harvesting maris piper potatoes
By petitebabe
9 comments
My 2 toddlers and i enjoyed harvesting our maris piper potatoes yesterday they were very helpful in picking them up and putting them gently out to dry for me. I harvested them by hand rather than use a fork and put it through them! I have raised beds so this makes it easier! However most of them have some sort of disease possibly scab i have yet to sort them out today but i don’t think many of them will be going into storage over the winter. I read somewhere you could chop them up and put them in the freezer so that is what i will have to do if none have survived the wireworm, scab and the slugs! A bit gutted as this is my first ever year growing fruit and veg.
18 Sep, 2010
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Thanx scotsgran i didn't know that about wireworm! i think that i only had them in 1 potato! i was given some "topsoil" so they could have grown grass on that. Please could you look at the pictures in my albumn i have put some pics in and i think my potatoes have scab the patches just seem to be very wet and deep like volcanoes! What do you think? i ran out of ground and so some of my seed potatoes went into containers. Out of the 12 containers i had them in i got 4kg of perfect potatoes! no scab wireworm not even slugs!
18 Sep, 2010
I have answered your query on this on your blog of 17th Sept. I'm glad you were so successful with the containers. I'm hoping it is not blight on your potatoes but I have told you how to check. if you have blight then try and burn the haulms and potatoes to make sure you are not harbouring it.
18 Sep, 2010
Thanx scotsgran sorry i didn't see your very helpful comment i'm very new to this site and trying to work my way around it! I'm so glad to say that it isn't blight i've cut one in half and it's only on the outside not rotten inside the potato. I didn't think it was blight as the haulms weren't affected.
18 Sep, 2010
Brilliant.
18 Sep, 2010
I grow potatoes in big tubs. They seem to do better than in the ground.
19 Sep, 2010
most of my crop were in the groung but i also put some in tubs be them small and they came out perfect!
21 Sep, 2010
sorry i can't spell ground!
21 Sep, 2010
I get trubbl with spelin azwel ;o)
21 Sep, 2010
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Don't be downhearted. If this is the first time you have grown potatoes and they have wire worm it might be because you planted them in soil which previously had grass growing on it. The wireworm will gradually disappear fromthe soil. The wireworm killer was withdrawn from sale, EEC regs. and the organic growers reckon it does die out and will not affect the eating quality as long as you cut off the offending bits. Scab is only skin deep and caused by too much lime in the ground so don't go adding any as it seems to have enough. Again cut off the offending bits. I have heard of freezing them without par cooking but I have never tried it. Before you commit all your precious harvest to the freezer I would try some for a week. Your toddlers obviously got a lot out of the exercise and it will be irrelevant that you feel less than happy. Let them help to use the potatoes making soup, baked potatoes, mash etc.Maris Piper are an excellent choice because they are so versatile. They are widely grown as a commercial crop and that makes them relatively cheap to buy so I rarely grow them. They keep well in storage. Well done in bringing on the next generation of GOYers
18 Sep, 2010