Potato harvesting

General tips / questions on seeding & planting

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ken
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I'm growing Charlotte salad potatoes in bags this year. I was browsing an RHS book in Waterstone's and read the comment that earlies and salad potatoes should be harvested when the flowers are out, and main crop when the foliage dies down. Naïve question: what is the logic for this advice? Is it because earlies and salad potatoes won't grow any bigger once the plants are flowering, or because they are considered best for eating at that stage?
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oldherbaceous
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I think the flowering is just a guide to the potatoes being of a useable size, and the tops dying down for lates, means that the skins on the potatoes have hardened, making them better for storing.

For lates, cutting the tops off and leaving them a couple of weeks, has the same effect as letting them die down. Making sure they have reached a good size, of course.
Useful when they get blight.
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ken
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Thanks, OH. That makes sense...
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oldherbaceous
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Your very welcome, Ken.
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