I am fed up with my main crop (and second earlies come to think of it) spuds
getting riddled with worm holes. What varieties have people grown that seem
more slug resistant? My soil is sandy clay loam.

Ed

On Wed, 13 Nov 2002 10:04:54 GMT, "Edmund Greening"
wrote:

I am fed up with my main crop (and second earlies come to think of it) spuds
getting riddled with worm holes. What varieties have people grown that seem
more slug resistant? My soil is sandy clay loam.


For what it's worth, Foremost aren't! ( Heavy clay soil ).

I found that bunging in LOTS of organic matter seems to help... maybe
it provides the slugs with tastier pickings?

Regards,


--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

"Edmund Greening" wrote in message
...
I am fed up with my main crop (and second earlies come to think of it)
spuds
getting riddled with worm holes. What varieties have people grown that
seem
more slug resistant? My soil is sandy clay loam.

Kestrel is the best in terms of slug resistance that I've tried.
Cheers, Diane

"Edmund wrote in message
I am fed up with my main crop (and second earlies come to think of it)
spuds
getting riddled with worm holes. What varieties have people grown that
seem
more slug resistant? My soil is sandy clay loam.

Our soil is clay/silty loam and our whole maincrop was next to useless due
to slug damage this year, it's getting worse each year I'm sure.

However our Second Earlies "Kestral" which are said to be slug resistant
were almost untouched as they are every year. They do store OK too. Nice
spud.
Another one bred from Kestral is "Osprey" which may be worth a try if you
can't get the original.

There are a couple of new Maincrop varieties said to be slug resistant too
but I've lost the names at the moment, take a look in the catalogues.
We tried "Stemster" which is said to be slug resistant but suffered bad slug
damage, although they grew well in our clay.


--
Bob
http://www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an allotment site
in Runnymede, fighting for its existence against bureaucracy.

Well, in my opinion one variety is pretty much as good as another. I've grown
dozens, 3 or 4 varieties each year. One year they'll get slug damage, the next
they get blighted. Then they'll all do brilliantly. I find the varieties that
grow best are from the tubers I overlook & leave in the ground. These always
seem to produce big crops with no disease.
My current theory is that I should leave a lot more space between plants, so
I'll be doing that this year. I've also had good results using organic seed,
but maybe this was just luck. Who is the God of potatoes anyway. Is he Mexican?


Blob