I've seen many, many channels cover potatoes. This channel is the BEST channel on TH-cam for showing how to grow potatoes. It's really top notch content and ideas.
@@simplifygardening I’ve chitted potatoes for 3 months but the weather down here in Melbourne has been rain, rain, rain. I want to plant them, really worried that with all this wet weather they’re going to just rot.
Just remember Coco Coir is an inert medium and will also need ph adjusted so when you mix it with your normal compost etc you will need to feed more often.
I use all of my yearly dried banana leaves, after going through my leaf mulcher, then I add sulfur and a few other supplements to my banana leaf, shredded straw, leaf mulch, and compost. It works great.
Gotta say my results are very similar Tony. Peat-based compost buckets far outweighed the yield from peat-free ones. But what I did find is that the more expensive peat-free composts (ones based on a single media like wood fibre) were much better than the ones with a high proportion of green waste or municipal waste! The Govt peat ban consultation results are out and not surprisingly there will be no change to the 2024 ban for domestic use and 2028 for commercial. As expected, most of the "pro peat ban groups" are whooping and raving over the result but there is one sobering letter from the NFU. It reads (edited): "We have provided hard data and practical solutions to Defra from across our industry. However, it is disappointing that today’s decision does not appear to be based on the evidence available. Due to the current lack of quality alternative materials to peat, an immediate ban on peat could impact significantly on the availability of growing media. Defra’s announcement does not support progress and we repeat our ask to government that it put its energies into addressing the barriers to alternatives rather than unnecessarily legislating. .... "
It's insane really as managed peat harvesting coupled with restoration of drained peatlands for future use would actually INCREASE the amount of carbon sequestration they achieve. They're doing this in the US with significant results.
I am presently growing potatoes in my basement under LED grow lights in 7 gallon bags. I’m in northeastern Massachusetts here in the USA. I did this last year and had a harvest in April while everyone else were planting their Spring crop.
Also - if it makes you feel at all better, we followed your techniques for growing out potatoes this year and it was an amazing harvest. If you can figure out how to have a medium that works, or potatoes that work in the medium you have, your techniques are solid. We are so grateful for your advice and videos! Cheers, Colleen (and Jason)
Thanks both. Yeah I know the methods work I've had great results for 15 straight years, only real thing different was the compost and It was a test I was prepared for this result, but wanted to show the crappy compost that's being used, next year back to my own stuff and see the difference
Just a simple observation Tony, I spotted you tie the plant labels to the handles - I've had problems with cats/squirrels/rats digging in my buckets and pulling the labels out - It's an easy change so I'll defo implement that for next season - nice1
I'm excited to know that it wasn't just me! This was a terrible season for everything with that hot dry June. My Canela Russets are fairly small but they sure do taste great! My Red Pontiacs are shaped very odd and many are rotten.
Loved this vid, I accidentally grew potatoes and tomatoes in my compost this year. I put them in separate pots and the best tomatoes harvest ever and so many varieties. Thank you again, keep up these vlogs.
This is my second question, the first question is about your ratio in compost & looking forward to your answer… This question is in reference to what you do with the soil of the rotten potatoes. Do you toss the whole lot in a compost pile? If not do you have the soil hauled off. I guess two-part question is what do you not put in your compost pile? Thanks.
The results are undeniable Tony. It's an amazing lack of foresight surrounding the situation over there. Hope you, your partners and community can work towards a solution. Thanks for sharing your findings!! Cheers J&C
Hi Tony I have been growing potatoes for 3 years now in pots after watching your channel. My harvest was the worst ever. I had massive top growth like you most of my compost was peat free as well. 😢 Great to see you back as well.
This season I averaged 2 kg per plant, including about 8 selenium type plants. One single plant of the other variety had zero potatoes, but the ones next to it had more than average. I was the only one in my area to have so many potatoes. I planted mine as soon as the risk of frost was over, and managed to harvest them before the extreme drought destroyed everyone else's crops.
Well I have just started growing potatoes. I watched everyone of your videos and searched the best way and what to do yours is the best video to watched . And I am really buzzing at how mine have growing . There is some in potato bags also got some in large pots . Looking forward for my harvest. Will let you know more 😊
The more reveals we all do the more we can learn from each other. This Chanel has been absolute gold for me, if it was just potato reveals it would be enough for me pal. I have already had some blight early in the year and will be checking out the rest soon enough. You just dont know what they will show up like.
Probably never. I contacted the manufacturer to see if they will ever ship to Slovenia (Europe), the answer was short, they have no such intention. I did my own thing and bought 60 litre buckets for mixing mortar from a builder's shop. Drilled the holes, it works wonderfully. They are cheap and they are practically indestructible. They are labelled as not harmful to health.
This was the first year I grew potatoes in containers. I had a really bad harvest, but I don't blame the buckets since the rest of my garden was equally bad. It was way too dry in New York this year.
In my containers I MIX dead leaves collected the year before and kept in a compost pile, a bit of my kitchen waste compost bin which is full of worms and small fauna and it works a treat. but this year not a massive harvest compared to last year....
Great video Tony - I don’t mind the length. I love potatoes and I enjoy watching them being harvested. Mine did just ok this year, not great either. I attribute it to my drip system malfunctioning for a bit, not fertilizing enough, and like you super hot temps. I got a decent harvest but the spuds were smaller than in other years. I’m in Chicago USA. I too will be making some changes for next year. Thanks for all your knowledge, I really enjoy your channel.
I just put in the Dutch creams here. I normally grow a spring crop and a second summer one which I harvest in early autumn but it'll be interesting to see how they go as its just been rain, rain rain and more rain here and this year's summer is forecast to be wet warm and humid. We don't normally get high humidity here in Tasmania at least not regularly so we'll have to just wait and see how the spuds and other summer crops do. The garlic and onions have held up well despite the constant rain though.
