Potato stems broken and flowers being eaten - When to harvest?

hey_emmacarena

Hello! Newbie here! 

Looking for some advice as this is my first year growing some vegetables (potatoes and carrots), and I am growing them in grow bags (P) and a trough (C).

The potatoes (second early) have been growing very well, the tops are inline with my hip (I'm 5'5") but we had high winds the other week and some of the stems have snapped near the base. Also this evening I noticed that something has ate the flower buds (note: the flowers haven't bloomed yet).

Going by the recommended 13weeks for harvest, I should be due to to harvest them next week but now I'm concerned that the damage caused by the broken stems and the lack of flowering will have an affect on when I should harvest them?

Can anyone advise?

Thanks!
Emma 

purplerallim

My earlies have been broken by winds ( in potato bag) but as they are a week away from harvest am tipping them out tomorrow. ( checked today and the one I found is a good size) If they are broken then they will not grow anymore I should think, so emptying them out and using them as new potatoes seems a good idea.
Btw most growers take the flowers off as they take away the energy of the plant from producing tubers. 

hey_emmacarena

purplerallim said:

My earlies have been broken by winds ( in potato bag) but as they are a week away from harvest am tipping them out tomorrow. ( checked today and the one I found is a good size) If they are broken then they will not grow anymore I should think, so emptying them out and using them as new potatoes seems a good idea.
Btw most growers take the flowers off as they take away the energy of the plant from producing tubers. 

Thank you for replying and restoring my faith in them!

I will check one of the bags (have 3) tomorrow and hopefully will be able to tip them out too. Thanks for letting me know about the flowers also.

  

purplerallim

Your very welcome @hey_emmacarena will try to post tomorrow how I get on.😁

purplerallim

Well that was disappointing.  Just finished emptying the first bag of early potatoes and from four seed potatoes less than 2lbs of new ones won't be using pentland javelin again.
Hope the Markies main crop do better.

purplerallim

Oops that should have read pentland javelin potatoes 😊

hey_emmacarena

purplerallim said:

Well that was disappointing.  Just finished emptying the first bag of early potatoes and from four seed potatoes less than 2lbs of new ones won't be using pentland javelin again.
Hope the Markies main crop do better.

Sorry, busy weekend turning 30 haha.
Well I share your disappointment, I emptied one of my bags, 3 seed potatoes (Albert Bartlett - Apache) and I just weighed them... 5 ⅝oz  
 


Nevermind, I still have 2 other bags of the same which I will leave for a few more weeks

strelitzia32

Incidentally, if you're growing potatoes in grow bags, try spacing 4 or 5 bamboo canes around the edge after you've finished earthing up. Use 5 foot canes, and tie 2 or 3 rings of string around the outside, one in the middle and one at the top. It seems to work well holding the stems in place when there's wind, or if they flop around due to height.

Cruddymutt4

So my potato stems have appeared to have broken off to or severely bent due to  the wind from bag growing.  It's not even close to time to harvest.  Sooooooo are they just done for now. I am a new gardener.

fidgetbones

Broken off  bits can be removed. You don't want them rotting, they only attract slugs.  Bent over bits will still be feeding nourishment to the roots.