Allotments 4 All

Hi all,

I have been growing potatoes on my balcony in an old holdall. Initial growth was very good, however now the plants seem to have become too heavy for the stems and some have fallen over resulting in stem damage.

My question is will they still flower? (They don't appear too keen to do this) and if they don't flower will this actually affect the tuber itself?

Have a feel(firkle) to see what is going on.

Are they earlies?Have read some do not flower.

Are they getting water?

Yes they're getting water and they aren't earlies so ... i guess the lack of flowering is probably because of the stem damage - would seem to make sense.

Do you think this will affect the actual potato crop? i.e.; is flowering crucial to potato growth?

They flop all over the place, and it does no harm at all, it's quite normal.

Can you put more soil in the holdall to hold the plant up.     ???      ;D ;D ;D

hiya, plebbles, welcome to a4a  ;D
our later varieties are misbehaving themselves, our kestrel aren't flowering but the desiree, planted 2 weeks later are and rocket planted 4 weeks later are flowering too..can't understand it but agree with ck..stick some more soil in  ;D

Plebbles, there seem to be two things worrying you.   As far as the tops falling over are concerned this very frequently happens as the plants get older.  It happened to most of my 2nd earlies last week when 3 inches of rain in two days knocked them all flat.  Unless the stems are actually broken off there is unlikely to be much effect on the crop.  Even if the stems are broken off they will still sprout new shoots from the stem leaf axyls to keep the plants growing.

As to the matter of flowering, it matters not at all.  Potatoes reproduce by the two entirely separate methods of seed production and tuber production, and they are initiated in different ways, and tuberisation is not influenced by whether or not the plants have flowered.

I am assuming that your potatoes are either 2nd earlies or maincrop, and despite much hybridisation these are still largely influenced by the photoperiodic sensitivity inherited from solanum tuberosum argenti. Quite simply this means that the initiation of tuberisation is influenced by daylength - in the case of potatoes (other than first earlies) decreasing daylength.  Unless prematurely induced by stress tuberisation will not normally commence until after midsummer, when the days start to shorten.  In most 2nd earlies this means well into July, and with maincrop late August or later.  In either case it`s far too early to think about firkling.  When the tops turn yellow and start to shrivel you will know they are ready, but wait until the tops die off completely to allow the skins to set for storage

Some varieties don't flower, others flower but don't set seed.

Quoteinfluenced by daylength

Is it possible to cover them to con them into thinking that the year is ticking on.  I want the space for my leeks.

thanks everyone. Some reassuring advice and some that will require a visit to wikipedia (@ Kepouros  ;D)

I am getting quite impatient with them - i only have a balcony to grow on and those taters are taking up the space that is reserved for an already flowering courgette plant - but i will top them up with some more soil after having a firkle and try to leave them alone for a little while longer.

In reply to Digeroo, in labaratory conditions this is possible, although normally it is achieved by use of artificial daylight lighting which can be time adjusted rather than natural daylight which cannot.  It is doubtful whether the plant would be thus fooled if it is suddenly covered up while the sun is still well above the horizon, or uncovered when the sun is already well up.