Christmas potatoes

inigo

I was reading this and have decided to give it a go. Any ideas where I can buy some seed (e.g. orla) either online or in South Dublin?

OldGoat

Mr Middletons (Mary Street) have Carlingfords.

Corsendonk

Old car tyres stacked up work as good as growing in bags. I would try to get some Homeguards, call me old fashioned but if I go to the trouble of growing spuds I like them to taste good and Orla(superquinn sell it as karalina) isnt that good.

inigo

Thanks for the replies. I've searched Mr Middleton's website but can't find them there. I might just pop in on Saturday. I've asked some British suppliers if they would deliver to Ireland but have received no reponses yet. Most of what I've seen both in Ireland and UK is a big "Sold Out" sign. Some British prices were pretty shocking: 3 planters + 3 sets of 5 seeds for £9.99... But as I said all sold out! Any more ideas??

Corsendonk

Well it was quite common in Ireland to use some of your harvested spuds for seed in the days you couldn't afford to buy some. Buy the variety you want off the supermarket shelf. Chit the healthy spuds and plant them out. Please ensure for plant health reasons that the potatoes you buy are Irish.

Macy0161

If you are planning on growing in bags, I wouldn't worry about using non seed potatoes to be honest. If you're worried, dump the used compost in flower beds out of rotation. Personally, I'd try farmers market spuds first, and definitely irish produced. You may need to put them in the fridge for a couple of weeks first though to get them to sprout.

Mine have been in the poly tunnel a couple of weeks from seed spuds I saved in the fridge from spring. I think I might've been a bit hasty, or should've left them outside, but I wanted plenty of growth pre-frost and I'm starting to get a touch of blight on my main crops outside which I didn't want to get on the christmas ones. I guess time (christmas morning!?!) will tell!

As for bags, I used old compost bags turned inside out (black facing out to absorb more heat) for an early spring crop with some success. I also used the plastic trugs, got from heatons for 4 or 5 quid which may be on sale by this stage - easier to get the children involved. I just drilled a few holes in the bottom for drainage. I did try planting them as one spud in half a grow bag - grew fine, but I got worried about light turning them green, so ended up putting the bags in plant pots anyway.

Corsendonk

A good soil depth should get you a good crop. Remember spuds arn't technically a root crop, the fruiting bodies come from the stem so the longer the stem in the soil the more potatoes. The tyre trick works in a small area too because you can start with a container two or three tyres high and then add one or more tyres to the top but make sure the tops are 8in high and leave 2in of top visible everytime you add a new tyre. You shouldn't have a problem with greening.

A cool dry shed will work as well as a fridge. The advantage with buying off supermarket shelves is more than likely its potatoes produced from 1st year certified seed. For prepack potatoes by law they have to label the country of origin so should be easy to work out if there irish potatoes or not.