Pink fir apple spuds

[Ishard]

This year for the first time Im going to grow pfa spuds but I would like to grow these in tyre stacks so my questions are;
do they grow well this way?
How many tyres should I stack up?
Im planning on putting 4 spuds per tyre stack, is this too many do you think?

With most varities of spuds I try to get 6 tyres per stack,

[Ishard]

[little pud]

dont know much about pfa but one old guy next to my plot grew some last year and they all went rotten.

[Robert_Brenchley]

My spuds all rotted as well last year. First they rotted because of the waterlogging, and then the survivors got blight. On the end I had about a dozen spuds off a big patch. But it was rather exceptional weather! PFA are fine in a normal year.

[betula]

Tyres on lotties are one of my pet hates. :D

I would have thought 3 or 4 max.Can you add tyres as you go?

I grew PFA in raised beds and they did very well last year.For some unknown reason my spuds and toms were fine despite Blight being around ???

[tim]

Remember that the haulms of PFA are some 4' tall!!

[Fork]

Dont you just keep adding tyres as you go along?....keep topping up the compost around the haulms.

[1066]

Hi I think PFA's are a maincrop so treat them like you would anyother maincrop spud. Not sure why you would only use 4 tyres when for the others you use 6? Haven't grown them in tyres, but in the ground last year and got an excellent crop and VERY tasty  :)

[betula]

Dont you just keep adding tyres as you go along?....keep topping up the compost around the haulms.

That is what I said LOL ;D

[GRACELAND]

My spuds all rotted as well last year. First they rotted because of the waterlogging, and then the survivors got blight. On the end I had about a dozen spuds off a big patch. But it was rather exceptional weather! PFA are fine in a normal year.
[/quote


:'(

yep same here

[nilly71]

Hi I think PFA's are a maincrop so treat them like you would anyother maincrop spud. Not sure why you would only use 4 tyres when for the others you use 6? Haven't grown them in tyres, but in the ground last year and got an excellent crop and VERY tasty  :)

The ones i got from Homebase are salad :P

Neil

[GRACELAND]

Yes There salad ones

A very old variety which has made an astonishing comeback in recent years. Knobbly pink skinned tubers of butter yellow waxy flesh.very fine flavour. The tubers are long and narrow and famously knobbly, often with side growths. The skin is part pink/part white. The flesh is yellow.

[1066]

The ones i got from Homebase are salad :P

Neil

So are Kings the ministry of misinformation then, as this year I got mine from Kings via my allotment society and they are labelled maincrop????

Either way bung 'em in, earth 'em up and eat 'em up   :D

[Ishard]

Thanks for the advice  ;D Nice to see you back Neil my friend.   ;)

Every other spud (12kg different varieties ) is going into the ground but pfa are more 'rare' (I have 40 of the little darlings ) and I wanted better controll over their growth, hence the tyres Betula. Besides I can fit in a tyre stack just about anywhere at the edge of the beds and isnt this recycling at its best? lol

OOh Tim thats just what I needed to know.  ;D 4ft tall haulms I shall indeed be able to stack 6 tyres then.

1066 yeh I think I will do as you suggested, bung 'em in and see.  ;D

I bought pfa as a maincrop but because of the fine flavour they are generally eaten as a salad spud so we are all right in our assumptions.

How Im going to plant the pfa is the first tyre is going to have a newspaper and horse muck base then soil and compost mix then 4 pfa then the soil mix then starw for mulch and as the haulms grow above the soil mix I will earth up and add tyres as needed.  I may add more horse muck if needed.

Hopefully we are going to have a dry year and no blight. We live in hope eh?

Ill keep you all informed as to how the pfa do and the weights I get.

[Twoflower]

Remember that the haulms of PFA are some 4' tall!!

So you are saying that pfa plants get four foot tall :o i might of planted them in the wrong place :-\

[chriscross1966]

PFA's are a maincrop variety (and one with pretty massive topgrowth too by modern standards) but they always taste like new potatos (or at least a pretty close facsimile thereof. Their resurgence has been led by poncy restaurants and foodie shows "discovering" them..... hence the breeders valiant attempts to combine the the good bits of the PFA (the flavour and the fairly decent yield) without it's annoying bits (the massive topgrowth and it's unfortunate resemblance to the bastard offspring of a ginger plant and a Jerusalem artichoke).... giving us Anya, Ratte etc.....

I personally love em roasted whole with onion and cumin seed and chuck in some whole garlic cloves when you turn them in the pan..... naan roasties.....
It takes a diseased mind to come up with making chips out of them (but they are delicious).... you can also fry them in long thin slices as crisps....

Apparently people occasionally make potato salad with them......

chrisc

[Twoflower]

I personally love em roasted whole with onion and cumin seed and chuck in some whole garlic cloves when you turn them in the pan..... naan roasties.....

Now my mouth is watering, i've a few spares i wonder where i can put them :)

[saddad]

In a wetter year, on good soil I've had 6' of top growth... but they flop around so usually only stand about 3' tall  :-X

[Robert_Brenchley]

They're no taller than other spuds but they trail all over the place if you let them.

[chriscross1966]

They're no taller than other spuds but they trail all over the place if you let them.

I woudl say that's why I planted them on the outside of my potato patch... but it isn't..... I plant my spuds alphabetically and this year I have Desiree, King Edwards, Maris Pipers and PFA's.....

[gwynleg]

What a good idea (to plant alphabetically) - I have stuck labels in but just know they wont still be there by the time I am wondering which lovely potatoes I am digging and eating. So alphabetical next year!