling" business so once they are a bit taller I will put straw around them.

if you do that you will vastly reduce the amount of pots you get.

potatoes grow upwards from the seed and new potatoes grow of the stalk. The more stalk under the ground the more potatoes you get.
"Hilling" up the potato encourages the stalk to grow longer and therefore there is more stalk for potatoes to grow off.

[Garjan]

That explains it all!
I always wondered why you had to put the seed potatoes at about 8 cm from the bottom of the tub. I thought that the new spuds developed from the roots and that 8 cm would leave to little room for them.
A mystery solved. ::)