Potato famine ???

I am wondering if grow bags loose moisture quicker, we have lots of tatties in our veg garden, we do water every few days but the soil deeper down is still fairly moist.

I know nothing about spuds Scotsgran but would it help to sink plant pots into the growbags like you do for tomatoes so the water goes directly to the roots? Feel free to shout at me if you've already done that!!

I had a poor crop last year scotsgran and wasn't going to bother this year but I did in the end don't know what they are like. I have one lot growing in a tub and the others in an old upturned washing machine in the corner of the garden ;-)

I don't think my potatos in pots are going to be much good either,despite copious watering.The foliage has been huge,but all straggly and going yellow now.I keep trying to feel if there are any spuds,but so far nothing,only a couple of really tiny ones.The Vales Emerald in the soil fared much better,but still preferred the Swift variety for production.On the other hand,to be fair,we had so much rain last year,so that could be the main reason..

It could be that scotsgran it has been very dry this year hasn't it. We had our first very small strawberries today (5) between three of us!. We lost a lot of plants in the winter so will be pegging the runners into the empty slots in the strawberry tower.

I am just an idiot. Once general purpose compost, which still contains a lot of farmed peat, dries out it is almost impossible to wet it again, unless you stand it in water till it has had its fill, and then keep it moist. This year because of the neighbours I moved my potato pots on to the patio, (hard surface) usually they sit on the earth and I have no problems with them. The water does run through the pot more easily on the hard surface than it does when the pot is sitting on the soil. 12oz of potatoes from a 2oz seed potato is better than nothing. The grow bags were sitting in trays and there was water in the bottom but I obviously did not make enough cuts in the underside of the bag so that they could benefit from that water. No excuses I messed up those ones but there is still plenty of growing to be done in the other bags and pots. I will keep you updated.

Thanks scotsgran I will try and remember to tell you what mine are like when I harvest them-not holding out too much hope though ;-)

Just make sure they are wet all the way through and you should get a decent crop. I am always amazed at the amount of veg produced by the TV shows from a single container and wonder how they do it. I have not had too many failures over the time I have been growing in pots but I never get the same as I did from those planted in the garden. It is easier for me to plant in pots as the digging got too much for us. My earlies should have been ready by now but I just thought they were slow because of the weather. The foliage is good but I was worried by the look of the foliage on the Fortyfold as it looked as if it could be dying. ? Blight, so I removed the foliage and burned it. Most potatoes will just be starting to bulk up now so I am not overly concerned.

best of luck with them Scotsgran I hope your pots will bulk up too. I have always grown them in tubs and containers as not had much garden to grow them in. When I get the allotment I will have plenty of room then-there are four in front of me on the waiting list. I don't mind waiting though as I can't do much at the moment with my broken leg!

Being a pot grower has its advantages lol

Pitty you were disappointed. They look quite nice though.

They tasted good and I am hoping the second potato will thrive if I can get it enough water. Fortyfold is a late main so it is way too early to be lifting it. The Colleen also tasted nice and tended towards being floury so I will definitely be growing both next year.

I like floury potatoes.

We tried growing potatoes in bags last year, with a soil based compost, but were disapointed with the results. Growing in the ground this year we are very satisfied with yields, at least a kilo from first earlies, Colleen and Maris Baird. I wouldn't go back to container growing for potatoes again

If we were able to cope physically with planting in the garden I would choose to grow that way but because we can no longer dig and delve we put up with the smaller yields from pots but they have never been this bad. It is my own fault I will be more careful in future. I am very impressed with Colleen. It is the first time I have grown them. I have never liked Maris Bard. It is what we would call a wet tatty and no matter how hard I tried I could never get them to be Floury.

I fully agree with your last comment, Sg, the Colleen are great but Maris Bard rather soft and flavourless.

Sorry to hear about the poor rersults with the gro-bags, Scotsgran. I hope that our First Earlies in sacks got enough watering, but usually give them a whole watering-canful when watering. The sacks have been damp their full depth all the time, though, so - hopefully. Shaws beginning to yellow now, so shoudn't be too long before finding out.

My mistake was not picking up on the fact that they had dried out, I think yours will be fine if they have always been wet .

I hope so. just wondering if I didn't overwater to the point of causing rot, but time will tell. Good Luck with your other tatties!!

I was hoping to grow tatties in containers on a hard surface because I thought I could minimise slug damage that way, so this has been an interesting read.

Do you think a perforated hose coiled inside the container (around the edge from top to bottom) could be a good answer with an open end to pour water in? I always thought that would deliver water more efficiently to the roots of plants.

Or have I over thought this?

Interesting idea Pam. Don't know and there is only one way to find out. An alternative could just be a piece of rigid pipe with holes drilled in it down the center of the container?

I like the idea of the perforated hose coiled around the container but I think it might be better if it was coiled within the contents rather than at the edge. If the soil dries out it will shrink from the edge and let the water run away. I have tried the rigid pipe with holes in and found the water ran away too quickly I got round that by putting the bottom end in a plastic container without holes.I found using 3" plastic plant pots half filled with soil on top of one another and pouring the water though them worked in those plastic flower pouches. I never thought of putting them in with the potatoes. I wonder if using water retaining crystals would work or is there a danger of the potatoes being too wet at certain times. As you say Bb the only way to find out is to try it. Sign up here for GOY's first controlled experimental grow your own tatties. I feel a blog coming on. Pamsco I have less slugs and snails this year although we are practically organic so its nothing I have been doing. Putting the pots in a grobag as suggested by Fluff seems an excellent idea. That ought to work really well.