Allotments 4 All

yep, me the potato nuisance again. After a long and tedious drama, the potatos were doing very well but, last night has decimated them. I had fleece over them for the last couple of weeks but, inevitably, the fleece became stretched over the top like huge knickers on an overweight elephant. Because there was no gap between them and the spuds, the poor potatoes are looking awfully sad. I know it has been said, no doubt many times, that a bit of frost is not the end of the world....but I wanna hear it again, said emphatically, that my potatoes are not doomed - gods, they look awful though! C'mon, reassure me. This year  so far, has been terrible - tomatoes mugged by pythium (I have had to -ahem -buy some plants!) Sweet corn withered by water neglec (mea culpa), cabbages lain on by cat and onions now a distant memory because of white rot on plot....aaaargh!

Same here, Campanula - every single one of my spud plants looks throughly miserable and beyond hope - it's so depressing. Already lost cabbage plants and courgettes to bitter Northerly winds and the drought has not been kind to the rest of my seedlings. And there's more widespread frost forecast! I should have known we'd get more winter weather because our hawthorn has still not flowered (apparently a sure sign the frosts are not over yet).
Anyway, a neighbouring farmer is confident the potatoes will recover and develop new shoots - I do want to believe him - so it's finger's crossed.

'Ole Ma nature has a way of pulling through....I've never bothered covering my tatties....at the moment some of the young and tender new leaves are a little brownish, well maybe even Crisp....I'll not loose sleep over them...

After all do you see farmers running out fleecing everything... ;)  ;)

Yep mine as well, they look like a sack of shite, I've never seen them that bad, I had a look at some of the old boys on the lottie and there's are the same, I've covered them up but they don't look good.
I know they are suppost to recover but they don't look great, the ones in the tubs are fine but the ground ones are 97% affected.   :'( :'( :'(

my spuds are looking fine though the squash I put out the other day have suffered somewhat

tonights frost is probably going to be even heavier....very clear skies leading into dusk.....hmmmmm do i do a late night potato fleecing?

None of our stuff has been affected yet, but -3 tonight (argh).

hey, alienwithaview -your farmer - we'll believe him. any port in a storm, right?

I never fleece potatoes. They get frosted, they recover. I only worry about plants that won't recover.

I noticed the very poor state the other plot holders potatoes were in as I walked to my own today. They were no better, I earthed up two days ago so I'm hoping the bulk of the plant will be OK and only the outer leaves will die off.   

This is my first year and I was told any idiot can grow potatoes, so I thought that's the crop for me.  First earlies put in beginning of April.... bootiful plumage up to last week-end.  Took a look tonight, and now they all look like a pile of over-cooked spinach.  Funny , because in all the on/off-line guides, I cant remember ever seeing mention that this could happen... and certainly nothing on what to do when it does.   I've rigged up some scaffolding and laid carpet over them to see them through expected sub-zero temps tonight but dont have a clue if this will help.   Somebody said something about spreading peat over them... but dont know when, how much, etc.  Would be nice if some kind soul can say when a spud plant has well and truly expired, or if you're supposed to simply dig them up on the due date and hope for the best.

Doubt if mine on the plot got hit cos, as of two days ago, they weren't up yet..... the ones in pots outside at home got an extra layer of compost yesterday and are against a south-facing wall, the first earlies that went in mid-March, the Congo and Vitelotte mionitubers are all in the polytunnel, with the toms, chillis, epic quantities of beans and, more importantly, a four-wick, twin-chimney greenhouse heater.....

chrisc

Don't worry if they are hit. They very soon recover, so I just don't bother about protecting them. Mine are just starting to come through, which shows how much the cold winter is still affecting soil temperatures.

Mine were tall and lush sticking out of the potato grow bags...so badly frosted now they're covered in straw.

Yep, here as well.  With last night's -2 I daren't look.  Potatoes had frosted bits yesterday, despite grass cuttings mulch.  Found some old bits of fleece and put them over.  Hope the seedlings in the greenhouse are ok.  We'll see in a minute.

Potatoes?  yes, they do recover.  Peas and lettuce should be absolutely fine.  Squash, beans and tomatoes have a harder time of it and mine are not yet planted out as early June frosts are not uncommon hereabouts.

Don't worry.

Quote from: campanula on May 12, 2010, 17:36:38
Sweet corn withered by water neglec (mea culpa), cabbages lain on by cat and onions now a distant memory because of white rot on plot....aaaargh!

Sweet corn.  Well now is about the right time to sow indoors anyway - it certainly is not too late for sweet corn.  Best of luck

cheers, Robert and Galina. Yep, have done more sweetcorn - no stranger to failure, I once sowed peas six times in one season in my desperation to get a crop. Thought I would give potatoes a bit of TLC seeing as sun is out and weather looks much better. Whipped the fleece off, threw a smidgeon of blood, fish and bone around, nice long water. I could see plenty of new growth in leaf axils. Wondered whether I should remove the slimy bits but with what? Clagged up my secateurs, too slippy for brutal yanking, decided to ignore it.

Argh jsut got a message from our lottie neighbour saying half the stuff has been gotten by the frost!!  :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( Will go down and see the damage today. Hopefully the potatoes should recover, but I had sweetpeas out and also a few seeds germinated like carrots and beetroot.

My potatoes (container grown) were badly hit at the beginning of the week, but have now recovered enough to be in bud.

Doh just popped over for a look. Sweetpeas are actually okay, but the potatoes are looking very sad! What should I do? Earth up over the damaged plants? Cut of the damaged bits and then earth up?

You can earth them up if you are expecting any more frost Sparkly... or to hide the damage if you are "houseproud" but I'd just ignore it, it will sort itself out soon enough...  :-X