Bloody gales!!
Jun 24, 2017 19:56:43 GMT
Post by PinkFloyd on Jun 24, 2017 19:56:43 GMT
I've had my potatoes growing for a couple of months now and they were coming on really great (healthy / robust plants) until yesterday.............. A damned gale which went on through the night, all of today and due to go on through the night tonight. Strong wind is bad enough but that coupled with horizontal torrential rain is something that potato plants just don't like Last time I had a look at least one stalk per plant had snapped off and it's due to hit 50MPH gusts tonight so not looking too good for them.
It's the 24th of June and today's high was 12C, gales and torrential rain.... pretty pissed off as I have put a fair bit of effort into the potatoes only to have all that work wasted by "the weather". It's not normally this gusty in the summer up here.... come October and onwards 50MPH gusts are classed as a light breeze and 90MPH gusts classed as a bit windy but 50MPH gusts in June? Sod's f**kin' law is what I call it..... the potatoes were doing so well and then, WHAMMO!, mother f**kin' nature comes along and beats the crap out of them!
Fortunately, they are nowhere near the flowering stage so (with a bit of good fortune) there will be enough haulms left to produce a decent enough crop..... I spent an hour or so trying to splint the broken stalks with duct tape but that, literally, was like pissing into the wind so decided to call it a day and wait until the storm passes and then assess the damage..... it's true what they say, you can't fight against the forces of nature!
I was growing quite a few in pots (as well as in the ground) and managed to get 22 of the pots into the safety of the garage "intact" but most of them were early types.... my second earlies and maincrop are all in the ground so no way of protecting them from the gales.... I tried using the car to act as a windbreak but when the car itself started rocking I realised that it wouldn't do much to stop the gusts hitting the haulms. Earlies are Sharpe's Express, second earlies are Maris Peer and maincrop are King Edward, Maris Piper, Red roosters and Golden Wonder. The earlies / second earlies are all going to be OK as they are in 50 litre pots (bastard heavy pots too!!) just got to hope that Mother Nature is kind with the maincrop potatoes that are planted in the ground.
The more I think about it (and you can't help but think about your pride and joy crop) this setback could "potentially" result in a bumper crop..... the last thing any plant wants to do is die without bearing fruit..... a bit of wind damage may well send a message to the engine room telling it to crank things up a notch otherwise you're dead! The optimist part of me thinks that but does a potato think the same way as me?
Oh well.... all will be evident once the gales subside..... will the potatoes step up to the plate, will the battering make men of them? A good battering makes us all stronger but is this true of the potato? All will be revealed
It's the 24th of June and today's high was 12C, gales and torrential rain.... pretty pissed off as I have put a fair bit of effort into the potatoes only to have all that work wasted by "the weather". It's not normally this gusty in the summer up here.... come October and onwards 50MPH gusts are classed as a light breeze and 90MPH gusts classed as a bit windy but 50MPH gusts in June? Sod's f**kin' law is what I call it..... the potatoes were doing so well and then, WHAMMO!, mother f**kin' nature comes along and beats the crap out of them!
Fortunately, they are nowhere near the flowering stage so (with a bit of good fortune) there will be enough haulms left to produce a decent enough crop..... I spent an hour or so trying to splint the broken stalks with duct tape but that, literally, was like pissing into the wind so decided to call it a day and wait until the storm passes and then assess the damage..... it's true what they say, you can't fight against the forces of nature!
I was growing quite a few in pots (as well as in the ground) and managed to get 22 of the pots into the safety of the garage "intact" but most of them were early types.... my second earlies and maincrop are all in the ground so no way of protecting them from the gales.... I tried using the car to act as a windbreak but when the car itself started rocking I realised that it wouldn't do much to stop the gusts hitting the haulms. Earlies are Sharpe's Express, second earlies are Maris Peer and maincrop are King Edward, Maris Piper, Red roosters and Golden Wonder. The earlies / second earlies are all going to be OK as they are in 50 litre pots (bastard heavy pots too!!) just got to hope that Mother Nature is kind with the maincrop potatoes that are planted in the ground.
The more I think about it (and you can't help but think about your pride and joy crop) this setback could "potentially" result in a bumper crop..... the last thing any plant wants to do is die without bearing fruit..... a bit of wind damage may well send a message to the engine room telling it to crank things up a notch otherwise you're dead! The optimist part of me thinks that but does a potato think the same way as me?
Oh well.... all will be evident once the gales subside..... will the potatoes step up to the plate, will the battering make men of them? A good battering makes us all stronger but is this true of the potato? All will be revealed