When is the best time to harvest Potatoes?

[vodreaux]

When is the best time to harvest Potatoes?

My potatoes started flowering about 10 days ago. It purple varieties from organic store purchase at Bristol Farms.

[Tom Wagner]

When is the best time to harvest Potatoes?

My tomatoes started flowering about 10 days ago. It purple varieties from organic store purchase at Bristol Farms.

I am going to re-read your question as your potatoes, not tomatoes started blooming 10 days ago.

Potatoes usually start tuberizing at bloom and many folks like to "steal" a few tubers soon after the first blooms, but the full yield and size will not be there until about 6 to 8 weeks later. Keeping the potatoes for any length requires them to be rather mature, but for fresh eating "new" potatoes are hard to beat.

Bristol Farm carries some of Weiser's potatoes, and I wondered if you were able to get the Purple Peruvian or the Vitelotte?

Vitelotte potato (Négresse de Poitou). It is not the same as the Salad Blue or Edzell Blue.
http://www.tela-botanica.org/page:vitelotte for a picture.

Tom Wagner

[louster]

Last year was our first year growing potatoes. We loved them so much, we planted twice as many this year!! My question is, if you harvest some early for new potatoes, does this cut down on your yield at the end of the season? Will the plant "replace" the tubers you harvest early? Thanks!!!

[Tom Wagner]

My question is, if you harvest some early for new potatoes, does this cut down on your yield at the end of the season? Will the plant "replace" the tubers you harvest early? Thanks!!!

Louster,

If you "steal" a few potatoes from the side of the hill without disrupting the root system too much, the potato vine will still provide for further growth of the existing tubers or new stolons. Sometimes I feel down with my fingers to find the tubers without tearing the roots too much. I do this every year for a variety of reasons: checking the accuracy of my plot map, tasting a novel variety early, taking tubers for a photo shoot, etc.

I often dig an entire hill (plant) to check on tuberization, disease control monitoring, a plant that doesn't look as good as its siblings, a hill that gets damaged by various mishaps, and the tubers gathered makes for a decent meal if you did enough varieties.

Since I have lots of volunteers some years, I feel free to dig these out early to consume so that they don't compete or mix up the variety harvest detail.

Tom Wagner

[louster]

Thanks Tom, I harvested some new potatoes last year, but didn't want to do it again if it would cut down on the harvest at the end of the season. We loved the potatoes so much, now the store bought ones taste bland. So I'd like a nice big harvest this year!!

[vodreaux]

Thanks! Looking forward to harvest