Question on potato's

brokenarms

My potato plants are getting very big and bushy. 4 feet high and starting to fall with their own weight. Should I let them be or stake them? They are in full flower as well. They seem very big considering they dont get harvested till september.

My Potatoes

Any pix? When were they planted?

It sounds like they've been overfed with nitrogen, have you been feeding them? Or was there green manure or legumes planted there the previous season?

I'd let them be, though I'd pinch out the flowers.

brokenarms

They are planted in a raised bed filled with grass turf from my old lawn and a bag a 1 year old manure. The pic shows them all laying over in a bunch. The go 4' when pulled upright. They have not been fed extra.

What does pinching out the flowers do?

brokenarms

My Potatoes

Pinching out the flower is a matter of debate. It's something I prefer to do, but some dispute whether doing it is worthwhile. Practitioners believe that by not expending energy on flowering, the plant will burn up its energy elsewhere, i.e. in producing tubers. It's a personal choice.

The plants look huge for this time of year, but your site looks good and healthy and there seems to be no reason for exceptional foliage growth. I'd just go with it. Maybe, if you are the curious type, choose a plant at the end and feel around beneath the surface, see if you can locate a tuber to get an idea of the size.

My concern with your plants is that they are putting all their energy into foliage and none into tubers. But there's no reason to suspect this bar their size.

My Potatoes

Man, they're looking good though! If they're as decent beneath as they are above, you're talking Klondike!

CorsendonkX

brokenarms wrote: »

My potato plants are getting very big and bushy. 4 feet high and starting to fall with their own weight. Should I let them be or stake them? They are in full flower as well. They seem very big considering they dont get harvested till september.

Just look healthy, they be fit to harvest well before September, flowering is usually a good sign that the potatoes are well on. What variety did you plant?

brokenarms

Maris Piper potatoes .. I live on them.

redser7

They probably thank you for a nice feed of tomato food.

Northumbria

Staking isn't necessary, only really for aesthetic reasons. My potato plants got blown down one windy day but grew back up despite the crooked stems in a couple of days.
They can be harvested as new potatoes when they flower, eventually the plants will begin to die back and fall over anyway, at this stage they're maincrop and can be mashed.

highdef

Mine are bigger again so not just yourself - They are the biggest I've had in the 4 years I've been growing....hopefully the spuds will be just as big!

brokenarms

So I have dug a few plants up.

I sowed all the plants in old grass sod at the beginning of the year. This may have been a mistake.

Although this type of loam soil is very rich it seem to have cause problems. I have a crop of scabby potato. Although there is no problem eatting these type of spuds, the disease was probably caused by the large amount of grass in the soil.

Another problem was little whit worms eating them . This was also caused by contaminated soil.

These are mostly cosmetic as the affected area of the spud can be cutaway leaving healthy food to mash or chip.

They are all big.

Lessons learned for next year.
1. Replace soil with quality top soil from a trusted source.
2. Steak each plant to keep tidy and stop them from creeping into other flower beds and lawn.
3. Try pinching out the flowers.
List very expandable.

paddy147

brokenarms wrote: »

Maris Piper potatoes .. I live on them.

Sarpos and King Edwards here.

We dug up some Sarpos yesterday evening.

Nice size potatoes.You can see the original seed potato in the centre of the pic.:)


Going to plant some more spuds next week for Christimas time.

My Potatoes

brokenarms wrote: »

I have a crop of scabby potato.

Hard to tell without a photo but if it is scab then it's probably common potato scab. Do you now what pH your soil is? The lower the pH the less the incidence of common scab.

brokenarms wrote: »

I sowed all the plants in old grass sod at the beginning of the year.
...
Another problem was little whit worms eating them .

What type worms? It sounds like it may be wireworms. Very common from mid-August. They are widespread in grassland.
There's some information on them here:
http://www.gardenplansireland.com/forum/about1277.html

I hope this is helpful.

CorsendonkX

I wouldn't mind scab unless you plan selling them on, scab is usually a good sign the potatoes are floury. The older shopper in parts of the country would pick out the scabby potatoes because they know the potatoes are more floury. One of those tips nearly lost due to our desire for perfect looking fruit and veg.

paddy147

CorsendonkX wrote: »

I wouldn't mind scab unless you plan selling them on, scab is usually a good sign the potatoes are floury. The older shopper in parts of the country would pick out the scabby potatoes because they know the potatoes are more floury. One of those tips nearly lost due to our desire for perfect looking fruit and veg.

