EARLY POTATO VARIETIES ANY SUGGESTIONS

[RandA]

We did well using no dig in our first year, so far we have used 30 tons ( 2 loads of compost from the council + plenty of horse manure), this was thanks to the course we attended last March with Charles and this proved to be a great inspiration.

One problem we had was early blight or something that affected our potatoes, so this year I have ordered blight resistant main crop but thought might risk trying some early potatoes that we can lift before the blight hits. Does anyone have any suggestions on a tasty reliable early potato we can try? Ali

[pete]

Plant your maincrop potatos early, even before your first earlies. They are then ready before blight really hits. You can also mound them up at the same time. It gives frost protection if needed and save you time later in the season.
Pete

[Rhys]

Arran Pilot are a good reliable strain of First Earlies. I was happy with Charlotte 2nd earlies last year but am trying Estima this year on Charles’ recommendation.

[Jayjay]

Is this the Ultimate No Dig way to grow potatoes in the future?
Here’s Allotment Diary’s Dan with his pot raised Golden Wonder and King Edwards which he got blight on the foliage so they didn’t make a full harvest, http://youtu.be/qI4mcM6I4T0

Here’s his crop of Sarpo Miro blight resistant ones harvested 6 weeks later, http://youtu.be/dMrkIecqQL8 (He shows how he grows them in earlier YouTube videos).

And even more Sarpo Miro grown in home-made compost in pots from Chris at Allotment Journal, http://youtu.be/3GAfLDiPFWk

I’ve got my pots ready to try for myself this year! Jeanette

[Jayjay]

Sorry folks, the last link in my previous post was for the advert! Here is the correct set of links:-
Is this the Ultimate No Dig way to grow potatoes in the future?
Here’s Allotment Diary’s Dan with his pot raised Golden Wonder and King Edwards which he got blight on the foliage so they didn’t make a full harvest, http://youtu.be/qI4mcM6I4T0

Here’s his crop of Sarpo Miro blight resistant ones harvested 6 weeks later, http://youtu.be/dMrkIecqQL8 (He shows how he grows them in earlier YouTube videos).

And even more Sarpo Miro grown in home-made compost in pots from Chris at Allotment Journal, http://youtu.be/PHhh__9zdbc

I’ve got my pots ready to try for myself this year! Jeanette

[Don Foley]

Hi Ali,

If your planning on sowing Earlies your reasonably (not absolutely) sure of avoiding Blight.
If you plant the Tubers in mid-late March or early April you will be harvesting before the Blight season kicks off .
I’m not entirely sure there is any Blight resistant Earlies but I’m open to correction on this. I wouldn’t be surprised as it is 2nd Earlies and maincrop which are usually troubled by Blight and therefore breeders would be more interested in developing Blight resistant varieties of these rather than 1st Earlies.

On the subject of Sarpo Mira. I grew these last year and got a whopping crop. However they are extremely waxy and also difficult to cook. Just my pennies worth, no doubt others will have had different experiences with these.

Don.

[bluebell]

I normally only grow second earlies and generally plant just before Easter. Normally ready to be lifted before there is much sign of blight.

[charles]

Don, did you cut the tops off Your Sarpo by early September? If left to grow through autumn, the flavour and texture can go downhill.

[Don Foley]

Hi Charles,
Sorry for delay in replying.
I actually harvested them in the last week of August as they had died back quiet a bit.
The harvest was excellent its just the cooking that was the problem.
I created a new bed on scrub in Jan/Feb as per your method, 6″manure spread over ground, with spent growbag contents mixed with Garden Compost spread on top of that.
Tubers planted in 2nd week of April.
Don.

[Rhys]

Jeanette

I had a go last year and got pretty good yields, but not as good as Dan’s yields for Sarpo this year. He’s been increasing his yields the past 3 years so I think that it’s still an experimental situation (although the yields are still very good).

The issues are these:
1. How often does it rain where you live? If like me you are in the SE and it can be quite dry in summer, you end up watering every day, which is a right pain in the neck.
2. Does your yield increase sufficiently to justify the cost of pots and compost?? I can get 14lb in the equivalent space of 3 pots through growing in the soil, so I reckon you need pretty good yields if you look at it economically. If you’re space-limited and aren’t worried about cost, it’s probably the highest productivity per square metre around.
3. Choose strains right – most seem to work using the method but I found Blue Belle to be quite poor, actually. Desiree, Picasso, Sarpo Mira all worked well. Amour and Kestrel did fine as second earlies.

I think the key is the 15:15:15 fertiliser he used last year – I’m still trying to source one, as I used BFB last year and that is considerably less rich in NPK.

[Jayjay]

Hi rtj1211, I haven’t tried growing potatoes in 30mm pots like Dan before, this will be the first time.
I live in Portsmouth which is in the south, last year was wet and other times dry. If it’s really, really dry, I might water but I probably won’t water until the potatoes are showing flowers because I believe that’s when the tubers will be forming and that’s when it will be the most beneficial to water.
I managed to get the pots for £2.00 each plus postage but the prices have increased since then, I think it’s the law of supply and demand!

I can get 56 litres of multipurpose compost for £4.00. I am going to add Blood Fish and Bone and also some Potato Fertiliser to each pot.
I will be using a mix of varieties including Sarpo Mira, Kestrel, Charlotte, Rocket and Maris Peer and maybe a couple more.
I am trying this method in pots because I have osteoarthritis and I don’t want to dig and then draw up the earth over the potatoes, it’s too much trouble and too painful.
As I said, this will be the first time I’m attempting to grow the potatoes like Allotment Diary so I will have to let you know how I fared about September/October. Jeanette.

[Don Foley]

Hi JayJay,

When the flowers appear on your Potato plants it is usually indicative, though this also depends on the variety, that they are ready to harvest and not that the tubers are beginning to form. Keep the patch watered throughout the growing season and when you see the flowers have a gentle root around in the soil to see what size your potatoes are. If they are as big as what you want them to be harvest as you need them and leave the rest to grow on until you need to or have to, blight or slug damage, harvest them.
Also can I suggest Potato/Tomato Planter Bags instead of 30cm pots. The Planter Bags are no more expensive than pots, are roughly 35cm in diameter and stand about 45cm high. You plant 3 tubers in each, so for a tiny bit of extra space you get 3 times the crop you might expect from one 30cm pot.
A really cheap and clever alternative is to buy the 100 litre bags of compost. Cut these in half, cut a few holes in the base of each, and you plant in these.

Don.

[Jayjay]

Thank you Don.

[Rhys]

Jayjay

Made a mistake on Dan’s ‘super recipe’ – it’s NPK is 12:11:18 and it’s called ‘potato magick’. Other than that he uses BFB. Reason I found it out was I emailed Dan about my obviously faulty memory and he gave me a fairly terse dressing down!

[Rhys]

Don

Are you seriously saying you can get 40lb of potatoes from one planter bag?? Dan got up to 13lb from one 35 litre pot using Sarpo Mira and averaged almost 11lb/pot over 7 pots in the same experment.

If you can, I take my hat off to you!!

[Author]

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