spacing of potato tubers

[teacosy]

Can anyone tell me how they arrange/plant their potato tubers on a 10m long bed of 1.2m width? I am not sure whether to do two rows? What would be the most efficient and easy maintenance?

[Ros]

I have beds 1.2m wide and plant potatoes 3 across the beds. I have had good harvests this way overf4 years. Good luck with yours whichever way you decide on.

[Rocket Science]

Hi Teacosy, My beds are 9m x 1.2m. I plant 2 rows of tubers along the length of bed. This always for plenty of compost to be drawn up over them as they grow. Seems a bit wide at planting time but foliage will cover the whole bed and some pathway by harvesting time.

[compostpope]

It might depend on which type of potatoes you are planting. I plant second earlies in two rows in a 1.2m bed and they do well. If I were planting first earlies I might try and fit in 3 rows, but perhaps such a bed might be too narrow for 2 rows of maincrops – but I’ve no experience other than second earlies so I’m only guessing…

I found earthing up 2 rows in a 1.2m bed in the traditional method quite tricky but adding compost to the bed around the plants as they grow as Charles seems to advocate makes the whole thing a lot easier.

I’m looking forward to my first new spuds of the year as I type!!!

Compostpope

[jawilliams]

My first year of being an allottmenteer has been a hard one. An extremely dry winter and early spring and then an aweful soggy summer. My potatoes ended up covered in 20 cm of water as the allotment flooded. I rescued some of my crop but the others succumbed to blight. Should I not plant potatoes this year because no matter the weather, the blight is omnipresent?

[charles]

 I find that blight does not linger in soil, so if summer is dry or even has just average moisture, your potatoes can be good and I would plant again soon – around Easter time – both first and second earlies.

[bluebell]

I planted a ‘Christmas’ crop of potatoes just a couple of months after my main crop had blight. I did plant in a different area and I covered them with manure and had a sheet of plastic over them until they were growing well. The 5 tubers I planted gave a better crop than my other plantings last year.

[charles]

 Thanks for this Bluebell, it is a good example of how potato blight is about temperature and humidity, rather than infection from soil or compost.

[Author]

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