Potatoes in containers?

[Clara]

Has anyone ever done this?

What kind of yield did you get? We are thinking of doing it and are not sure how many bins to prepare - space is not an issue, but being overrun with spuds or not having enough would be!!!

[Green Rosie]

At the school I worked at we did them in bin bags and the classes that watered them well got quite respectable yields. I found the same at home in pots - one spud per large pot and LOTS of water. Is lots of watering going to be a problem?

[old tree man]

growing tatties in bins is easy we started off by putting in a layer of soil then your tubers another layer of soil then as they push their shoots through do as you would normally instead of earthing up you just add more soil until the bin is full, we still do this today but you have to be watchfull of them drying out they must be kept watered, our yield was very good quite a few pounds per tub/ bin depending on size
this is great for first earlies as well as maincrop, if space is not a problem do as many as you can cope with, you can never have enough tatties
Good luck

Russ

[Clara]

At the school I worked at we did them in bin bags and the classes that watered them well got quite respectable yields. I found the same at home in pots - one spud per large pot and LOTS of water. Is lots of watering going to be a problem?

Water is not a problem here, it´s everywhere!

I was hoping to get a more quantifiable response - perhaps I should have asked whether you get a bin FULL of potatoes or half full or what?

As we have to carry everything here it would be good to grow enough spuds to never have to buy them.

[maggienetball]

It depends what variety, slug intensity and how much watering they get. I grow mine in black dustbins with holes in the bottom. This year I got about half of the container (roughly) back in spuds. But one container kept getting slug/snail attacked and all I got was a couple of kilos.

I always do a bin 1st week of September ready for Christmas and I always get a good supply from that. I always put 4 tubers in per bin.

Try a heavy cropping variety.

It's definitely less back breaking that planting them in the ground.

If you're trying to manage your water supply, this method is a hige drain on the resources.

Good luck.

[Mainer in Exile]

I've been thinking of trying this as well, using old tires as the container. The article I read suggested starting with one tire, then adding more as the plant grows. This is supposed to create layers of potatoes to be harvested by simply removing the tires.

Article here, if anyone is interested:

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/sanders98.html

[theabsinthefairy]

The tyre thing works REALLY well.

We grew main crop potatoes, and also a small - closer to the front door crop of tatties in tyres, started with tubers in tyres 3 deep, and then added tyres untill they were 8 deep - which is about as high as I could reach comfortably, add a tyre as the plant sprouts, and then you do get a tyre full of tatties as you go down the layers - and in this wet year just gone, much reduced risk of blight and much easier to watch out and pick off the dreaded beetle!

It also looked really nice, around our outdoor dining area, with a patch of herbs, a few flowers, some tall fennel and sweetcorn, and then a tyre wall - wish I had thought to take some photos - hard to describe but it really worked. Doing it again this year.

We grew desiree reds and harvested them mid sized, and just left the ground crop to grow full sized for winter stocks.

Monika

[Clara]

Thanks for that, gives me a good idea of yield.

Unfortunately I can´t do the tyre thing, cos I´m not going to carry the tyres here - I figured a well draining barrel or bin would work just as well (though lack the convenience of the tyre "layers").

[Cheezy]

I've done them for a few years, there not as good as in the ground, cos I forget to water them! So my yields are poor. A couple of kilo's per container at best.
The thing is they put on so much top growth they completely block out the rain falling in to the container. Even last year my pots were too dry. But because they're not in the soil they don't benefit from rain. You have to remember to water and lots of it too.

[Mydreamlife]

We planted them in a three foot across pot with 3 tubers in last year. It is about 2 1/2 foot high. It was about 3/4 full. However I unfortunately have no idea which variety they were as my children chose a miss match from the baskets at the garden center and we just waited and watched! They thought it was great! Like a lucky dip! they just plunged their little hands in and pulled taitoes out!! Have just planted this years, but have recorded the variety this time!
Happy growing just remember LOTS of water.
Claire

[ina]

I figured a well draining barrel or bin would work just as well (though lack the convenience of the tyre "layers").

Probably a bit late: I used some feed bags; folded them halfway down at first, and then pulled them up a bit every time I added more compost. That's kind of the "tyre effect"!

[baldowrie]

the buckets I picked up from you last year worked well too

[Mydreamlife]

Just an idea my OH just had how about a big bag of compost, use some on your garden then grow your tatties in the bag topped up later?! Cheeper than a bin and you garden benifits as well.