Kitchen Garden Forum

my Kestral potato leaves have gone all yellow but not had any flowers yet.Will the potatoes be ready to harvest?

Not all potato varieties will flower properly before maturation; some may produce flower buds and then abort the flowers. Look carefully at the plants and you might see some shrunken remains of flower buds. If it is more than 12-14 weeks since you planted them a little dig at one or two roots will let you know if they are ready to eat.
Regards Sally Wright

Just grub around, not actually dig, to check the size & if ready! Grub around is my terminology for just shifting some soil to find the potatoes to check without actually digging the plant! If too small just re-cover but if look fine take what you find or actually dig that plant! If leaves are yellow they not likely to get any bigger though!

I bought loose seeds this year, I'm guessing someone's mixed them up a bit as there' two different coloured flowers on show lol

That certainly is a mixture!

We have all sorts of odd things cropping up on the new plot. For ourselves we have planted a small area for "wild" flowers which are very slow in coming up but I'm not refering to those.

Good idea about the 'wild' flowers, Stephen. We had a long narrow border on our allotment which bordered on a dry stone wall and had itself very stony soil. We cultivated that as our 'nectar bar', full of wild and cultivated single flowers (borage, single pot marigold, teasels, poppies, echium, cosmos, toadflax, ammi and many others) which were much appreciated by insects every summer and for the seeds in winter. Every spring it was just tidied up, lightly forked over and most of the flowers then sprung up again.

Most of our native wild flowers do not need much nutrients to thrive, a lot like the poppies wild root in gaps between the paving slabs. I leave them to their own devices and also have bought some seeds to supplement what I have, I have added some Mullein this year, grown in the greenhouse and now planted out for next year.

Are potatoes ready to harvest when the plants are turning yellow? Mine are in a large potato growing bag and tipping over.

Count the weeks Elmigo. How long have they been in?

Which are they Elmigo? I suspect main crop bigger spuds from the look of the growth on them so time is nearly right, but they also store well if you cut the foliage down. (& no slugs)! My 2nd earlies are yellowing but the main crop still look healthy & happy & green but some have flowered so time is near, but even though I cut down amount I planted gonna need more potato sacks as have another row of Jazzy to get out but it is so prolific the neighbours I am sharing with are still trying to get through them!

I cannot remember how many weeks it was but they were planted between early and middle of april. They are a typical Dutch variety called Frieslanders, does anyone know them?

Dear Elmigo.
according to the website https://www.europotato.org/varieties/view/Frieslander-E. The Frieslander has no flowers and is classed as an early harvest potato. Very useful website for all things potato.

So mid April until now is 12 weeks so it might be worth a rootle around underneath the haulms.

regards Sally Wright.

Amazing!
As soon as the rainfall stops I will start digging some