Spuds

mjcom4d

Right lads I'm thinking of spraying of a small bit of land probably not more than a 1/4 acre and sowing spuds I think I have some spray and I can get the seed in the co-op i will probably sow British queens but I'd like to sow some roosters as well I don't know anything about potatoes only suckler farming and have never sown anything in my life so can ye give me a few tips on it
Thanks

reverenddave

what is the ****ing obsession with spraying do people not realise what you are spraying is just going to go into your veg and you are basically eating ****loads of poisonous crap

anyway trust me there is no need to spray

just have a look at this
http://www.transitionchesterfield.org.uk/blog/my-allotment-i/permaculture-potatoes

the plastic(in the first paragraph) is enough to kill off any 'weeds' you may have



oh and regards to seed i like to get a mixture and just chuck the in where ever it's a nice surprise when harvesting times come around

Bizzum

reverenddave wrote: »

what is the ****ing obsession with spraying do people not realise what you are spraying is just going to go into your veg and you are basically eating ****loads of poisonous crap

anyway trust me there is no need to spray

just have a look at this
http://www.transitionchesterfield.org.uk/blog/my-allotment-i/permaculture-potatoes

Is this gonna be practical for 1/4 of an acre?

the plastic(in the first paragraph) is enough to kill off any 'weeds' you may have

Is this the same plastic thats been covering the ground since the previous June?

oh and regards to seed i like to get a mixture and just chuck the in where ever it's a nice surprise when harvesting times come around

We gave up sowing early spuds with the maincrop because invariably with the best will in the world, the earlies got blight and passed it onto the maincrop.
We sow only Roosters now. You will have a lot of eating in 1/4 of an acre in fresh ground!
And we always spray off lea ground.

reverenddave

Is this gonna be practical for 1/4 of an acre?

yep got just under 1/2 acre covered at tho moment
luckily i got the plastic 2nd hand so it only cost me a bit of diesel and €100


Is this the same plastic thats been covering the ground since the previous June?

yeah i missed that
but all thats needed is minimum 4-5 weeks of covering and basically just unroll as you're sowing

Bizzum

We sow about 1/4 acre ourselves every year, and break a fresh bit of ground every 2 or 3 years.
Great sowing conditions this year, rotovated the ground during the week (it was roughly ploughed over winter) and we're going planting tomorrow!

mjcom4d

Lads I don't know what your talking about with plastics and I have spray already

reilig

2 words

Sarpo Mira

They are organic potatoes. We grow about half an acre of them per year.
They are fast growing. They are resistant to blight. We plough ridges with an old horse plough behing the 35x and fill the centres with lots of cow dung. It produces a great crop and keeps 3 family houses going all year round.

No problems with weeds either. The stalks come up fast and spread out well - smothering any weeds that are coming up.

The potatoes are very tasty - very floury. They have a nice pink skin and keep very well in the heap over winter.

We always plant them in fresh ground and we do not spray the grass before we plough.

Happy gardening.

mjcom4d

I'll look into them thanks

haybob

Lads any advice on fertalizer for spuds

Bizzum

haybob wrote: »

Lads any advice on fertalizer for spuds

7-6-17

haybob

Bizzum wrote: »

7-6-17

Can I put that on when I'm earthing up

EDIT again, thanks

Bizzum

haybob wrote: »

Can I put that on when I'm earthing up

EDIT again, thanks

I've seen it done. I think we done it once out of necessity, but I would think it's not ideal. You have the spuds sowed, without fert, and intend moulding them up when they come up?

haybob

Bizzum wrote: »

I've seen it done. I think we done it once out of necessity, but I would think it's not ideal. You have the spuds sowed, without fert, and intend moulding them up when they come up?

I have sharps express, home guard and some thing or other the wife got in aldi sown with 2 year old hay based cow dung but the ground has been planted with various things for 5 years and it needs a rest. I ment to plough a bit of fresh ground for the early but never did.

