Potatoes - poor yield

[alan refail]

Too early?

What Hilary didn't tell us was when they were planted. I planted Red Duke of York on 10th April and started digging on 6th June. Not a huge yield, but two inch diameter tubers, which is what I ask of the first early potatoes. Sharpe's Express planted at the same time were a little slower. Acceptable yields from digging starting 17th June.

And, no, despite our location we have had virtually no rain April, May or June - and I never water potatoes.

[freddy]

....... and I never water potatoes.

Interesting that, can you please say why ?

Cheers...freddy.

[alan refail]

....... and I never water potatoes.

Interesting that, can you please say why ?

Cheers...freddy.

1) Potatoes roots go well down to damp subsoil in the garden

2) Watering only gets to the upper roots unless you go in for flooding

3) Potatoes grown "hard" taste better, though total yield may be less

4) Can't be bothered

Oh, and I don't earth up very much either.

[freddy]

Hi Alan, thanks for the reply. As I grow in raised beds, and my soil being quite light, and given the fact that we haven't had decent rain here for months, I thought I was doing the right thing by giving them a good watering. I did however think it might affect the flavour, but the way I saw it, it was better to have a half decent yield. I take on board what you say, and promise to change my ways

Cheers...freddy.

[Colin Miles]

What Alan says about watering is very interesting. I have grown most of my potatoes in pots for 'convenience'. Because of the wet weather last year I wasn't able to clear some parts of the garden, so put down a tarpaulin to cover the weeds and placed the pots on top. These pots do need a lot of watering and the contrast between those in pots and those in the soil is very noticeable, the latter still looking very healthy. Mind you, they also appear much later - the pots warm up quickly.

I had a similar yield problem last year - only 5 or 6 tubers - with Charlotte and, according to Alan Romans, this was probably due to lack of water at a crucial time when the plants decide how many tubers to support. Pots do dry out very quickly and need frequent watering. Perhaps something similar has happened with the very light soil.

[Colin_M]

I too have a very average yield on my salad pots. Have just started digging Charlotte's and got around 4-5 small to medium sized tubers per plant.

[Beryl]

I wholeheartedly agree with Alan. I never water potatoes either but I do make sure I plant when the soil is very moist and then thickly mulch immediately with lots of well rotted compost.

Never grown them in pots so I can't comment on that one.

Beryl.

[freddy]

Hi folks. I dug my first the other day (Arran Pilot). It seems I was a bit late getting to them. I planted them around mid April, so figured now was about the right time to try them. There were seven good size tubers, and although they looked good, I've tasted better. I found they had a less intense flavour, and were a bit watery, if you know what I mean. Although I HAD watered, the ground was very, VERY dry, so I don't know if leaving them (without watering) would have been a viable option, something to ponder on and consider for next year.

Cheers...freddy.

[Nature's Babe]

Hi, next year I'm giving this method a try, under a straw mat, will let you kmow how they progress.

http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/g ... atoes.html

[Colin_M]

Potatoes grown "hard" taste better, though total yield may be less

Whilst I haven't deliberately tried to follow this approach, I think this year my spuds have effectively had hardly any water. Now that I'm digging and eating them, I'm interested your comment.

So far, both our Charlottes and Vales Emerald have seemed to take longer than usual to cook and the results have still tasted "not quite soft enough". Normally the advice would be to cook them a little longer, but we're already at the point where the surface of them are starting to break up. I'd also say that I don't find their flavour as good as the same crop from previous years (but there could be other reasons for that).

Can you tell us a bit more about "hard" potatoes - do your ones turn out reasonably soft after cooking or do you like yours still slightly "al-dente" when cooked?

In the past Johnboy has mentioned things like steaming spuds to prevent them breaking up, but this has always seemed a bit of a faff (sorry JB, maybe I need to give it a go..... )

[Johnboy]

Hi Colin,
I haven't boiled a vegetable for years now because when steamed there is so much more flavour. Potatoes cook perfectly and whilst yours may begin to break-up on the surface but not properly cooked throughout mine do not! I seriously advise you to have a go at steaming because to me it has all the advantages and very few disadvantages.
Apart from that I am a renown tight B----d and I can cook all my vegetables using just a single burner on a very low setting!
If you do not have a steamer use a colander (metal) and put a saucepan lid to enclose the vegetables as this also works quite effectively.
I certainly do not find it a faff!
JB.
PS I also use a steamer for blanching vegetables prior to freezing and this has cut the time down incredibly.

[alan refail]

Hi Colin

When I used the word "hard" I meant it metaphorically: ie grown without special treatment, minimal earthing up and no watering. I certainly do not like hard potatoes after cooking. I think the taste is better as, without extra watering, there is more dry matter in the tuber. Like Johnboy, my wife always steams potatoes. However, as I do most of the cooking apart from breakfast, we mostly have new potatoes boiled. I only wash before cooking, never scrape. Leaving the skins intact does tend to lead to the outside layer starting to come away (the tastiest part when buttered and minted), but the rest is perfectly cooked. The taste of my earlies is much improved this dry year. Remains to be seen how the lates taste.

Give Johnboy's steaming tip a whirl.

Alan

[peter]

Last nights supper, twenty-two Charlotte, dig, gather, bag, walk home, wash, in steamer, steam until carving fork goes easily through the biggest spud, into bowl, knob of butter on top, stir to coat, grind or two of seasalt, eat. Bliss!

Surface of some cracked and peeling back, but that let's the butter in, I try to peel off the papery/plasticy skin layer with fork and fingers as I eat.

[Johnboy]

Hi Alan,
I think the term I would use instead of 'hard' is 'lean' growing.
To me the word lean suggest the minimum of attention and no cosseting.
Since I dug the first of the Maris Bard spuds we have had one day of very useful rain which was actually around 14 hours of persistent drizzle
and the Peas grew about a foot within the next couple of days and the Maris Bard was the last of the first sowing and are really quite large 18 reasonable sized spuds plus a few tiddlers off 2 plants.
At the weekend, for Sunday lunch, I will begin digging the second sowing which means they will be back to a good salad size or slightly above. The pullings of young Swiss Chard are really scrumptious at present, these are about 4-5" high and all I do is nip the roots off, wash and steam for only a few moments as they really only need to wilt rather than actually cook.
This is a wonderful time of the year when the fruits of your labours begin to pay results.
JB.

[Colin Miles]

Having several varieties grown in pots and in the ground, it is interesting to see the differences in yield. Rocket, Orla and Pentland Javelin seem to yield well in pots, not so Charlotte - the ones in the ground look very good. Have yet to see the yield from these or Spunta, Nicola and Argos.