Feeding potatoes in bags.
Nidge
Posts: 9
in Fruit & veg
I was advised to feed my potatoes which are in bags. They are growing nicely and have reached the top of the bags. Due to all of the rain we have had , the compost is really wet so making it impossible to water any feed in. Should I be covering them to keep the rain off so that I can then feed them or should I expect a fair crop as they are. New to this veggy growing thing as you may guess.
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The compost should have enough feed in it to keep them going nicely for some 6-10 weeks. It's bound to stop raining soon (we hope!) so best to wait until they need a water and do it then. Alternatively, you could sprinkle a pelleted potato fertiliser onto the top of the compost. It will soon crumble when wet and be washed down into the compost by the rain.
Unless its rained everyday, the compost shouldn't be that wet. But that depends on what you think is wet. Have you got adaquate drainage holes in them bags, perhaps the excess water is not draining away or not draining away fast enough.
One of my plants nearly came a cropper the other day. I noticed the compost in one of my containers was turning green, which I found very odd. On closer inspection, the plant was in a container which was in a more decorative container, which had no drainage hole. Not ideal unless your a bog plant.
Just a thought.....
where i live (west sussex) we have had some rain every day except for yesterday! I even covered over my carrots because I was lying in bed worrying about them drowning!
hmmmm....
Try not to worry, when the rain ceases and the compost drys out you will be able to resume feeding. Missing a few feeds will not be detrimental to your potatoes, they'll be plenty of food in the compost if it is new. Compost usually comes with enough food to feed any plant for 4-6 weeks.
Plants cannot drown unless the drainage is inadaquate.