Allotments 4 All

Not got a clue on how many seed potatoes I should sow for a family of five. I want to sow early, lates and main crop. Not sure on when to sow, except for the earlies, Feb/Marc? Any chance on sowing earlier.

:)

there was a simular discussion before christmas will try and dig it out for you :-)

here you go

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,91/topic,17520.0

As a starter for ten, John Jeavons suggests growing 31 lb tubers, occupying 100 sq.ft, for a family of four. It might be useful to calculate how many lb you and your family get through in an 'average' week. Armed with this, you can use yield tables to give you the number of plants needed for the first year. It's going to be trial and error for the first few years - you might eat more because they're so delicious! or yields might be affected by spacing, variety, storage, and conditions - and so on. If you keep notes each year, you should be able to refine quantities ::)

We eat potatoes vitually every day, certainly five days out of the seven. Plus each time my son & daughter come they take a carrier bagful away with them.

Normally we start eating them from the first week in July until March/April the following year.

This is how many I planted last season;

1st Early; Foremost 25 tubers ( approx 4lb)

2nd Early; Kestrel 60 tubers (approx 10lb)

Maincrop; Maxine 45 tubers (approx 8lb)

                 Fir Apple 10 tubers (approx 2 lb) (waste of time never again)

                King Edwards 20 tubers (4 lb)

                 Cara 15 tubers ( approx 3 lb)

Total 175 tubers ( 28-30 lb) (two stone in old money) lasts us 9-10 months.

As you will note! I do not grow a lot of 1st earlies this is simply down to the fact they don't store very well. I find this amount is just enough to keep us going until the 2nd earlies are ready.

I hope this helps you to calculate your needs.

Having done  a conversion, I grew 46lb of potatoes this last year :o and ran out before Christmas but yields were down.  I grew 6kg of 1sts, 6kg of 2nds and 9kg of Maincrop.  There are five in my family and we eat lots of potatoes.  I would normally expect to be self sufficient from that amount but twas only my second year.

A note in favour of Pink Fir Apple, to show the other side of the coin from Tee Gee's experience...

Last year I got about 2lb to 2lb 8oz of PFA per seed tuber planted. Not a great yield, I know (that's not what you'd grow this variety for!)
But the taste is fab, and it stores very well indeed. And -- as some here will already know -- I discovered a little row still in the ground only yesterday (oops!  ::) ) and they were absolutely grand.

Once I'd schlooped them out of the muddy clay ground!

We plant about 30kgs and usually have enough for the whole year. two teenage sons ups the consumption a lot!
;D

Ive only got 3kg of 1st earlies, 3kg of 2nd earlies, 6kg of main. Think I'll get some more then as we eat them most days too.

I usually do half a stone of first earlies ,half a stone of second earlies and 3 stone of maincrop.. I think in new money its 3kg earlies 3kg second earlies and 18kg of maincrop ..
Has anyone else noticed over the last few years that some seed tatties  seem to differ in size...They are all certified seed potatoes we buy but find  in  the last 3 years say  they seem to differ in size quite a bit  .
Can be awkward when  planning your rows out .. It maybe me :)   But I feel sure they used to be more uniform in size .. cheers   Jim .

I will second the Pink Fur Apples.  ;D  I struggle to get big spuds on our site because we have no piped water, so once my seed pots go into the ground, they are left to it.  I do okay, but find maincroppers a bit of a dissapointment, however, my PFA's stay in right until the last knockings, and I dig them by the bucketfull.  They rate for me as one of our faves, especially cut into wedges, drizzled with olive oil, sprikled with something...chillies....springonions....rosemary....basil...then cooked until crispy in the oven.  YUM!

I will now go down and calculate how many seed spuds I have already......I couldn't pick up the box with the chap delivered it!

Quote; Has anyone else noticed over the last few years that some seed tatties  seem to differ in size.

Yes!

However I am quite lucky in so far as I get mine as part of a bulk order and on the occasions they are larger than normal I count out the tubers I require then weigh them.

ps. I take your point folks abour the Pink Fir apples  ::) each to their own  ;)

On these sums I will need to buy some more, its my first time for PFA so I hope I'm not disappointed.    ;D ;D ;D ;D

I'm going to go with pinkies too based on the recommendations of lots of peeps on here so let's hope they're as good as everyone says! Haven't bought any pots yet so best get on with that then... x

Quote from: EJ - Emma Jane on January 15, 2007, 13:18:37
I will second the Pink Fur Apples.  ;D  I struggle to get big spuds on our site because we have no piped water, so once my seed pots go into the ground, they are left to it....

I know most people put manure in the bottom of the spud trench anyway. A neighbouring plotholder puts quite a bit in his and says he does not have to do much watering on his spuds. He says he always does well

i usually put maunre in the bottom of the trench and scrunched up newspaper aswell and last year i only watered them a couple of times when it was reeealllly dry. i had quite a good crop off 6 kilos of seed potatoes but nowhere near enough to go through the year, but then i only have a half plot and space is a premium but i would definately reccommend PFA.

I never water my potatoes!!!

The reason being the ground is warm, the cold-ish water condenses under the haulms and settles on the under side of the leaves.

This I consider is the ideal trap for floating 'blight' spores, wheras had they been dry the spores might have blown off again.

Well that my thinking!!!  ::)

I watered  mine so many times I lost count but most of our lotties agreed spuds were a lot smaller than previous years because of the hot weather. What I did learn is if you water once a week the plants will expect it once a week, twice or everyday they will expect the same, if you give less water the roots will go looking for it and be more independent.   ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

I have never watered mine either, mainly due to lack of availability. I believe in the roots finding their own supply ...

Once a week one bucket per 9ft row (unless it had rained during the week)

First year so I'm not qualified to assess but one of our neighbour's said it was a good crop.

We have sandy soil so it drains quickly, but there seems to be a pan about  18" down which may help retention.

we were about the same one bucket maybe once or twice a week. It was also our first year and everything was really hit and miss. We did get a fairly good crop, not brilliant, but enough. :)