Your comments and tips

18 May 17, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

In Qld we plant potatoes in Autumn and Spring. St Patrick's Day is the general start time March 17th for Autumn. Spring is probably Sept. They take 12-20 weeks to grow - probably the warmer the climate the quicker. You can pick potatoes any time but to have mature spuds to store for awhile you wait until they flower and then start to die off. Have a little feel around to see how big they are.

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19 May 17, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

I was talking to a friend today who planted certified potatoes about 8 weeks ago (the last of the hot summer weather) in sandy soil. The last ones to shoot out of the soil had stunted curled up leaves - like the leaves had not unfolded and grown bigger. He took them to a commercial grower to find out why. This fellow said it happened because the soil was too hot. Being sandy loam it probably retained the heat more in the soil. Out of about 35 potatoes about 8 had this problem. The commercial grower has only just planted his crop - Bundaberg Qld. He waits until the potatoes eyes start to shoot and then plants. Hope that helps.

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17 May 17, Ken (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

Potatoes can take 14 - 20 weeks, when the tops die down to be ready for long-storage harvest. 'New' potatoes can be harvested about 4 weeks after flowering. These potatoes should be 'raided' without disturbing the plant too much so that others can mature.

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15 May 17, Harare (South Africa - Semi-arid climate)

I'm in eastern cape (engcobo) how much watering does potatoes need for a favourable harvest,and what time must I plant?

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15 May 17, John (Australia - temperate climate)

To produce good potatoes the plants need a consistent supply of water. In dry soils the potatoes will still form but will be small. Mulch can be used to save water. If the plants are wet then dry then wet again you will get irregular growth and knobbly potatoes with likely hollows inside them.

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13 May 17, Ian (Australia - temperate climate)

hi, just wondering if I can plant cucumbers after a potato crop. my potatoes are in a raised bed

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15 May 17, Darren (Australia - temperate climate)

Hi Ian, While they don't make good companion plants, there's no reason you can't grow them in the same bed afterwards. Don't forget to enrich the bed with plenty of compost first.

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15 May 17, Giovanni (Australia - temperate climate)

You should be able to. Cucurbits, which include cucumbers like well manured soil and a consistent water supply. Put a trellis up, this will keep you plants tidier and the cucumbers cleaner.

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17 May 17, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

People say you can't plant this after that or plant tomatoes in the same area for a year or two. There is a cycle of how you plant different veggies after each other to best use the soil. BUT you can plant things differently if you like. I have a garden bed approx. 13 m long and it varies from 4 to 7' in depth. Now in the shorter rows I mainly plant lettuce, radish, beetroot, shallots etc and the longer rows corn, tomatoes, snow peas etc. I plant 2 crops per year (autumn and spring) and mix it up a bit - like I will follow radish with lettuce or tomatoes after snow peas. So year after year I plant like this. As long as you give the soil a top up with compost and or fertiliser then you can plant whatever you like. I don't have heaps of diseases etc. My main problems are birds eating young plants (lettuce snow peas) early in the growing season, grubs eating cabbages/broccoli after rain and beans being killed by some worm or something growing into winter. Am going to grow beans in the spring this year - see how that works.

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03 May 17, Tony Morales (Australia - temperate climate)

I read that potatoes should not be planted close to tomatoes and I was wondering why so.

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