Wont sow rooster or records for a couple of weeks in fresh ground with said manure and have never had an issue besides a shot of ditane they get nothing else

BeeDI

reilig wrote: »

2 words

Sarpo Mira

They are organic potatoes. We grow about half an acre of them per year.
They are fast growing. They are resistant to blight. We plough ridges with an old horse plough behing the 35x and fill the centres with lots of cow dung. It produces a great crop and keeps 3 family houses going all year round.

No problems with weeds either. The stalks come up fast and spread out well - smothering any weeds that are coming up.

The potatoes are very tasty - very floury. They have a nice pink skin and keep very well in the heap over winter.

We always plant them in fresh ground and we do not spray the grass before we plough.

Happy gardening.

I always plant home guards for earlies and rooster for mains. Was thinking of trying the Sarpo Mira, but someone put me off by telling me they were not the best tasting. So glad to hear your comments.
I'll try a stone of them along with the roosters this year to see.

Question. Do you spray them for blight, or do they manage without it?

I have found that Dithane, does not seem to be as effective as it used to be agaianst late blight. I was thinking of changing this year. I know when I was a young lad at home, we used to use Dithane early in the year, and Duter later on in the season. However, the only spary I see stocked in my part of the country is Dithane

F.D

I found dithane usless potatoes always got blighted, changed to some other spray lasy year can't remember the name but it was far more effective,
one problem we had last year was the ground was riddled with some type of worm /larvae and had eaten into most of the spuds :mad: so ended up throwing back loads for the crows not impressed only noticed when we started digging them up, the ground was only used for 2 crops, another relation has been using the same piece of a garden for potatoes for years and never has any trouble, so dont know where i went wrong, could have been the dung i spread on it the previous autumn

BeeDI

F.D wrote: »

I found dithane usless potatoes always got blighted, changed to some other spray lasy year can't remember the name but it was far more effective,
one problem we had last year was the ground was riddled with some type of worm /larvae and had eaten into most of the spuds :mad: so ended up throwing back loads for the crows not impressed only noticed when we started digging them up, the ground was only used for 2 crops, another relation has been using the same piece of a garden for potatoes for years and never has any trouble, so dont know where i went wrong, could have been the dung i spread on it the previous autumn

I'd say you had wire worm:mad: Bad news.

If you think of the name of the spray you used, please post it.
Thanks

reilig

F.D wrote: »

I found dithane usless potatoes always got blighted, changed to some other spray lasy year can't remember the name but it was far more effective,
one problem we had last year was the ground was riddled with some type of worm /larvae and had eaten into most of the spuds :mad: so ended up throwing back loads for the crows not impressed only noticed when we started digging them up, the ground was only used for 2 crops, another relation has been using the same piece of a garden for potatoes for years and never has any trouble, so dont know where i went wrong, could have been the dung i spread on it the previous autumn

Sounds like wire worm. Some soil will have it and some won't and it will make a mess of your crop if grown in the same plot two years in a row. Your relation's ground probably doesn't have it at all.

Before we grew the organic spuds, we would have always sprayed with dithane and found that we needed to be spraying on a weekly basis in order to keep blight away. If you let it go any longer than this, you are putting your crop at risk. Other sprays might be different and work for longer!!!

Bizzum

reilig wrote: »

Before we grew the organic spuds, we would have always sprayed with dithane and found that we needed to be spraying on a weekly basis in order to keep blight away. If you let it go any longer than this, you are putting your crop at risk. Other sprays might be different and work for longer!!!

Dithane 945; Spray with it, Stay with it as the ad used to say! Agree with above, in bad blight weather you need to go weekly.
Later in the season we use Ridomil. We find this holds better, from memory its expensive enough.

Reilig, Do you use Bluestone/lime on the organic spuds? or is there something else?

reilig

Bizzum wrote: »

Reilig, Do you use Bluestone/lime on the organic spuds? or is there something else?

No. They are blight resistant. They get lashings of dung at planting time and they work away themselves after that. They are so easy to grow.

Bizzum

reilig wrote: »

No. They are blight resistant.

I forgot thet bit. I never tried the Sarpo Mira yet or their "sister" variety Sarpo Axona, but I know a man who has both this year.

