Hi,
Just been digging my new potatoes, Foremost and I am really disappointed in the yield. The tubers are big enough (bigger than a duck egg) but only two or three per haulm. They did get slightly frosted despite the fleece - would this cause such a low yield or were Foremost a bad choice. I am not sure yet if all the varieties are going to be low yielding since they went in later.
Has anyone else the same experience.
Any suggestions how I can avoid for next year!
Rgards
Hilary
Potatoes - poor yield
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It could be lack of rain this year.
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glallotments
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Our potatoes usually get frosted but it doesn't seem to affect the yield.
When did you put them in - are you digging too early?
When did you put them in - are you digging too early?
Last edited by glallotments on Fri Jul 23, 2010 6:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Hi All,
They have had seaweed spray early on and chicken pellets dug in at time of planting. If digging too early the potatoes wouldn't be a good size and there were no tiny ones on the end of the roots waiting to form.
Hilary
They have had seaweed spray early on and chicken pellets dug in at time of planting. If digging too early the potatoes wouldn't be a good size and there were no tiny ones on the end of the roots waiting to form.
Hilary
Foremost is usually a very heavy cropper. My favourite. I think this year we are all to impatient, mine were set back a little by the frost. Better to wait another couple of weeks I think before digging.
Beryl.
Beryl.
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Nature's Babe
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Wondering how deep you planted, did you earth them up? Also what is your soil structure like? Are you adding in enough humus to the soil which retains water ?
Sit down before a fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconcieved notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss nature leads, or you shall learn nothing.
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By Thomas Huxley
http://www.wildrye.info/reserve/
Hello Hilary
I grew Foremost for the first time this year. They were in a cold frame and I started them really early (end of Jan) and despite the bad weather early in the year they didn't suffer. However the foliage never grew very large and the yield was poor but we didn't mind too much as the flavour was excellent.
Orla in the same frame, planted at the same time did, very well.
I checked in my Alan Roman's book and he gives the yield a value of 5 on a scale 1 - 10. Browsing through all the other varieties given this turns out to be one of the lowest figures for yield so perhaps it's in the nature of this variety.
I don't think you can ever expect really good yields from earlies as they are just grown for earliness and flavour.
John
I grew Foremost for the first time this year. They were in a cold frame and I started them really early (end of Jan) and despite the bad weather early in the year they didn't suffer. However the foliage never grew very large and the yield was poor but we didn't mind too much as the flavour was excellent.
Orla in the same frame, planted at the same time did, very well.
I checked in my Alan Roman's book and he gives the yield a value of 5 on a scale 1 - 10. Browsing through all the other varieties given this turns out to be one of the lowest figures for yield so perhaps it's in the nature of this variety.
I don't think you can ever expect really good yields from earlies as they are just grown for earliness and flavour.
John
The Gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men’s lives, the hours spent fishing Assyrian tablet
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What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning Werner Heisenberg
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Nature's Babe
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sounds like you did all you could Hilary. hope they made up for it in taste!
Sit down before a fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconcieved notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss nature leads, or you shall learn nothing.
By Thomas Huxley
http://www.wildrye.info/reserve/
By Thomas Huxley
http://www.wildrye.info/reserve/
I think to when you have grown spuds for several years and tried different varieties you get to know what grows best on your soil.
Don't give up.
Beryl.
Don't give up.
Beryl.
hi
are you planting potatoes in the same area every year ? if so you should rotate with crops which have different demands on your soil
your problem in my opinion is lack of soil nutnients and the lack of rainfall
you must have planted very early to be digging so soon !
regards
are you planting potatoes in the same area every year ? if so you should rotate with crops which have different demands on your soil
your problem in my opinion is lack of soil nutnients and the lack of rainfall
you must have planted very early to be digging so soon !
regards
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Geoff
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Not too early - I got over 4lbs from a root of Rocket yesterday that was planted on 8th March. My potato bed was deeply dug in the Winter with the addition of a lot of compost, sheeted over for a month before planting, planted in trenches lined with more compost and added Growmore at about 4 ozs per square yard. After a lot of thought did give them some water but not a lot.