potatoes in polytunnel (diy)
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Dr jameson
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i've recently read somewhere that you can plant potatoes under a plastic tunnel in feb and without earthing up and they'll be a reliable crop. has anybody tried this as i'm unsure if it wil work?
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Geoff
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You don't say where you are. I am at 600' on the edge of the Pennines and every year I prepare a bed in the Winter with plenty of compost and in January sheet it over with polythene (I use clear but we have had an inconclusive debate on here about clear v black). About March 7th I remove the polythene and take out two fairly shallow trenches, line them with more compost or manure if I have it, sprinkle with Growmore, plant with chitted early Potatoes and cover to form ridges. The ridges are then covered by a large cloche 4' wide, 2' high of the Geoff Hamilton type if you know what I mean. They stay like this until late April or early May when the tops start to touch the cloche cover at which time it is bunched up down the centre in such a way that it can be pulled back down if frost threatens. They don't get earthed up and I start harvesting the last week in May.
I don't know if you mean polytunnel or large cloche when you add (diy). I guess with a proper polytunnel, a better climate than mine and some fleece you could easily beat my timings. Hopefully a polytunnel grower will reply.
I don't know if you mean polytunnel or large cloche when you add (diy). I guess with a proper polytunnel, a better climate than mine and some fleece you could easily beat my timings. Hopefully a polytunnel grower will reply.
Hello DrJ
I have a large cold frame that I use for very early pots. I plant them about this time of year after chitting (with a sprinkling of growmore) depending on the weather and earth up slightly at the time of planting. Once there is a a few inches of leaf growth I put down a thick layer of straw with a sprinkling of slug pellets underneath. If all goes well we can scrabble about under the straw for our first potatoes sometime in May.
The big problem of course is frost once the green tops have emerged. I have a sheet of heavyweight fleece kept handy as protection. If frost is forecast you need to cover up in the afternoon to trap heat under the fleece. Most years I win but if we get several days of severe pentrating frost when the temperature doesn't lift during the day then all is lost.
John
PS I use Maris Bard
PPS The straw is eventually re-used as bedding for the chickens and finally finishes up in the compost heap!
I have a large cold frame that I use for very early pots. I plant them about this time of year after chitting (with a sprinkling of growmore) depending on the weather and earth up slightly at the time of planting. Once there is a a few inches of leaf growth I put down a thick layer of straw with a sprinkling of slug pellets underneath. If all goes well we can scrabble about under the straw for our first potatoes sometime in May.
The big problem of course is frost once the green tops have emerged. I have a sheet of heavyweight fleece kept handy as protection. If frost is forecast you need to cover up in the afternoon to trap heat under the fleece. Most years I win but if we get several days of severe pentrating frost when the temperature doesn't lift during the day then all is lost.
John
PS I use Maris Bard
PPS The straw is eventually re-used as bedding for the chickens and finally finishes up in the compost heap!
The Gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men’s lives, the hours spent fishing Assyrian tablet
What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning Werner Heisenberg
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What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning Werner Heisenberg
I am a man and the world is my urinal
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PLUMPUDDING
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Most years I put a couple of rows of Charlotte or Red Duke of York in the greenhouse border if they start sprouting very early. This year I put some Red Duke in a large tub in early January. They grow slowly anyway while it is still cold, but they produce a nice early crop without much trouble. I earth them up regularly to keep the tops protected and have a couple of layers of fleece handy if it is a bad frost. I also have a bag of fairly dry leafmold to cover the ones in the border.
We're at about 560' at the foot of the Pennines, so do get lots of frost, but just a bit of protection gets them through. They might look a bit black round the edges when it is down to -5 C, but usually recover when it warms up. Just don't forget to cover them up or they may be doomed.
We're at about 560' at the foot of the Pennines, so do get lots of frost, but just a bit of protection gets them through. They might look a bit black round the edges when it is down to -5 C, but usually recover when it warms up. Just don't forget to cover them up or they may be doomed.
we just finished planting orla potatoes into the poly tunnel.we started about 3 weeks ago they are under a layer of fleece now after they were planted in the tunnel this will be removed when the treat of frost has gone.last year we harvested our first potatoes on the 5th of may.
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Dr jameson
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many thanks all for info i'm in the midlandsbut still get some pretty heavy frosts right through to may, my diy pollytunnel is a couple of corrogated clear sheets i've found i only have a small plot but it's enough for two. i'll have a go in the greenhouse boarder too and get some under the cloche/polytunnel 
i like anya variety but only found them in supermarket can i chit these and give them a go?
i like anya variety but only found them in supermarket can i chit these and give them a go?-
PLUMPUDDING
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There is some very good advice on growing potatoes in the latest KG magazine, and I think one of the new arrivals on this forum may be the one in the article.
The advice regarding using supermarket potatoes was better not to, as for a start they may have been sprayed with a growth inhibiting chemical, so may not sprout anyway.
You can get Anya from lots of suppliers though, so read the article and have a go, and if it is just an experiment try your supermarket ones anyway and see what happens.
The advice regarding using supermarket potatoes was better not to, as for a start they may have been sprayed with a growth inhibiting chemical, so may not sprout anyway.
You can get Anya from lots of suppliers though, so read the article and have a go, and if it is just an experiment try your supermarket ones anyway and see what happens.
our potatoes are just coming through the soil in our poly tunnel we planted them in the middle of January in a raised bed we covered the bed with the disposable sheets we used in the chalet in France i couldn't just dump them i am hoping the be digging the potatoes in the first week of may . we don't get the same frost in the south west of Ireland as the rest of Ireland and the UK.but we get the worst of the rainfall with a good measure of strong winds.we planted orla and colleen