Compo 10,328 Posted August 27, 2013 Report Share Posted August 27, 2013 Blight and slugs have decimated my potato main crop this year again: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
poohbear 1,360 Posted August 28, 2013 Report Share Posted August 28, 2013 I'm a complete beginner at this potato lark having got a large garden for the first time.Got a sack of Maris Piper earlier in the year, and going against the advice on the net didn't buy disease free seed potatoes. I picked all the smaller ones out the sack that were happily chitting away at the bottom of the bag Cut 'em in half and planted 100, and just this last week having run out of shop bought, I dug up10 plants.I've got loads of cracking big spuds off each plant...and up to now just one with a hole in it. This garden was just a field for donkeys years and took a hell of a lot of digging...I've got half of it tamed now.It's home to thousands of slugs and snails...early every morning I collect a load of huge brown beggars and send them on a mystery trip down the downstairs loo.So I guess I'm just lucky to have such a cracking return for my efforts. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bubblewrap 3,815 Posted August 28, 2013 Report Share Posted August 28, 2013 Sorry to see your problem Compo. If you lived closer you could have some of mine. I have had a good year & have seven of spuds bags stashed. In fact It's been a good year for most things fortunately most of my neighbours like courgettes & marrows Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Compo 10,328 Posted August 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2013 pleased you have had a good crop from leftover spuds. The only problem with planting from a bag is that there is no disease control. You were lucky you didn't import something nasty like blight spores; although to be honest it would be unlikely. But hey! celebrate your success and don't worry about things that haven't happened. you have done well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
poohbear 1,360 Posted August 30, 2013 Report Share Posted August 30, 2013 Cheers Compo....ya gotta get lucky sometimes.My previous exploits at veg gardening have always been a disaster. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mick2me 3,033 Posted August 30, 2013 Report Share Posted August 30, 2013 I bet you were tatered after all that work Quote Link to post Share on other sites
carni 10,094 Posted August 30, 2013 Report Share Posted August 30, 2013 I'v got a bag of potatoes from Morrisons that i forgot about when i went on holiday, they are all sprouting, shall i throw them or is it to late to grow them?,we have no garden space so it would have to be in tubs, I'v got no idea about this kind of thing so if its a waste of time i will throw them away.Thank you for any advice. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bilbraborn 1,594 Posted August 30, 2013 Report Share Posted August 30, 2013 I have cut roots off taters and ate them (the spuds I mean). If you don't want to do that give them to someone with space for them and they will have an early crop next year. As for slugs? Well they are just things sent to try us and mess us up. You know like traffic wardens and other nuisances. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bilbraborn 1,594 Posted August 30, 2013 Report Share Posted August 30, 2013 AYUP Compo! I have just remembered. I know this sounds a bit like sacrilege but it's an old trick me dad taught me. Get some beer and half fill some empty margarine tubs or suchlike and put them in the garden so that the top is flush with the soil. Try to put a bit of a cover over them because of the rain, but allowing the slugs to get in. The slugs are like us. They love a good booze-up. Trouble is they drown in the stuff. So p-----d they can't climb out. Another trick is to put grit around the tater plants. In the old days of coal fires me mam used to put ashes around them. Slugs can't move along that kind of surface. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
carni 10,094 Posted August 30, 2013 Report Share Posted August 30, 2013 Thankyou, Looks like chips tonight then. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bilbraborn 1,594 Posted August 30, 2013 Report Share Posted August 30, 2013 Nowt wrong with chips! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
carni 10,094 Posted August 30, 2013 Report Share Posted August 30, 2013 Especially with sausages, beans and egg, Tomato sauce and a big mug of tea.mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bilbraborn 1,594 Posted August 30, 2013 Report Share Posted August 30, 2013 SHURRUP! I work in the catering trade and eat too much as it is. Now what's for breakfast??? Here I go again. Nosh nosh nosh slurp. Jamie Oliver eat your heart out! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beefsteak 305 Posted August 30, 2013 Report Share Posted August 30, 2013 As you may know we're away camping at the moment, just been to the loos to brush our teeth , I've never seen so many big black slugs in one place, there must've been 50 of them on our wander there and back (all of 200 yards each way !!)Now what I want to know, if I chucked then in the lake tomorrow night ,would the Carp eat them ? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trevor S 2,003 Posted August 30, 2013 Report Share Posted August 30, 2013 Nah....wouldn't see them would they...they're black and it's night time, innit?Besides, CARP are well known racists aren't they? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loppylugs 8,427 Posted August 31, 2013 Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 Been a lousy year for the veg garden here. Just too wet, Tomatoes rotted on the vine before they got ripe, same with Green Peppers. Each potato plant produced one spud, if you were lucky. We were in a drought last year so we were glad of the rain initially but it has hardly stopped for more than a day at a time. Reminds me of summers in Nottingham when I was a kid. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bilbraborn 1,594 Posted August 31, 2013 Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 Put them slugs on a sandwich (only jokin) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Compo 10,328 Posted August 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 The big black slugs eat detritus, so they are not a problem for gardeners. My problem is "Keeled" slugs. these little bast&rds live underground and are thus immune to the usual slug baiting and catching tricks. Carni: You can plant potatoes in tubs up until the end of August, but they must be a "First Early" variety to produce anything worth having. If yours are one of the "New" potatop varieties then you can still plant for a small crop at Xmas. They will need protetion after September though. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NewBasfordlad 3,599 Posted August 31, 2013 Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 Compo have you tried Nematodes? I have a couple of mates who have had good success with them. Colin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Compo 10,328 Posted September 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2013 I did ttry nematodes but with only limited success - and the price was horrendous. It would cost more arms and legs than I haveto do two acres. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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