I would be very happy with that harvest. That tells you how bad my harvest was lol I have taken advantage of your code on the pots I have ordered 30 pots for next year. Never realised whats involved with potatoes early's mid late all the different variety's when to plant them all how much to water all a bit overwhelming. I have time to go through all your videos before next year, I think I will make a play list on all your potato videos so I can reference then easily. PS And what to grow them in ARGH! I 'm getting a head ache LOL
I have it all covered on potatoes in 3 playlists so watch them, this year was a trial on peat free and when I planted I made predictions on what I might expect, then about 8 weeks before this video I made a prediction on the results based on what I saw. tbh this was pretty much what I expected based on the growing medium
I tried feed bags this year with my own compost, and store potatoes that had sprouted. Mixed results but it was an experiment. I didn't keep them watered as I should have, its just been a busy summer for me. I think I will do it again next year as I have tons of animal feed bags and plenty of compost.
Double up the bags to insulate the soil to stop them from drying out too quickly. You can also fill the outer bag with leaf litter to help wick water back into the bags, and creating a buffer between bags. 👍 Edit: I also found that mixing perlite into the compost helps retain moisture a lot better. 🤙
In Scotland, we never had any hot weather and plenty of rain but I am getting very few potatoes here a lot of green but that was all. So I was thinking it is peat-free compost.
My second early potatoes in home made compost did really well, where my main crop potatoes in a 'budget' peat free compost (when the bags were open there was a pretty strong compost smell) put on a huge amount to top growth but yielded wasn't great. (the main crop were in the newer style pots, the others were in something completely different.) I definitely didn't water them enough and the hot weather has definitely had an impact in my opinion.
Hi Tony I'm dreading it when peat free compost is compulsory. I've made nettle tea and comfry tea to fertilise my peat free compost buckets for potatoes as a trial batch this coming year and growing some straight in to the soil as a comparison.
It's great to see you again. I was beginning to think you were I'll again or just leaving utube. I love your vids on gardening. It brings me hope..my land was stripped by loggers and it's soil is horrible so I am having to bring in tons of soil from down the mtn. I am in TN USA. Please stay well and continue growing 🙂
Tony, I commented on your "WHY I Think I Will Have Bad Potato Yields This Year!", experiencing exactly the same problems, mental foliage over 1.5 metres high, never seen bushes like that, not to mention watering problems in this year's heat, on top of that my first attempt at growing potatoes at all, and in buckets. But the harvest was a surprise. I grew the Desiree variety and the final weight after 10 buckets was 40 kg, or 88 lb. A very even yield over all 10 buckets, averaging 4 kg per bucket, almost 9 lb. Not a single rotten one. For most this will probably be nothing special, but when I think of all the problems and the worry that there will be absolutely nothing, I am overjoyed.
So glad that you had such a great result. maybe the peat free in your area was of a better quality. for ref what brand was it? And congrats on a great harvest
I grew 7 varieties this year. 6 were new seed potatoes. All the seed potatoes grown were tiny. I've managed to save enough for seeds for next year. I planted a 3kg organic potatoes that were reduced to clear at the supermarket. For my kids to grow. They got over 14 kg of decent useable organic potatoes back? Using no fertilizer? Then I seen some of the potato farmers on TV having a terrible harvest this year.
Comparing to what you all have said about your lack of crops this year.....I can't really complain. But without any shame, I have used peat based composts with all my crops with addition of home made stuff. I've seen what is in those peat free bags and I WILL NOT buy a single bag until I hear through grape vine that the quality in them is improving. I'm old-fashioned gardener and like to mix my own compost to suit each crop. Thank you for trialling though and confirming my suspicions. OH...and thank you for the discount code for the buckets....done!
Same up here in Alaska. Very poor potato harvest this year. We have barely 90 days of decent growing weather and this year no rain for the first 2 months of that. My main crop potatoes look like new early potatoes. Here's to next year. 😊
i have had the same problems with mine , 2 tonnes of compost delivered for tubs, potatoes had huge tall stems and leaves small potatoes, some rotted etc ...the same as yours!!! ...must be the compost as you said
even without the information, just watching you empty buckets of spuds is so enjoyable lol, i love watching the surprise of turning out the bucket to see whats hidden inside
Dreading having to give up peat. Been trying to make more of my own compost, added a second bin bit on the small side though. Been doing leaf mould as well
When harvesting I pull back my six inch deep wood chips to soil level, pop the small potatoes back into trench as I go, everything is done in one day. I harvest when I see the plants dying or I’m running short for eating. I live in a 26 inch rainfall and our summer heat can exceed 100 several times, but only water about four times during summer and never fertilise. I would honestly recommend wood-chips above everything else
Looks like the heavy rain and soil without peat, didn't drain as well. Need some perlite and cocoa coir if you can't get peat. Equal parts compost, cocoa coir and perlite.
The Rudolf I grew did well but they have brown marks in the middles which will most likely rot. Maybe the hot weather didn’t help, check your middles before storing
Been trying to talk my hubby into trying the same buckets as you since you did video on the size 30. So he's bought the 10 on offer but they were the one's with less holes in, (which isn't a problem). I expected them to be bigger so I suppose it must be the camera which made them look larger. Still looking forward to trying them next yr. All the best and thanks for the video.
Great vid, I had about 4 buckets with around 4/5 rotten potatoes in. They were harvested after the heat. I got the 18kg out of the ground fromm 11 seeds
1:26 exactly the same thing happened to me. Very small and only so few in each bucket. I did it all right and was hoping for something nice to happen and I end up buying potatoes on local market.
Weather killed our garden this year. It started hitting 90F in April and we're still getting 90F days in October. Coupled that with the fact we're at more than 14" deficit for rainfall and we just didn't have a chance. Out of 18 tomato plants I harvested about 3 or 4 dozen tomatoes and most of those were cherry variety. I didn't even bother with a fall garden as we're forecast for an even drier winter. Putting up lots of prayers that next year will be more normal.