And the massive amount of food wastage and food that is just dumped,because it doesnt "look right" for supermarket marketing/shelf purposes.

brokenarms

The scab is not to bad on the top spuds, but those deep in the ground are covered. Some 100% covered. I chiped them and put them in the actifry.
Must be the high moisture in them, but they were not as crispy as the supermarket pippers.
Might leave the next batch out in the sun for a while .

spygirl

mine were huge this year as well, pulled some a few weeks ago as was too impatient. The ones underneath were huge while the smaller ones were lovely. Have left the remaining plants in to hopefully get bigger. had loads of leaves and flowers, was still one of the crops i have ever had in my three years of growing. I planted them on top of eggshells and tea bags to see what would happen.might just have been the weather but they grew better then plants i grew usual way. How long can I leave them in? Hoping to leave last plant till christmas for the crack.Any thoughts, is it worth my while?

CorsendonkX

spygirl wrote: »

mine were huge this year as well, pulled some a few weeks ago as was too impatient. The ones underneath were huge while the smaller ones were lovely. Have left the remaining plants in to hopefully get bigger. had loads of leaves and flowers, was still one of the crops i have ever had in my three years of growing. I planted them on top of eggshells and tea bags to see what would happen.might just have been the weather but they grew better then plants i grew usual way. How long can I leave them in? Hoping to leave last plant till christmas for the crack.Any thoughts, is it worth my while?

You can leave them in the ground overwinter, once the spot you have them in isn't too wet and you can scatter straw over the ground to keep the worst of the frost away. Just make sure to cut the tops off down to the ground so blight can't spread from the top down into the spuds in the ground.

CorsendonkX

brokenarms wrote: »

The scab is not to bad on the top spuds, but those deep in the ground are covered. Some 100% covered. I chiped them and put them in the actifry.
Must be the high moisture in them, but they were not as crispy as the supermarket pippers.
Might leave the next batch out in the sun for a while .

They will get more starchy every week, just leave them in the ground for a couple of weeks and try a sample again.

Gautama

CorsendonkX wrote: »

I wouldn't mind scab unless you plan selling them on

Or making a gift of them.

CorsendonkX wrote: »

The older shopper in parts of the country would pick out the scabby potatoes because they know the potatoes are more floury. One of those tips nearly lost due to our desire for perfect looking fruit and veg.

I've never heard this but I am genuinely intrigued. Have you "done a Pepsi challenge on it?".
Some of these rustic wisdoms are great. However, there are duds there too. Like adding baking soda to greens, e.g. cabbage, when boiling them. "Keeps them green", they say. Yes, keeps them green but also kills the vitamins and minerals!

paddy147

Just a few Potato Plants in those fields.:)


Just imagine if you had to dig/pick all those by hand....:pac:

CorsendonkX

Gautama wrote: »

Or making a gift of them.


I've never heard this but I am genuinely intrigued. Have you "done a Pepsi challenge on it?".
Some of these rustic wisdoms are great. However, there are duds there too. Like adding baking soda to greens, e.g. cabbage, when boiling them. "Keeps them green", they say. Yes, keeps them green but also kills the vitamins and minerals!

Well the source was only a senior lecturer at one of the agriculture collages. And no I didn't do a pepsi challenge, I did a few dry matter tests do.

CorsendonkX

paddy147 wrote: »

Just a few Potato Plants in those fields.:)


Just imagine if you had to dig/pick all those by hand....:pac:

Like these fellows?

joseph brand

Gautama wrote: »

Some of these rustic wisdoms are great. However, there are duds there too. Like adding baking soda to greens, e.g. cabbage, when boiling them. "Keeps them green", they say. Yes, keeps them green but also kills the vitamins and minerals!

Irish mammies and their cooking skills or lack-thereof. I was told that the baking soda helped soften the cabbage. Not that I use it myself.

Between soggy cabbage and broccoli, and wooden beef, my mam was no Delia Smith. My dad used to drink the cabbage water (anyone remember that ghastly stuff?), which I tried, but could just about keep it down.

Cabbage is supposed to be chopped into thin strips and boiled for about 15 mins. Our bodies can't extract all the goodness from raw vegetables, so a little cooking is needed, but not too much.

Back on topic, ahem. I've had a similar problem to the OP regarding leggy potato plants. I don't know why I only discovered recently that I should have planted my spuds in trenches. As the plant grows, some 'earthing up' is required. See photo below: