One potato, two potato .....
I've just finished digging this year's crop of potatoes. The yield
wasn't great and I put that down to the lack of rain here in Normandy. I had too many seeds for my main bed and so I planted three rows on a patch that I've kept fallow for this year and it's been covered with black plastic since last autumn. The first two rows produced much the same size and number of potatoes as on my main bed, but the third row which was hard up against the black plastic (I turned back only enough plastic to plant these three rows) produced much larger potatoes and more of them. Does anyone have any idea why this should have happened? Was it the warmth of the plastic which made this last row do better? Was it, perhaps, that the plastic kept the moisture in even though the ground was covered since last autumn. It wouldn't have been due to the lack of weeds as there were very few anywhere because of the drought. Has anyone here tried growing potatoes under black plastic? If so, did you find your yield better than usual? David -- David Rance writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France |
One potato, two potato .....
On 16/08/2010 20:38, David Rance wrote:
I've just finished digging this year's crop of potatoes. The yield wasn't great and I put that down to the lack of rain here in Normandy. I had too many seeds for my main bed and so I planted three rows on a patch that I've kept fallow for this year and it's been covered with black plastic since last autumn. The first two rows produced much the same size and number of potatoes as on my main bed, but the third row which was hard up against the black plastic (I turned back only enough plastic to plant these three rows) produced much larger potatoes and more of them. Does anyone have any idea why this should have happened? Was it the warmth of the plastic which made this last row do better? Was it, perhaps, that the plastic kept the moisture in even though the ground was covered since last autumn. It wouldn't have been due to the lack of weeds as there were very few anywhere because of the drought. Has anyone here tried growing potatoes under black plastic? If so, did you find your yield better than usual? David I just grew mine as normal in furrows, earthed up one time only. I grew the variety "Daisy" this year as purchased from Point Verte. They have proved to be highly productive. The best yield I've ever had. Many of the potatoes have been huge - one being enough to make chips for four people! I think the yield would have been poor had I not been watering them though. Not a lot of water though. I've been experimenting this year using pee as a liquid fertiliser and mixing it around 1 part pee to 20 parts rain-butt water. Each row of potatoes had a watering/feed once a week approximately of a single 10 litre watering can full per around 20 plants. The results have been astonishing. The same water/pee mix has also worked wonders on the courgettes, mangetout and runner beans. Overwhelmed with produce! So the answer is simple - don't buy expensive fertiliser - buy wine instead and make your own :-) -- David in Normandy. To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the subject line, or it will be automatically deleted by a filter and not reach my inbox. |
One potato, two potato .....
On Mon, 16 Aug 2010, David in Normandy wrote:
Has anyone here tried growing potatoes under black plastic? If so, did you find your yield better than usual? I think the yield would have been poor had I not been watering them though. Not a lot of water though. I've been experimenting this year using pee as a liquid fertiliser and mixing it around 1 part pee to 20 parts rain-butt water. Each row of potatoes had a watering/feed once a week approximately of a single 10 litre watering can full per around 20 plants. The results have been astonishing. The same water/pee mix has also worked wonders on the courgettes, mangetout and runner beans. Overwhelmed with produce! Hmm well, when I got here a fortnight ago I tried doing the same thing. I can't say that I've noticed any great improvement. The mangetout peas are not flourishing at all well and there are no flowers on them (last year they were over and done with before I could get back!). The french beans are growing very well with plenty of flowers but the beans are growing but very slowly. Runner beans have started cropping but the plants do look a bit straggly. So the answer is simple - don't buy expensive fertiliser - buy wine instead and make your own :-) Ah, that's where I went wrong! I drank cider! But I did dilute the pee pretty well! David -- David Rance writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France |
One potato, two potato .....
On 16/08/2010 22:14, David Rance wrote:
On Mon, 16 Aug 2010, David in Normandy wrote: Has anyone here tried growing potatoes under black plastic? If so, did you find your yield better than usual? I think the yield would have been poor had I not been watering them though. Not a lot of water though. I've been experimenting this year using pee as a liquid fertiliser and mixing it around 1 part pee to 20 parts rain-butt water. Each row of potatoes had a watering/feed once a week approximately of a single 10 litre watering can full per around 20 plants. The results have been astonishing. The same water/pee mix has also worked wonders on the courgettes, mangetout and runner beans. Overwhelmed with produce! Hmm well, when I got here a fortnight ago I tried doing the same thing. I can't say that I've noticed any great improvement. The mangetout peas are not flourishing at all well and there are no flowers on them (last year they were over and done with before I could get back!). The french beans are growing very well with plenty of flowers but the beans are growing but very slowly. Runner beans have started cropping but the plants do look a bit straggly. So the answer is simple - don't buy expensive fertiliser - buy wine instead and make your own :-) Ah, that's where I went wrong! I drank cider! But I did dilute the pee pretty well! David Mine have been having the watering/feed for several months now. Maybe it's the duration and continuity without break that's important? My first row of mangetout finished around a month ago, the new row isn't doing too bad, not as good as the first did, but it is a different variety anyway which may account for it. The freezer is already full of runner beans and chopped courgettes now. No freezer space left! The brassicas have done very badly this year though. They haven't been receiving the benefit of the watering/feed and have had to make due with the very occasional shower of rain. All the broccoli has bolted without forming proper heads. The cauliflowers are tiny as are the cabbages. The little navet turnips have done well, but they had water/feed too. And this year no infestation of little grub holes which normally plagues them. The lawns are overrun with mice of some sort. My French neighbour called them "mulot" some sort of field mouse. There are literally hundreds of holes everywhere. A real plague. They've eaten most of the daffodil and tulip bulbs and the lucifers have largely been wiped out too - just pull a sad looking stem and it comes straight out of the ground, no roots. They've infiltrated the veg plot now and seem to be eating the potatoes so I'd better get the rest lifted soon. -- David in Normandy. To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the subject line, or it will be automatically deleted by a filter and not reach my inbox. |
One potato, two potato .....
On Mon, 16 Aug 2010, David in Normandy wrote:
Has anyone here tried growing potatoes under black plastic? If so, did you find your yield better than usual? I think the yield would have been poor had I not been watering them though. Not a lot of water though. I've been experimenting this year using pee as a liquid fertiliser and mixing it around 1 part pee to 20 parts rain-butt water. Each row of potatoes had a watering/feed once a week approximately of a single 10 litre watering can full per around 20 plants. The results have been astonishing. The same water/pee mix has also worked wonders on the courgettes, mangetout and runner beans. Overwhelmed with produce! So the answer is simple - don't buy expensive fertiliser - buy wine instead and make your own :-) Ah, that's where I went wrong! I drank cider! Mine have been having the watering/feed for several months now. Maybe it's the duration and continuity without break that's important? Yes, I think you're right. I think I'm expecting a quick fix! The lawns are overrun with mice of some sort. My French neighbour called them "mulot" some sort of field mouse. There are literally hundreds of holes everywhere. A real plague. Those are voles. We've got them, too. Fortunately we've brought the cats over this time and they are doing their best to catch them. We had a plague of them about fifteen years ago as well and they ate the roots of our fruit trees. Some trees didn't survive. On that occasion I tried drowning them out by pumping water out of the well and straight into one of their holes. Didn't work! They've eaten most of the daffodil and tulip bulbs and the lucifers have largely been wiped out too - just pull a sad looking stem and it comes straight out of the ground, no roots. They've infiltrated the veg plot now and seem to be eating the potatoes so I'd better get the rest lifted soon. Some of my potatoes were affected that way which is why I decided to lift them as soon as possible. David -- David Rance writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France |
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