Recently found your channel and I greatly appreciate the information you are providing. Can you address what you are doing with the potato bucket compost year to year. Can it be re-used for potatoes? What amendments would you recommend if re-using? Thanks
Thanks for your posts Tony, I always look forward to them and find them really informative. Needless to say, my potatoe harvest was very poor this year, so I've taken you up on the code for the pots and have just placed an order 😀
hi tony,just got to say i love watching your potato videos and was wondering if you will be trying for the record again ?if yes would it be possible for you to show how you bare root them to remove excess sprouts before repotting into the larger pots,looking forward to your future potato videos
Well done Tony, yeah the first ones (Rudolph) you brought weren’t productive at all, perhaps try to keep a few for seed and trial a few pots next time to see if there’s any improvement and will let you know if it’s weather, soil or seed quality or even undesirable variety. Liked the Condor and the Charlotte had a reasonable harvest, size in Condor but volume of the Charlotte.
How strange, I used peat free compost and had amazing results, but your trial did seem to show the peat free was alot worse, shame when you've invested all that time , but also very interesting how your self saved seed did better aswell , thank you for the bucket code fantastic saving I've purchased them for next year as I plan to grow masses of potato's two new variety I tried this year that did so well , so I shall be growing 10 buckets of each and then 10 buckets of salad potatoes , I'm hooked on growing potatoes
They are such good things to grow, its my favourite veg to grow because of the harvest, turning out the container and seeing those little jewels is so rewarding
We generate about a ton of our own compost annually here in our medium sized garden by using our own kitchen scraps and garden waste in two 300 litre compost bins. We are 'no dig' in our small veg patch which is very productive and also grow spuds and other veg in containers using the same principle but have noticed a definite reduction in crops from shop bought compost this year. We don't need to buy much compost thankfully but what we have bought and used has been generally poor, our neighbours say theb# same. We are aiming to produce more of our own compost now to negate the need of buying it in and are taking garden waste from neighbours to facilitate this.
Just wanted to say🤔?? It's absolutely fantastic to have you back 👍. Some great Potatoes 🥔 there. Just need to get this Peat free Compost sorted out, I suppose it will take Time. Anyway take care 🙏and hope to see you again soon 🤞
Morning Tony, catching up with your videos. I know this was 12 months ago, can you tell me how many seed potatoes you put in each pot, Rudolph and Charlotte. I'm trying Foremost this year as an early.
I never use peat based compost and average yields are 1.9kg per 30lt bucket with 2 seed potatoes. I think cheap green waste compost isn't great, so I use Coconut compost and horse manure mix
Once again I'm wishing they'd ship to the US :( It seems to me that the biggest factor was the peat-free compost. Weather and the accompanying watering difficulties is probably the second. I don't think the new seed is as big of a factor as you feel it is. I'm both sorry you have had such a bad year and am glad. I'm sorry because its always such a hardship to be disappointed by a loved crop. But I'm glad because by overcoming the issues you will help others and also because it keeps you humble. :) I am afraid you have too many irons in the fire my friend. But I am so glad success is with you. Couldn't happen to a nicer man!
@@simplifygardening So you did :) I wonder what is it specifically about the peat free compost that makes it so detrimental to the potatoes. You kept saying it was rich...Did it give a breakdown of nutrients? Ours don't here in the US.
Well like many others Tony I followed your advice in my first year. I bought 30 buckets from Oakland and we grew Swift, Aaron pilot, Kestrel, Cara and Sarpo mira. All fantastic my only regret was not buying 60 buckets. Multi purpose compost, blood fish and bone and plenty water. Keeping my own cars and sarpo mira seed potatoes for next year. Tge others never lasted that long delicious. 👍
Lots of rain and heat rots potatoes quicker than anything !! There could be many reasons but you just have to do a.couple buckets different and see what method works the best !!
Its not been great weather but suds will grow in it. check out todays video on potatoes I think you will enjoy it. th-cam.com/video/L1rf1FXtI9s/w-d-xo.html
Interesting video. I have not done anything this year and I cannot remember why but now glad I didn't, but I will probably do some prep for Bucket Potatoes for next year. The compost in the buckets containing the blighted potatoes, what do you do with it. Discard or something else.
My first year using peat free in my growbags and exactly the same result, excellent top growth but at harvest, low yields, small potatoes and alot rotting before harvest
Exactly same results with me this year Tony.. sadly the peat free just couldn't sustain the potato seeds I planted and I had terrible crop yields this year..dry compost and a few potatoes. Some planted 4 seed and got 3 back!!! Terrible.
This year in my tubs I have used BQ compost.. I've not had a single courgette at all ,My rhubarb died, and no brassicas at all either. Don't get me wrong They all started but some mushroom/toadstool sprung up and once that occurred everything keeled over.
Plus this year I used my own made soil and seed potatoes from last year…had a ok harvest but that was my first bucket ..since then I’ve had some whoppers …never fed the buckets ..just water…plus in my mind all free and no cost to me and I’ll be repeating the same process but next year more buckets… I did trial 10 potatoes in each bucket.. to show does more seed potatoes produce more potatoes…first bucket I got 38.. so 28..extra.. not the biggest ..but all the seed potatoes I used were small ..the runts of the litter so to speak… next year I’ll be trialing different amounts in each bucket…all the same soil ..I did have comments saying why count the smaller ones ..but in my mind they all count and they’ll all be ate…most were sharpo varieties..
I've always had poor cropping from clay soil so I tried the potato pots and got mediocre results. This year I had access to a plot of land that had flooded and sank so the owner had some fill from a newly dug basement dumped over the soggy area. I wasn't sure about the soil, it was full of stones and junk but I planted spuds anyway. Gave them some 6-24-24 at planting time, then a sidedress right before the first hilling. Soil was scarce so we applied rotted straw for the 2nd hilling. Wow!! Did we harvest potatoes, hundreds of pounds from a one hundred foot row, and mostly big ones, too. Keep persevering and you'll eventually get lucky.
Your prediction was right Tony and I agree the peat free stuff has not done much for me either this year. Though I am a newbie and grow in containers only. What feed do you normally give your potatoes? A great video and have a lovely day.
Hello Tony. I grew my spuds in buckets this year, and I had a similarly bad result, I used a peat free alternativ as well. I will not use that again next year.
First bad year, it would be the first year I followed you, 🤣🤣. I got lots of potatoes, but they were all small, I've still learned a lot, so thanks anyway, won't be long before we start again Tony, onwards and upwards.