Re: The worm. Wireworm is a common pest in spuds but a number of years ago I saw a garden becoming infested with a small white slug that ate into the tuber and wrote off nearly all the crop. Lime dug in over winter corrected the problem.

reilig

Bizzum wrote: »

Re: The worm. Wireworm is a common pest in spuds but a number of years ago I saw a garden becoming infested with a small white slug that ate into the tuber and wrote off nearly all the crop. Lime dug in over winter corrected the problem.

An old way of getting rid of them was to plant a crop of onions in the garden for a year. I don't know how it got rid of the wire worm or why, but I remember my grandfather doing it years ago with great success.

ciaranr

I grew Sarpo Mira last year and didn't like the taste. In fact, I'm having trouble giving about 10kg of seed away, if anyone can call to Mullingar to pick it up they're welcome.

My Roosters got badly attacked by some class of worm last year. Apparently something called Nemaslug works well (Dermot Gavin on Mooney Show last week) anyone have any experience with it?

Ciaran

Corsendonk

ciaranr wrote: »

I grew Sarpo Mira last year and didn't like the taste. In fact, I'm having trouble giving about 10kg of seed away, if anyone can call to Mullingar to pick it up they're welcome.

My Roosters got badly attacked by some class of worm last year. Apparently something called Nemaslug works well (Dermot Gavin on Mooney Show last week) anyone have any experience with it?

Ciaran

I heard the similiar reports about Sarpo Mira flavour thats why the trade won't touch them.

reilig

Corsendonk wrote: »

I heard the similiar reports about Sarpo Mira flavour thats why the trade won't touch them.

I thought they were lovely potatoes. Noticed no different taste from them than from any other potato. They keep far better in the heap than kerr pinks and roosters too!!

BeeDI

Corsendonk wrote: »

I heard the similiar reports about Sarpo Mira flavour thats why the trade won't touch them.

Yeah, I mentioned in an earlier reply to Reilig, that I had been put off planting tham in the past because of reports of poor taste qualities, at least for the Irish pallate. So I was really surprised he was planting a half acre of them!
Anyway I'm working in an industrial estate with two garden centres, so I popped out to get a few kgs of them based on Reiligs advice.
They both told me, the general run of customers who have tried them, won't do them again. Don't like the taste.
I abandoned ship. I'm too traditional in my ways. Just have to be more diligent in spraying every 5 or 6 days in the high blight season.

This year, I think for my main crop, I'm going to push the rows a full 3 feet apart, to try get better air flow through the crop, to help in the blighty season.

ciaranr

That's an interesting idea BeeDI, is there any info on the benefits of this out there? I can see that it would make earthing up and spraying a little bit more pleasant, no more copper-sulphate soaked trousers and boots!

reilig

Lads,

Do ye have any links to reports of bad taste from the Sarpo Mira??

I've spent a while on google and can find nothing but praise for them on Irish and UK gardening forums. Not 1 mention of a bad taste.

It would be interesting to know is the taste affected by the ground that they are grown in or is it a general thing with all of them??

Tora Bora

reilig wrote: »

Lads,

Do ye have any links to reports of bad taste from the Sarpo Mira??

I've spent a while on google and can find nothing but praise for them on Irish and UK gardening forums. Not 1 mention of a bad taste.

It would be interesting to know is the taste affected by the ground that they are grown in or is it a general thing with all of them??

http://alanbishop.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=tomatoes&action=print&thread=3006

I got a few of them from a neighbour last year to taste them. Only middeling to be honest. But every man to his own.

ciaranr

Everyone I gave mine to commented very harshly. As I said, I'm having trouble giving away left over seed. I've given some to someone on the east coast (I'm midlands), will be interesting to see if the ground they're grown in makes a difference.

Qprmeath

ciaranr wrote: »

I grew Sarpo Mira last year and didn't like the taste. In fact, I'm having trouble giving about 10kg of seed away, if anyone can call to Mullingar to pick it up they're welcome.

My Roosters got badly attacked by some class of worm last year. Apparently something called Nemaslug works well (Dermot Gavin on Mooney Show last week) anyone have any experience with it?

Ciaran

Slugs love roosters. Can eat a whole crop. Use slug pellets around August time or in very wet conditions.

