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i've been told by a friend of myums that when the potatoes have flowered i should cut them right down to the ground and leave them for 2 weeks.
does this sound right?
my guess is that it's meant to send all the enrgy to the tubers rather than the leaves, but don't want to risk it my first time! :D

we dont do this.

if you think about it, the energy the plant is getting is coming from the leaves.. so cut the leaves.. everything stops. if you have signs of blight, then this would be a good idea, but otherwise I'd dig one plant to see how the spuds are doing.. if they are of a decent size.. start harvesting and eating.. if not.. wait a bit longer and see how they get on. besides, its easier to lift the spuds if you have hold of the leaves. this is what we do.

I think the flowering stage comes after the plant has invested the optimum amount of energy in the tubers. The flowers being the next reproductive stage where they produce the tomato like fruit. It's always meant the tubers were ready for lifting to me. On commercial, conventional farms they kill of the shaws by spraying prior to harvest which simply prevents harvesting machinery getting jammed. No need to kill of the shaws at home though.

excellent, thanks very much - i will let this particular piece of advice float on by then! (and better tell my mum not to do it either! )

pops wrote:i've been told by a friend of myums that when the potatoes have flowered i should cut them right down to the ground and leave them for 2 weeks.
does this sound right?
my guess is that it's meant to send all the enrgy to the tubers rather than the leaves, but don't want to risk it my first time! :D

They might be getting mixed up with blight control - If after they have flowered the leaves start showing signs of blight attack it is best to REMOVE AND BURN OR BIN all affected haulms. Leaving them for 2 weeks before digging means the blight spores won't then get onto the potatoes which would mean they would not store, but you would need to cover the ground if the weather is rainy, or the blight spore will wash through to to potatoes.

Someone's got something mixed up, I think.

For earlies, flowering indicates that the potatoes can be lifted (but you can also leave them for a week or two).

For others, because of the increased risk of blight, it's best to cut down the haulms a week or two before YOU have decided when you're going to lift them.

And having said that, not all potato varieties flower.

Mike

Edit: My King Edwards are flowering right now. There's not a chance of them being of any size, as they've only been in for 6 weeks. The haulm is staying right where it is, thank you very much

Quite so, what everybody else said .... plus, some people (including me this year as a trial), some people remove the flowers with the idea that the plant should devote all it's energy into producing tubers and not seed.
It's supposed to make for bigger tubers and more of them, sounds logical but not necessarily true.

righto, perhaps will try taking the flowers off the end plants just to see if there is a difference...

thanks for all the replies :)

found this on the bbc site...

"Two weeks before you lift the crop, cut the growth off at ground level. This should give the skins of the potatoes sufficient time to toughen up, making them far less prone to damage from lifting and easier to store."

might have to experiment with another plant or two!

This is mainly for commercial growers and those who are impatient.
First earlies and second earlies you dig one root as and when you need them and leave the rest in the ground.
For maincrop potatoes you normally wait until the haulm has naturally died down, that way the tubers are totally matured. Then dig them all up on a fine October/November day before the first hard frost.

The only exception to this is if you see signs of blight, then cutting the foliage and carefully removing it will help prevent tuber blight.

okie doke, theyve been in about 12 weeks (mostly maris piper, some sainsburys basics that went over in my veg basket...) so if i leave them at least another 4 weeks and then i'll see how they're doing.

cheers everybody, i won't be a new girl for much longer will i?!