The Rudolf harvest in the peat based bucket probably made up 70% of the total you got for that variety. Coco coir is probably the closest thing you will get to peat moss. Combining it would your homemade compost should get you back where you were before the ban. BTW: My 10 G root pouches did nicely. Room for improvement but I like them better than the plastic tubs I used last year. (Chicago area)
I grew store-bought potatoes in 25 gallon fabric grow bags. 10 bags. Ended up with about 50 lbs of decent size potatoes. I only used my own home made compost mixed 50/50 with sand. Did I accidentally do something right or did I just get lucky?
Hi Tony, I think the rudolf didnt do well in two types of compost yet, your own condour & charlotte have growing quite well in both types of compost. very interesting result. thanks for sharing and take care 🙂
Can you recycle the soil to grow potatoes next year , i do that with my tomatoes by mixing in bone meal horse manure , and granular ferts . Only got limited growing space , seems a waste to get rid of the soil .
Your 'bad" season would be brilliant for me.. I sometimes get no potatos at all from my buckets. I get massive tops on the plants, flowers, etc. But when they die off and I tip it out there's nothing there. The best I've ever had was about 5 egg size potatos. I am in awe of your harvests 😲
Thought it was just me this year, it's not that I had a bad harvest, but my Roosters and Queens were plentiful but smaller than usual, on the upside Cara and Blue Danube did very well except for those planted in the peat free compost.
I grew several kinds of spuds this year because I’m new to all this. I use smaller, 21 l buckets (because the guy who sold them to me lied knowing I was a newbie, to be blunt) and I average two kilos a bucket. I just used potting mix, potato fertilizer, and a bit of blood, fish and bone over the season. I more or less ignored the buckets unless the weather got too too dry. Not disappointed at all. Sometimes we have bad years, right?
Hi I am sorry I am changing the subject to Roses but i am looking to get roses for my garden but I need to put food in the ground. You said about farmyard manure. Is that bags from the garden centre or from a lady with horses . What would be better for me please. Again sorry for changing the subject but I need help. P.S. keep doing the videos they are very helpful thank you.
I've seen many, many channels cover potatoes. This channel is the BEST channel on TH-cam for showing how to grow potatoes. It's really top notch content and ideas.
Thanks very much MJ K I am glad you are enjoying the videos
😢😊
Never apologize for a "potato reveal"---I could watch them all day! And I learn a great deal from you, so thank you!
Thanks Katie
Sorry for your poor harvest, but it's great to see that your potato expertise was spot on with your early-season prediction. Great video.
I knew it would be this way mate and even at planting I spoke about the compost quality and that this year would be one big test
@@simplifygardening I’ve chitted potatoes for 3 months but the weather down here in Melbourne has been rain, rain, rain. I want to plant them, really worried that with all this wet weather they’re going to just rot.
@@simplifygardening any idea what the ph of the peat free compost was?
the harvest was poor this year but it was rich in lessons thank you very much for sharing Tony 👍
It certainly was a learning opportunity
Just remember Coco Coir is an inert medium and will also need ph adjusted so when you mix it with your normal compost etc you will need to feed more often.
I use all of my yearly dried banana leaves, after going through my leaf mulcher, then I add sulfur and a few other supplements to my banana leaf, shredded straw, leaf mulch, and compost. It works great.
Gotta say my results are very similar Tony. Peat-based compost buckets far outweighed the yield from peat-free ones. But what I did find is that the more expensive peat-free composts (ones based on a single media like wood fibre) were much better than the ones with a high proportion of green waste or municipal waste!
The Govt peat ban consultation results are out and not surprisingly there will be no change to the 2024 ban for domestic use and 2028 for commercial. As expected, most of the "pro peat ban groups" are whooping and raving over the result but there is one sobering letter from the NFU.
It reads (edited):
"We have provided hard data and practical solutions to Defra from across our industry. However, it is disappointing that today’s decision does not appear to be based on the evidence available.
Due to the current lack of quality alternative materials to peat, an immediate ban on peat could impact significantly on the availability of growing media.
Defra’s announcement does not support progress and we repeat our ask to government that it put its energies into addressing the barriers to alternatives rather than unnecessarily legislating. .... "
Yeah Steve I have to agree and thats my findings too mate
It's insane really as managed peat harvesting coupled with restoration of drained peatlands for future use would actually INCREASE the amount of carbon sequestration they achieve.
They're doing this in the US with significant results.
Well said Steve. Do you think there could be a significant enough PH difference to affect growth in the peat free ?
Cheers
@@clivesconundrumgarden Not sure guys, although the peat does have a lower pH (6) than the peat-free at 7.5 - could well be!
@@DigwellGreenfingers I was thinking about when you asked us to use Alluminium Sulphate in your bucket :) . Interesting
I am presently growing potatoes in my basement under LED grow lights in 7 gallon bags. I’m in northeastern Massachusetts here in the USA. I did this last year and had a harvest in April while everyone else were planting their Spring crop.
How'd your potato harvest go ? I'm new to gardening and trying to start growing potatoes 🥔 and possibly Okinawan sweet potatoes too. 💯
Also - if it makes you feel at all better, we followed your techniques for growing out potatoes this year and it was an amazing harvest. If you can figure out how to have a medium that works, or potatoes that work in the medium you have, your techniques are solid. We are so grateful for your advice and videos! Cheers, Colleen (and Jason)
Thanks both. Yeah I know the methods work I've had great results for 15 straight years, only real thing different was the compost and It was a test I was prepared for this result, but wanted to show the crappy compost that's being used, next year back to my own stuff and see the difference
Just a simple observation Tony, I spotted you tie the plant labels to the handles - I've had problems with cats/squirrels/rats digging in my buckets and pulling the labels out - It's an easy change so I'll defo implement that for next season - nice1
I'm excited to know that it wasn't just me! This was a terrible season for everything with that hot dry June. My Canela Russets are fairly small but they sure do taste great! My Red Pontiacs are shaped very odd and many are rotten.
