harvesting maincrop potatoes

[gwynnethmary]

a very basic question (I have done a search but couldn't find it anywhere)- we have roosters and some pink fir apples- can we dig them up as and when we want to eat them, or should we dig them all up at once and store them, please?

[gwynnethmary]

[BarriedaleNick]

Well to a certain extent you can leave them in the ground for a while and take them when you want but they will eventually get diseased or eaten by pests.  Not so sure about the pink fir but once the top growth has died down - around now to October - I would dig them all up let em dry out and store in a sack (paper or hesian) in a shed or outbuilding.  I wouldn't leave them in the ground much past October..

[Ellen K]

I've grown Roosters this year, only 6 plants but it seems as if they are slug magnets, at least compared to some other varieties I've grown.  So I'm glad I dug mine up this week and wish I'd done it earlier.

[cornykev]

As said, once the leaves have died back they will be ready, have a firkle around for the roosters if they look OK take them out and store as above, the PFA's can be left in later, I left mine in until Novemer, in 2007, but as said keep a check on them and first sign of damage and I would have them all out, but the PFA's do take a while longer to grow.    ;D ;D ;D

[small]

I took up my PFA's yesterday because the haulms were beginning to shrink, and from a bit of a firkle there seemed to be a fair crop....there was actually an enormous crop, I'm glad I lifted them since there were a lot of slugs in the vicinity.  And they are the nicest potatoes I've ever grown.........

[delboy]

My Setanta are still flowering! Planted in early April. No signs of dieback and none of blight, either..

Hope they are OK and not as riddled with lugs as my Sante..