Kitchen Garden Forum

On Gardeners Question Time, Radio 4, Bob Flowerdew recommended planting early potato varieties now to crop in autumn. What he did not say was where to get the tubers to use as seed stock.
Could I expose some of my own early crop to daylight so that they start to sprout and then plant them?
What do other people do?

Exposing your current crop of new potatoes to light does not make them sprout, it just turns them green. Potatoes maturing now will stay dormant until late winter, and there's nothing you can do to stimulate them into growth before then. For autumn / winter cropping potatoes, you need to purchase prepared tubers from a reputable supplier. These are last year's tubers which have been kept in controlled conditions to keep them dormant. They are dispatched by mail order straight out of storage, at a time optimal for them to progress well. They should be planted immediately on receipt. Marshalls certainly used to supplier tubers from store, and I think D T Brown may do them. Whoever you buy them from they're expensive, because of the costs involved. They're vulnerable to late blight, too.

I can't fault Felixleiter's advice Marken but I can recommend Carlingford, watch out for the late blight, I would advise growing them in a container or bag and moving them into shelter once the first frost is imminent, and yes late blight is a problem too, but if you get through those problems your first crop of new spuds for Christmas is indeed worth the expense.

CoMpO

thanks guys, maybe I misunderstood Bob Flowerdews suggestion. I've known about planting potatoes in a pot and bringing it before the frosts for Christmas new potatoes, this seemed to be aimed at a late crop from the garden? Well it seems not to be the easy option I first thought especially with regard to the late blight so I'll put that idea on hold...

The last two years I've bought two lots of seed earlies, planted one lot & kept the second lot in the fridge & am planting them now

Gloworm, dont the seed potatoes you store in the fridge start to sprout despite being in the cold. It is after all what they are designed to do?

Hi Marken,
Commercially potatoes are stored at low temperatures and that is the only way anybody supplying Christmas new potato seed would be able to control them. There are growth retardants but they only retard for a few weeks. Used in areas where frost prevails until begining of June and these a generally timed to emerge after the first week in June when planted in mid April.
I think that Gloworm's idea is very sensible and wish him success.
JB.

I agree with you Johnboy, would the stored spuds in the fridge need to be in a dark container or just in normal light? Thinking on the fridge does not normally have light in it except when we open it..............

CoMpO

The spuds do sprit but not excessively, lack of light doesn't seem a problem, they soon get going once planted. I used to buy the retarded seed from Marshalls but they always delivered a bit late for me here in Cheshire & expensive too. Johnboy dosen't agree with me here but I plant them on the same ground after I lift the first crop, my theory is they only occupy the ground the same length of time as maincrops, fresh ground each year of course

Hi Gloworm,
I'm afraid that you are right that I do not agree with you on planting where your previous early potato crop has grown.
Having said that I can see that you may be short of space but even then it is something that I would not entertain.
If you have the space it would be better to grow in cleaner soil.
I am still using potatoes that were lifted last autumn and they are now sprouting. These are kept in total darkness and in a very cold stone building.
I have never grown new potatoes for Christmas but I would store in total darkness until needed. I would not bother to chit because they are going into warm soil and should get away very quickly.
I suspect that they should be wrapped in paper rather than any thing plastic which would keep them too moist. Perhaps Gloworm may enlighten us as to his method of storage.
JB.

Perhaps I am old fashioned but to me the potatoes that I like to eat at Christmas are English main crop preferably roasted .I do not see the point in wishing to eat vegatables that are out of season at Christmas or any other time ( eg strawberries from Isreal, beans from Kenya etc.) surely New potatoes are for the spring and early summer there are enough great tasting main crop potatoes to eat in the winter and waiting for your home grown new potatoes in the early summer is one of the joys of growing your own.
Brenjon

Brenjon

Well said

I must confess mine have never lasted until Christmas, too many family demands on them so storage has never been a problem. As to "outof season", I don't agree, they are in season, grown without cover in an English climate. I like the roasties also at Christmas, but maybe next year I can grow sufficient second crop earlies to have both. Going back to storage I reckon they could be left in the ground until Christmas, slugs, blight & frost permitting.

Reading the thread I am interested to ask about Carlingford and protecting from frost.

I have 4 different collections of tubers, Carlingford, Cherie, Juliette and Maris Piper. These were mail order ready to crop in time for Christmas. All have chit except for the Carlingford and I am trying to encourage them but have only put them on the bench in the potting shed. 2 are now sprouting 1 is thinking of going mouldy and the other 2 are just being indecisive.

I am growing them all in bags, 1 bag per variety with 4-5 tubers in each. I keep hearing about blight and was wondering if I should bother planting the Carlingford at all if it is most likely to get it and then will wipe out my other 3 bags.

Also I was sort of planning just to leave the bags outside until Christmas when I can harvest....should I be planning on bringing them inside at some point if the weather turns?

Cheers

Dear Snip, it is definately the frost you should be worrying about more than the blight at this time of the year.
If the tops get caught by the frost at this time of the year, it will be the end of the potatoes.
So you should be looking to put them into a frost free greenhouse.