Been a weird year for sure Mark, there is always next year
Thank you for sharing. I may be one of the weird ones but I could watch the potato digs all day. I'm learning a lot....😊
They always seem to do well lol
Great video Tony, yes I tried 10 gallon grow bags this year. It was a terrible harvest 🤪. 8 grow bags and 3lbs of potatoes. Thanks again 👍👍
Nope didn't get bored once. in fact I could of watch you unload all potato pots. It was a surprise of how many spuds you get in each one. Great video.
Thanks Cher glad you enjoyed the video
Loved this vid, I accidentally grew potatoes and tomatoes in my compost this year. I put them in separate pots and the best tomatoes harvest ever and so many varieties.
Thank you again, keep up these vlogs.
Home made compost is so much better
Excellent lessons you taught us. Thanks for taking us along for the big reveal!
This is my second question, the first question is about your ratio in compost & looking forward to your answer… This question is in reference to what you do with the soil of the rotten potatoes. Do you toss the whole lot in a compost pile? If not do you have the soil hauled off. I guess two-part question is what do you not put in your compost pile?
Thanks.
The results are undeniable Tony. It's an amazing lack of foresight surrounding the situation over there. Hope you, your partners and community can work towards a solution.
Thanks for sharing your findings!!
Cheers J&C
Oh the solution is for everyone to follow my book and produce more compost mate
I bought mine on Amazon in 5kg compressed blocks which will expand to around 10o liters and I have purchased 250kg of it
Hi Tony I have been growing potatoes for 3 years now in pots after watching your channel. My harvest was the worst ever. I had massive top growth like you most of my compost was peat free as well. 😢 Great to see you back as well.
Hey Gary try and get my book and produce your own compost you will see huge improvements next year
This season I averaged 2 kg per plant, including about 8 selenium type plants. One single plant of the other variety had zero potatoes, but the ones next to it had more than average. I was the only one in my area to have so many potatoes. I planted mine as soon as the risk of frost was over, and managed to harvest them before the extreme drought destroyed everyone else's crops.
Been a very strange year this year and lots to learn from it
Well I have just started growing potatoes. I watched everyone of your videos and searched the best way and what to do yours is the best video to watched . And I am really buzzing at how mine have growing . There is some in potato bags also got some in large pots . Looking forward for my harvest. Will let you know more 😊
keep me informed Marion
The more reveals we all do the more we can learn from each other. This Chanel has been absolute gold for me, if it was just potato reveals it would be enough for me pal. I have already had some blight early in the year and will be checking out the rest soon enough. You just dont know what they will show up like.
even for a bad year your harvest was still decent, a testament to you!
For me its a dreadful year. normally id pull 3 quarters of a ton of potatoes out of this space Mothin
One day they will be able to ship the buckets to us, in the US! I'm happily waiting! 😀
Probably never. I contacted the manufacturer to see if they will ever ship to Slovenia (Europe), the answer was short, they have no such intention. I did my own thing and bought 60 litre buckets for mixing mortar from a builder's shop. Drilled the holes, it works wonderfully. They are cheap and they are practically indestructible. They are labelled as not harmful to health.
@@berghauss I made cages out of chicken wire. They are fantastic!
@@k.p.1139 Well, that's even cheaper! Nice!
Walmart totes etc buckets twice that size are $7. If you dont pull them by the sides too much when loaded they will last.
Im still trying to find a company to stock them,. I don't have the funds to open a warehouse there
I could watch you dig for potatoes all day. It is fun to do and fun to watch. thank you
Thanks appreciate it. check out todays video on potatoes I think you will enjoy it. th-cam.com/video/L1rf1FXtI9s/w-d-xo.html
Love your videos, from New Zealand)
This was the first year I grew potatoes in containers. I had a really bad harvest, but I don't blame the buckets since the rest of my garden was equally bad. It was way too dry in New York this year.
Yeah I know its not the buckets as i have 12 previous years with excellent results. I can rule that out
Thanks Tony
I can’t believe I’m saying this but that video was absolutely riveting. I’ve ordered my buckets from Oakland for next year.
Thanks pal, im glad you enjoyed it :)
In my containers I MIX dead leaves collected the year before and kept in a compost pile, a bit of my kitchen waste compost bin which is full of worms and small fauna and it works a treat. but this year not a massive harvest compared to last year....
I wait for this video every year. :)
Great video Tony - I don’t mind the length. I love potatoes and I enjoy watching them being harvested. Mine did just ok this year, not great either. I attribute it to my drip system malfunctioning for a bit, not fertilizing enough, and like you super hot temps. I got a decent harvest but the spuds were smaller than in other years. I’m in Chicago USA. I too will be making some changes for next year. Thanks for all your knowledge, I really enjoy your channel.
Its just another learning opportunity :) Thats the great thing about gardening its a great teacher
I just put in the Dutch creams here. I normally grow a spring crop and a second summer one which I harvest in early autumn but it'll be interesting to see how they go as its just been rain, rain rain and more rain here and this year's summer is forecast to be wet warm and humid. We don't normally get high humidity here in Tasmania at least not regularly so we'll have to just wait and see how the spuds and other summer crops do. The garlic and onions have held up well despite the constant rain though.
Its been a weird year for us all. My friend Mark in Ozz been flooded out its crazy whats going on
I would be very happy with that harvest. That tells you how bad my harvest was lol I have taken advantage of your code on the pots I have ordered 30 pots for next year. Never realised whats involved with potatoes early's mid late all the different variety's when to plant them all how much to water all a bit overwhelming. I have time to go through all your videos before next year, I think I will make a play list on all your potato videos so I can reference then easily. PS And what to grow them in ARGH! I 'm getting a head ache LOL
I have it all covered on potatoes in 3 playlists so watch them, this year was a trial on peat free and when I planted I made predictions on what I might expect, then about 8 weeks before this video I made a prediction on the results based on what I saw. tbh this was pretty much what I expected based on the growing medium
@@simplifygardening will you try peat free again but feed it up before planting?
