Allotments 4 All
Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: Humbug carrot on March 30, 2017, 17:28:04
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Does the size of seed potato make any difference to the end crop?
Our local garden centre sells seed potatoes loose , you pay so much to fill a bag. I filled my bag with all the small ones thinking I would get more for my money, however in the long run will it mean that the overall crop will be smaller than if I had fewer but larger seed potatoes?
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Apparently it can do. The optimum for seed potatoes is about large egg size, with very small or large ones best avoided if possible.
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If thought to be "too large" its perfectly possible to slice them to achieve the optimum size. You need to have a 'good eye' within each piece. Some dust the open surface with sulphur but its not compulsary.
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Farmers 'sow' seed potatoes at a given weight per acre. So if the seeds are smaller, they just plant them closer along the row, but the yield weight, over all, would still be as expected. You will need to adjust your planting spacing in the same way.
I recently forked over last year's potato bed and found all the small spuds that I missed last year, and they were all growing strongly LOL
I wouldn't like to plant them under a huge ridge, as I don't know if they'd have enough nutrients to get them through to the surface. I only earth up as they grow through and if a frost is forecast.
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Thanks for the replies
The variety is Maris Peer so I tend to plant at quite a close spacing anyway as we like to lift them when they are small.
As for ridges, any ridge I manage to make on my soil is only a token gesture, compared to some I have seen elsewhere on the site which would put Offa's d**e to shame. I am sure that by excavating so deeply between the rows you run the risk of exposing the tubers anyway.
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Can't believe the electronic censor's so prudish it stars out 'dyke'.