Corsendonk

reilig wrote: »

Lads,

Do ye have any links to reports of bad taste from the Sarpo Mira??

I've spent a while on google and can find nothing but praise for them on Irish and UK gardening forums. Not 1 mention of a bad taste.

It would be interesting to know is the taste affected by the ground that they are grown in or is it a general thing with all of them??

http://www.gardenplansireland.com/forum/about3423.html

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=44914.0%3Bprev_next=next




Interesting to note blight problems with it too.
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php?PHPSESSID=866ed40ce46dd1add8c28a6560666f5d&/topic,43517.0.html

haybob

Lads any advice on Golden wonders, someone gave me a stone of seed and I have never planted them before, I'm short on ground so I'm thinking of sowing them in ridges and not drills ??????

Bizzum

haybob wrote: »

Lads any advice on Golden wonders, someone gave me a stone of seed and I have never planted them before, I'm short on ground so I'm thinking of sowing them in ridges and not drills ??????

We often sowed them over the years. We never treated them differently than any other maincrop spud!
I know they favour lighter type soils. We didn't sow them in a long time now, far to dry for my liking! A good spud just the same if thats what you like.

haybob

Bizzum wrote: »

We often sowed them over the years. We never treated them differently than any other maincrop spud!
I know they favour lighter type soils. We didn't sow them in a long time now, far to dry for my liking! A good spud just the same if thats what you like.

I'm not fond of them either I prefer rooster but as I said I was given them and I'm sure they will be eaten.

cheers

Bizzum

haybob wrote: »

I'm not fond of them either I prefer rooster but as I said I was given them and I'm sure they will be eaten.

cheers

Big Rooster fan too.
The golden wonder is a great keeper, a great spud late in the year.

keep going

those roosters are the worst spud ever came out the ground,i know they grow ant where, big spuds and good to store but they taste like s**t.a bit of queens spinks and wonders are the only job nice to swop around

Chicken Run

Grew Sarpo Mira once but it's a texture thing rather than a taste, they make rubbish mash... just go all sticky like wallpaper paste.

Ciaranr - I've used Nemaslug before - it's very expensive so I used it for strawberries and it seemed to keep the slugs at bay, but then again it was dry during the fruiting season anyway so there'd naturally have been less slugs.

I live in the wet West and have given up growing maincrop potatoes due to blight - tried everything and they've still gone over. Now I just grow first and second earlies, get them in around Paddy's Day and they're up and out before blight season sets in for real.

For those with slug problems, Kestrel (second early) is supposed to be resistant to slugs (never tried it so dunno about the taste)

Wireworm - tough one, only surefire way is spraying and spraying and that's not always guaranteed... very common on land that was grass before.

what happen

Chicken Run wrote: »

Grew Sarpo Mira once but it's a texture thing rather than a taste, they make rubbish mash... just go all sticky like wallpaper paste.

Ciaranr - I've used Nemaslug before - it's very expensive so I used it for strawberries and it seemed to keep the slugs at bay, but then again it was dry during the fruiting season anyway so there'd naturally have been less slugs.

I live in the wet West and have given up growing maincrop potatoes due to blight - tried everything and they've still gone over. Now I just grow first and second earlies, get them in around Paddy's Day and they're up and out before blight season sets in for real.

For those with slug problems, Kestrel (second early) is supposed to be resistant to slugs (never tried it so dunno about the taste)

Wireworm - tough one, only surefire way is spraying and spraying and that's not always guaranteed... very common on land that was grass before.

i grew the kestrels they are a great big long spud and are a pied spud between a pink and a white and taste good too.

Bizzum

keep going wrote: »

those roosters are the worst spud ever came out the ground,i know they grow ant where, big spuds and good to store but they taste like s**t.

Maybe you need to have a chat with the chef?

Corsendonk

haybob wrote: »

Lads any advice on Golden wonders, someone gave me a stone of seed and I have never planted them before, I'm short on ground so I'm thinking of sowing them in ridges and not drills ??????

Well speaking to some experts in the past Golden Wonder seems to trive on poor tired ground, the flavour and crop yield improves.