I tried feed bags this year with my own compost, and store potatoes that had sprouted. Mixed results but it was an experiment. I didn't keep them watered as I should have, its just been a busy summer for me. I think I will do it again next year as I have tons of animal feed bags and plenty of compost.
I tried with feed bags too!
Feed bags tend to dry out much quicker too
@@simplifygardening I would agree with that as well. I did think of putting them on a shallow tray next year to see how that works.
Double up the bags to insulate the soil to stop them from drying out too quickly. You can also fill the outer bag with leaf litter to help wick water back into the bags, and creating a buffer between bags. 👍
Edit: I also found that mixing perlite into the compost helps retain moisture a lot better. 🤙
@@jimmyrustler8983 Great tips, thank you.
In Scotland, we never had any hot weather and plenty of rain but I am getting very few potatoes here a lot of green but that was all.
So I was thinking it is peat-free compost.
My second early potatoes in home made compost did really well, where my main crop potatoes in a 'budget' peat free compost (when the bags were open there was a pretty strong compost smell) put on a huge amount to top growth but yielded wasn't great. (the main crop were in the newer style pots, the others were in something completely different.) I definitely didn't water them enough and the hot weather has definitely had an impact in my opinion.
i think the soil didnt help as it shedded the water
@@simplifygardening yes i also observed that with the cheap peat free compost. The peat free compost i use day to day i dont have that problem with.
Hi Tony I'm dreading it when peat free compost is compulsory. I've made nettle tea and comfry tea to fertilise my peat free compost buckets for potatoes as a trial batch this coming year and growing some straight in to the soil as a comparison.
It's great to see you again. I was beginning to think you were I'll again or just leaving utube. I love your vids on gardening. It brings me hope..my land was stripped by loggers and it's soil is horrible so I am having to bring in tons of soil from down the mtn. I am in TN USA. Please stay well and continue growing 🙂
Hey `demi im still here more to come
I want those buckets so badly I’m having to use anything I can find
Tony, I commented on your "WHY I Think I Will Have Bad Potato Yields This Year!", experiencing exactly the same problems, mental foliage over 1.5 metres high, never seen bushes like that, not to mention watering problems in this year's heat, on top of that my first attempt at growing potatoes at all, and in buckets. But the harvest was a surprise. I grew the Desiree variety and the final weight after 10 buckets was 40 kg, or 88 lb. A very even yield over all 10 buckets, averaging 4 kg per bucket, almost 9 lb. Not a single rotten one. For most this will probably be nothing special, but when I think of all the problems and the worry that there will be absolutely nothing, I am overjoyed.
So glad that you had such a great result. maybe the peat free in your area was of a better quality. for ref what brand was it? And congrats on a great harvest
I grew 7 varieties this year. 6 were new seed potatoes. All the seed potatoes grown were tiny. I've managed to save enough for seeds for next year.
I planted a 3kg organic potatoes that were reduced to clear at the supermarket. For my kids to grow. They got over 14 kg of decent useable organic potatoes back? Using no fertilizer?
Then I seen some of the potato farmers on TV having a terrible harvest this year.
Im wondering if there were seed issues i have heard of none though
Thanks for the discount code and the great video.
Your welcome Dee
Comparing to what you all have said about your lack of crops this year.....I can't really complain. But without any shame, I have used peat based composts with all my crops with addition of home made stuff. I've seen what is in those peat free bags and I WILL NOT buy a single bag until I hear through grape vine that the quality in them is improving. I'm old-fashioned gardener and like to mix my own compost to suit each crop. Thank you for trialling though and confirming my suspicions. OH...and thank you for the discount code for the buckets....done!
I wish I had it available tbh
Same up here in Alaska. Very poor potato harvest this year. We have barely 90 days of decent growing weather and this year no rain for the first 2 months of that. My main crop potatoes look like new early potatoes.
Here's to next year. 😊
i have had the same problems with mine , 2 tonnes of compost delivered for tubs, potatoes had huge tall stems and leaves small potatoes, some rotted etc ...the same as yours!!! ...must be the compost as you said
Interesting thoughts about the peat-free compost. I've noticed the water just runs thru it as well whereas peat stayed wet for months
It has to play a part. not exactly scientific but just musings
@@simplifygardening It's the first year I've used it so we'll have to see. Perlite helps of course
even without the information, just watching you empty buckets of spuds is so enjoyable lol, i love watching the surprise of turning out the bucket to see whats hidden inside
Its why its my favorite veg to grow
It’s the most exciting part for me
Dreading having to give up peat. Been trying to make more of my own compost, added a second bin bit on the small side though. Been doing leaf mould as well
Its why I wrote the book Mark because i think folks are gonna have no choice but make their own
@@simplifygardening totally agree, looking at your results was truly shocking
When harvesting I pull back my six inch deep wood chips to soil level, pop the small potatoes back into trench as I go, everything is done in one day. I harvest when I see the plants dying or I’m running short for eating. I live in a 26 inch rainfall and our summer heat can exceed 100 several times, but only water about four times during summer and never fertilise. I would honestly recommend wood-chips above everything else
June they are good to plant in and its why i use tons of them around the garden I just like compost
Great stuff June
Looks like the heavy rain and soil without peat, didn't drain as well. Need some perlite and cocoa coir if you can't get peat. Equal parts compost, cocoa coir and perlite.
agreed
Yay, managed to buy some multi compost with peat from ebay, so will try again this year.
Wonderful!
The Rudolf I grew did well but they have brown marks in the middles which will most likely rot. Maybe the hot weather didn’t help, check your middles before storing
Great vid! Massive potatoes love it
Been trying to talk my hubby into trying the same buckets as you since you did video on the size 30. So he's bought the 10 on offer but they were the one's with less holes in, (which isn't a problem). I expected them to be bigger so I suppose it must be the camera which made them look larger. Still looking forward to trying them next yr. All the best and thanks for the video.
Great vid, I had about 4 buckets with around 4/5 rotten potatoes in. They were harvested after the heat. I got the 18kg out of the ground fromm 11 seeds
1:26 exactly the same thing happened to me. Very small and only so few in each bucket. I did it all right and was hoping for something nice to happen and I end up buying potatoes on local market.
