potatoes 3 different types when to plant them ??
Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter
Hi Im chitting my spuds at the moment , Can anyone give me a rough idea as to what date,s i should be looking to plant on ? I have 3 types to put in VIVALDI CHARLOTTE & CARA will i be looking at putting them in around the same time or will they be different as they are different types of spuds
- peter
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I normally try and plant all mine on or shortly after St Patricks day.
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- Geoff
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Vivaldi and Charlotte are both Second Earlies and Cara is a Maincrop so goes in last. As you haven't got a First Early I guess Charlotte should go in first, I'm not familiar with Vivaldi but I believe it keeps. Perhaps Chantal from Rugby can give you a planting date, if you can cloche them I'd try a few Charlotte in a week or so.
Thanks very much Geoff for your rapid reply . I think i read some where you should dig over your potatoe patch a week or so before planting if so that could well be my weekends work many thanks again from a complete newcomer to veg growing . It a bit of a learning curve this year ,,,
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Dear Ananemka, I know people who plant their maincrops as early as possible and their earlies last. It really depends on what you want to mature when. As a general rule, you can expect the following time-scale from planting to harvestability:
First earlies - 75 days
Second Earlies - 90 days
Early maincrop - 120 days
Late maincrop - 150 days.
So you can stick in half the maincrop and half the earlies now and expect to get a crop of earlies mid-June and maincrops mid-August. So you can plant the other half of your earlies mid-April for mid-July and the rest of the maincrop end April for end of September.
Of course, there's many a slip and the best laid plans etc etc, but that's one way of planning which at least has some logic to it. The main problems I find are:
1. the warmer the soil the faster the growth - so spuds sown mid-April catch up the march ones quite quickly. So I put the early-sown ones under fleece or polythene.
2. With dry sunny weather I find they are ready for harvesting earlier then I allow for. How early varies according to how much rain they've had.
Good luck
mike
First earlies - 75 days
Second Earlies - 90 days
Early maincrop - 120 days
Late maincrop - 150 days.
So you can stick in half the maincrop and half the earlies now and expect to get a crop of earlies mid-June and maincrops mid-August. So you can plant the other half of your earlies mid-April for mid-July and the rest of the maincrop end April for end of September.
Of course, there's many a slip and the best laid plans etc etc, but that's one way of planning which at least has some logic to it. The main problems I find are:
1. the warmer the soil the faster the growth - so spuds sown mid-April catch up the march ones quite quickly. So I put the early-sown ones under fleece or polythene.
2. With dry sunny weather I find they are ready for harvesting earlier then I allow for. How early varies according to how much rain they've had.
Good luck
mike
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Hi Mike Many thanks for the info on planting spuds , I have 3 upvc cloches doing nothing at the moment so it could be possible to plant a few 2nd earlies now under these to speed them on there way rather than waiting a few more weeks and planting them all together and having a glut that all need using at the same time ?
- George Gray
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Another factor is frost. It can wipe out potato tops. They usually recover but it sets them back quite a bit. Find out where the last frost is in your area. This website will tell you if you go into Weather Settings:-
http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/
Plant the spuds 2-4 weeks before the last frost to avoid damage. Alternatively plant earlier but be prepared to rush out with fleece to cover them if there is a frost warning. (if you grow a lot of spuds that will be a lot of fleece!)
http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/
Plant the spuds 2-4 weeks before the last frost to avoid damage. Alternatively plant earlier but be prepared to rush out with fleece to cover them if there is a frost warning. (if you grow a lot of spuds that will be a lot of fleece!)
George the Pigman
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Do planting times vary if your're planting in plastic potato sacks which I'm doing this year for the first time? I imagine that in outdoor planted sacks the compost could become more easily chilled than potatoes might be in the soil underground. I've got a covered potting shed area in which I could keep them temporarily but it's draughty and gets no sun, so might be worse than keeping outdoors against a sheltered house wall?