Potato Problems?
Question:I have been growing potatoes in buckets and this is their 14th week. Someone told me that after 12 weeks or so the leaves should wilt and that means they are ready to pick. I picked some last week and boiled up for a salad but they had a horrible bitter aftertaste to them. Have I picked too soon? How can I tell when they're ready?
Answers:
have you had flowers on your plants, because if not they haven't matured yet. when they flower wait till all the flowers have died off & shaws are wilting then spuds should be ok to pick.
i've grown spuds in containers in past & they've been ok
good luck
Are you sure you selected the right variety to grow in containers. Again were they early or main crop potatoes.? To harvest in 12 weeks usually means growing earlies. Letting the plants flower and the haulm dying down usually refers to main crop potatoes.which are harvested in September.The other thing that can happen is that the tubers develop on the ground rather than under,which is why you earth potatoes up,and the light causes the tuber to be green and rather bitter. They are slightly poisonous in fact. Without knowing the variety you are growing it is a bit of a job to answer your question.
in all my years as a gardener and a garden centre manager this is the first time i have ever heard of potatoes tasting bitter. the time before you pick is not going to affect the taste atall. the only thing i can thing of is there was something in the soil that has made this happen.the other thing is if the potatoes were not completely covered by soil and turned green. if so do not eat them.
It would seem that you have pulled your potatoes too early. You do not mention SIZE or COLOUR of potatoes when you used them. If spuds grow above ground or too shallow, greening of the crop can occur. Buckets should NOT be metal, soil should be good quality, with plenty of old organic matter, good light is required, but not blazing sun which affects so many plants grown in restricted conditions. Water evenly and regularly, avoid waterlogging or drought.
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