Lisa there is always next year, but something didnt want to play ball this year
@@simplifygardening yes I am not giving up, I will try again Thanks for all your suggestions and advises
Welldone Brother !
your job is great ❤
Thank you so much 😀
Weather killed our garden this year. It started hitting 90F in April and we're still getting 90F days in October. Coupled that with the fact we're at more than 14" deficit for rainfall and we just didn't have a chance. Out of 18 tomato plants I harvested about 3 or 4 dozen tomatoes and most of those were cherry variety. I didn't even bother with a fall garden as we're forecast for an even drier winter. Putting up lots of prayers that next year will be more normal.
Been a very weird year to be honest
Hi Tony. Can't watch this now but will watch tomorrow.
Cheers mate
@@simplifygardening I'm looking forward to it. I have a bucket of Maris Piper to tip out. Will be interesting to see how they have done this year.
Recently found your channel and I greatly appreciate the information you are providing. Can you address what you are doing with the potato bucket compost year to year. Can it be re-used for potatoes? What amendments would you recommend if re-using? Thanks
From a new potato grower, having only tried to grow potatoes for 2 years now, your bad harvest is way better than my best. But I am getting better.
Next year is gonna be a great year
Tony where can I find the code for discount on the pots I want to try thanks
Wow those home seed potatoes were as big as sweet potatoes.
Thanks for your posts Tony, I always look forward to them and find them really informative. Needless to say, my potatoe harvest was very poor this year, so I've taken you up on the code for the pots and have just placed an order 😀
Thats great Pamela they will serve you well
hi tony,just got to say i love watching your potato videos and was wondering if you will be trying for the record again ?if yes would it be possible for you to show how you bare root them to remove excess sprouts before repotting into the larger pots,looking forward to your future potato videos
Hey Robert I have a video on it. th-cam.com/video/zZpYRu67mEY/w-d-xo.html
Well done Tony, yeah the first ones (Rudolph) you brought weren’t productive at all, perhaps try to keep a few for seed and trial a few pots next time to see if there’s any improvement and will let you know if it’s weather, soil or seed quality or even undesirable variety.
Liked the Condor and the Charlotte had a reasonable harvest, size in Condor but volume of the Charlotte.
How strange, I used peat free compost and had amazing results, but your trial did seem to show the peat free was alot worse, shame when you've invested all that time , but also very interesting how your self saved seed did better aswell , thank you for the bucket code fantastic saving I've purchased them for next year as I plan to grow masses of potato's two new variety I tried this year that did so well , so I shall be growing 10 buckets of each and then 10 buckets of salad potatoes , I'm hooked on growing potatoes
They are such good things to grow, its my favourite veg to grow because of the harvest, turning out the container and seeing those little jewels is so rewarding
We generate about a ton of our own compost annually here in our medium sized garden by using our own kitchen scraps and garden waste in two 300 litre compost bins. We are 'no dig' in our small veg patch which is very productive and also grow spuds and other veg in containers using the same principle but have noticed a definite reduction in crops from shop bought compost this year. We don't need to buy much compost thankfully but what we have bought and used has been generally poor, our neighbours say theb# same. We are aiming to produce more of our own compost now to negate the need of buying it in and are taking garden waste from neighbours to facilitate this.
I will not be buying a single bag next year
Just wanted to say🤔?? It's absolutely fantastic to have you back 👍. Some great Potatoes 🥔 there. Just need to get this Peat free Compost sorted out, I suppose it will take Time. Anyway take care 🙏and hope to see you again soon 🤞
It will take time and it is why its so important for people to make their own at home
Morning Tony, catching up with your videos. I know this was 12 months ago, can you tell me how many seed potatoes you put in each pot, Rudolph and Charlotte. I'm trying Foremost this year as an early.
Charlotte is a determinate or 2nd early so 4 seed on 2 levels. Rudolph is a main crop or indeterminate and these only need 2 seed
I never use peat based compost and average yields are 1.9kg per 30lt bucket with 2 seed potatoes. I think cheap green waste compost isn't great, so I use Coconut compost and horse manure mix
Yeah agree
Once again I'm wishing they'd ship to the US :( It seems to me that the biggest factor was the peat-free compost. Weather and the accompanying watering difficulties is probably the second. I don't think the new seed is as big of a factor as you feel it is. I'm both sorry you have had such a bad year and am glad. I'm sorry because its always such a hardship to be disappointed by a loved crop. But I'm glad because by overcoming the issues you will help others and also because it keeps you humble. :) I am afraid you have too many irons in the fire my friend. But I am so glad success is with you. Couldn't happen to a nicer man!
Hi Dolly you are right, but when I was planting these I did say it was an experiment as i didnt think the soil was good and it would ruin the harvest
@@simplifygardening So you did :) I wonder what is it specifically about the peat free compost that makes it so detrimental to the potatoes. You kept saying it was rich...Did it give a breakdown of nutrients? Ours don't here in the US.
Well like many others Tony I followed your advice in my first year. I bought 30 buckets from Oakland and we grew Swift, Aaron pilot, Kestrel, Cara and Sarpo mira.
All fantastic my only regret was not buying 60 buckets.
Multi purpose compost, blood fish and bone and plenty water.
Keeping my own cars and sarpo mira seed potatoes for next year. Tge others never lasted that long delicious. 👍
Well you have the opportunity until the 21st to get more buckets at £30 so make the most of it. and great to hear you had a great harvest
Those that you dug from the new buckets are huge.
Yes Kondor variety is the WR holder atm
Lots of rain and heat rots potatoes quicker than anything !! There could be many reasons but you just have to do a.couple buckets different and see what method works the best !!
Its not been great weather but suds will grow in it. check out todays video on potatoes I think you will enjoy it. th-cam.com/video/L1rf1FXtI9s/w-d-xo.html
Interesting video. I have not done anything this year and I cannot remember why but now glad I didn't, but I will probably do some prep for Bucket Potatoes for next year.
