Kitchen Garden Forum

hello

has anyone tried growing potatoes in growbags? and before I get lots of cheeky replies I mean turning the bag on its side, emptying a third of the soil, rolling down the sides, planting one spud, and earthing up/rolling back up the sides as necessary.

I can't remember where I heard that tip but I'm going to try it this year with some first earlies – "mimi" which is a dwarf variety anyway, i think. I'll try some plants in bags and some 'control' plants in the ground, and compare the crops.

has anyone had any success with this method?

I grow mimi in large pots, not grow bags as such, and get great clean crops.

I find it is cheaper doing it this way as I reuse the pots year after year and use my own home made compost.

This is what I do:

Once chitted,



Be careful not to allow the sprouts to get too long as they may break when planted. One or two chits per seed spud is fine.

Next I get the pots ready. I use large plastic pots that will last years. Make sure they have good drainage holes in the bottom, add more with a drill if required, and then add a layer of well rotted manure to the bottom:



Next add a thin layer of multi purpose compost to sit the seed potatoes one. (I do not sit the seed potatoes directly on the maure as this can burn the new roots, others do sit them direct on the manure and seem happy, personal choice I guess). In these sized pots I put two seed potatoes per pot. Sit the potato with the chits facing upwards:



The final step is to just cover the seed potatoes with a layer of compost taking care not to damage the chits. Then make sure you label the pot and give a little water depending on how moist the compost is:



Keep the pots in a warm, frost free greenhouse, earthing up as the sprouts break the surface of the compost until you reach the tops of the pots. Keep the compost moist to begin with, especially until the first shoots break the surface.

Move the pots outside after frosts have finished and keep well watered. Feed with a general purpose fertilize if you wish and as harvest approaches root around with your hand in the compost to check the size of the tubers. Start to harvest when they are the half the size of hens eggs. Do not try to store the tubers for more than a day or two as they quickly loose their exceptional flavour.

There is no beating home grown new potatoes cooked straight from the ground. They knock “Jersey Royals” into a cocked hat on taste.

Also growing in pots/compost removes many of the problems such as slugs/eel worm and they are very easy to clean, just run the new spuds under a tap and pop them in a pan or water with a sprig of mint to cook……yumm!

Jerry

What an excellent post, thanks very much.

There was a post recently that described the process of doing this in grow bags which I have done. I'm sure you'll find it if you look around. I put three Foremost per bag so I guess its going to get cozy in there!

David

I have a load of 25litre platic drums with handles that I am going to put potatoes in. I am never sure, like you David if perhaps 3 is too many. Perhaps I need to do some with 2 in and some with 3 in to see.

Hello Sally - I posted the following re this viewtopic.php?t=301, although it seems a slightly different method to yours. We are trying it for the first time this year and have gone for 2 and 3 per growbag. Last year we grew 3 tubers in per 15" pot and had loads of room. This year we are trying 5 tubers/pot, so we'll have a comparator for the growbag method. Because growbags already have compost in them, at 99p seem cost effective. I supposed it all depends on how much you pay for compost. We'll see how it works this year anyway.

Ah-ha! thanks Chez, i can see where i was going wrong now. using a whole growbag and putting just one tater inside. there's no way i'd have thought you could get a maximum of 8 in one bag! but will try and see what happens.

much obliged

Like I said in the other potato thread I don't understand why you plant so densely in containers. I am also using 25 litre handled drums with the tops cut off to make pots about 11" square by 12" deep but am only putting 1 tuber in each. I've never tried it before but I figure even this is less space than I give each plant in a bed. I hope to get the 2 to 3 lbs per tuber that first earlies give outside. Started the first two by the Aga on 21st January then moved them to greenhouse with a target of eating at Easter. Plants are quite big so we'll have to see.

I would like to know if any one has grown potatoes in a 45 or 50 gallon plastic drum.Cant remember where i seen it but you fill drum with soil of your choice and drill drum full of 2 in. holes plant seed potatoes in the holles and top top of drum.