Allotments 4 All

I have really enjoyed reading all the different posts. Of course, as with any subject, there are different opinions, but this thread tells us more about the subject than any book I have ever looked at. Maybe someone will use this site to write a comprehensive allotment book.

I like my earlies to be small and, in the past, my Charlottes in particular have grown too big. I think I will grow some rows closer together, say 8in., and others 12in. In theory I can pick the latter first. I usually grow Desiree for maincrop and they have been smaller than I would like. So maybe more space, more water, and more food is the answer.

Thanks for all your posts.

QuoteI'm not that convinced about commercial seed potatoes being that 'superior'. If they have been grown to produce 'virus free' stock...does that really cover each and every spud and how can they promise that? Lot of potatoes commercially are handled with commercial machinery...so you do get odd damaged ones in a bulk bags..that could be handling damage but could also be source of other 'problems'?

My thoughts exactly.

When you consider the couple of hundredweight I harvest against the thousands of tons the commercial people harvest I feel I can give my lot a better inspection and save only the best!

When my father in law prepared his potatoes after he harvested them he would run them over a series of grids which sized the potatoes usually into bakers,eaters and potential seed.

As the potatoes were passing over the screens we would pull out any tubers that looked a bit dodgy and feed them to the pigs.

To be honest I can't think that the commercial people of today do much different other than their equipment is probably a bit more modern.

It is for this reason I save my own simply because I know the history of what I have grown both in growing terms and harvesting so I feel I have more control over the selection.

The other thing is; it is understandable that the commercial people are going to scaremonger a bit on the disease issue simply because they don't want you to save your own as this is a loss to them.

The chairman of our local Hort. Soc. would not plant any potato unless he cut a small piece off, he reckoned it helped the seed potato rot and put all it's energy into the new  growth. We also had a member who on year staged 20 varieties of potato at our autumn show and he had grown these from eyes cut out of new varieties of which he only  bought one seed potato. Some allotment groups will expel members who grow from their own seed because of the danger of virus being spread. Scottish seed potatoes are grown at an altitude where there are very few if any aphid.

As "plotstoeat" says, definateley an education reading these different views on potato growing. Good few tips I'll be trying out myself hopefully!

I just came by this link about seed potato disease tolerances.. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/farmingrural/Agriculture/plant/18273/potatoexpconds/Seedminimum

Although the actual allowance doesn't look very big...but if you start calculating percentage from seed by the ton...it will allow quite a number of 'problem' spuds still to pass to growers!!
It just makes me feel that when I handle few spuds of my own grown seeds...my 'tolerance' pass rate is even lower...

I wonder how many fields get blight via seed potatoes? I know it's a problem in the States, but their tolerances are higher than ours.