The compost in the buckets containing the blighted potatoes, what do you do with it. Discard or something else.
compost it James the blight spores need living tissue to survive so as long as its fully composted they are destroyed
My first year using peat free in my growbags and exactly the same result, excellent top growth but at harvest, low yields, small potatoes and alot rotting before harvest
Exactly same results with me this year Tony.. sadly the peat free just couldn't sustain the potato seeds I planted and I had terrible crop yields this year..dry compost and a few potatoes. Some planted 4 seed and got 3 back!!! Terrible.
Yeah its crazy dude. but we have to test and then we can pivot
@@simplifygardening absolutely! Lessons are always learnt.
This year in my tubs I have used BQ compost.. I've not had a single courgette at all ,My rhubarb died, and no brassicas at all either. Don't get me wrong They all started but some mushroom/toadstool sprung up and once that occurred everything keeled over.
Bought another batch of buckets again this year through your code…must say makes growing potatoes easier
So much easier Darren real easy to plant and harvest mate
Plus this year I used my own made soil and seed potatoes from last year…had a ok harvest but that was my first bucket ..since then I’ve had some whoppers …never fed the buckets ..just water…plus in my mind all free and no cost to me and I’ll be repeating the same process but next year more buckets… I did trial 10 potatoes in each bucket.. to show does more seed potatoes produce more potatoes…first bucket I got 38.. so 28..extra.. not the biggest ..but all the seed potatoes I used were small ..the runts of the litter so to speak… next year I’ll be trialing different amounts in each bucket…all the same soil ..I did have comments saying why count the smaller ones ..but in my mind they all count and they’ll all be ate…most were sharpo varieties..
But you had great harvests out of the peels 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️ either way it is always fantastic to see you. Have a great weekend Tony 🐝 safe
Yes and my own compost. I be going back to that next year as this was a trial
I didn't plant potatoes this year (cutting starchy veggies). Nevertheless, I still got about 10 pounds of potatoes 😃
You just have to love volunteers
I've always had poor cropping from clay soil so I tried the potato pots and got mediocre results. This year I had access to a plot of land that had flooded and sank so the owner had some fill from a newly dug basement dumped over the soggy area. I wasn't sure about the soil, it was full of stones and junk but I planted spuds anyway. Gave them some 6-24-24 at planting time, then a sidedress right before the first hilling. Soil was scarce so we applied rotted straw for the 2nd hilling. Wow!! Did we harvest potatoes, hundreds of pounds from a one hundred foot row, and mostly big ones, too. Keep persevering and you'll eventually get lucky.
Soil must have been very nutritious
Your prediction was right Tony and I agree the peat free stuff has not done much for me either this year. Though I am a newbie and grow in containers only. What feed do you normally give your potatoes? A great video and have a lovely day.
Hello Tony. I grew my spuds in buckets this year, and I had a similarly bad result, I used a peat free alternativ as well. I will not use that again next year.
The test proved the point this year Kenneth back to my home made next year
Sound ok here
Cheers Stuart
First bad year, it would be the first year I followed you, 🤣🤣. I got lots of potatoes, but they were all small, I've still learned a lot, so thanks anyway, won't be long before we start again Tony, onwards and upwards.
I knew it would be bad when I saw the quality of the compost and I said so at the time
I thought it was going to be fantastic, when I saw the quality of my top growth, they were like tree trunks 🤣🤣
The Rudolf harvest in the peat based bucket probably made up 70% of the total you got for that variety. Coco coir is probably the closest thing you will get to peat moss. Combining it would your homemade compost should get you back where you were before the ban. BTW: My 10 G root pouches did nicely. Room for improvement but I like them better than the plastic tubs I used last year. (Chicago area)
Great I will be using some pouches next year as a trial too
Hi Tony, thanks for the great information. Do you reuse the growing media?
Yes I do! th-cam.com/video/3G9du1Bhlas/w-d-xo.html
I grew store-bought potatoes in 25 gallon fabric grow bags. 10 bags. Ended up with about 50 lbs of decent size potatoes. I only used my own home made compost mixed 50/50 with sand. Did I accidentally do something right or did I just get lucky?
Try compost and perlite mixed 75/25, works really well in grow bags. The sand likely helped do what the perlite also does 👍
Hi Tony, I think the rudolf didnt do well in two types of compost yet, your own condour & charlotte have growing quite well in both types of compost. very interesting result. thanks for sharing and take care 🙂
it will be interesting to see how next year goes
Put more drainage holes in the containers. We did and it made a difference.
The new containers are packed with draingae
Can you recycle the soil to grow potatoes next year , i do that with my tomatoes by mixing in bone meal horse manure , and granular ferts . Only got limited growing space , seems a waste to get rid of the soil .
We had the same result. Even my grow bag was disappointing.
Peat free is not good atm
Your 'bad" season would be brilliant for me.. I sometimes get no potatos at all from my buckets. I get massive tops on the plants, flowers, etc. But when they die off and I tip it out there's nothing there. The best I've ever had was about 5 egg size potatos. I am in awe of your harvests 😲
Time for another great season
Thought it was just me this year, it's not that I had a bad harvest, but my Roosters and Queens were plentiful but smaller than usual, on the upside Cara and Blue Danube did very well except for those planted in the peat free compost.
Ann I think they just need more time to perfect peat free and until people stop buying it they will just keep dumping the crap into it
Catch 22, we need to move away from peat but it's very effective.
I grew several kinds of spuds this year because I’m new to all this. I use smaller, 21 l buckets (because the guy who sold them to me lied knowing I was a newbie, to be blunt) and I average two kilos a bucket. I just used potting mix, potato fertilizer, and a bit of blood, fish and bone over the season. I more or less ignored the buckets unless the weather got too too dry. Not disappointed at all. Sometimes we have bad years, right?
It cant all be fun and roses. we all have bad years including the professionals, the thing is to learn from the opportunities it provides
Hi I am sorry I am changing the subject to Roses but i am looking to get roses for my garden but I need to put food in the ground. You said about farmyard manure. Is that bags from the garden centre or from a lady with horses . What would be better for me please. Again sorry for changing the subject but I need help. P.S. keep doing the videos they are very helpful thank you.