The last repeat...
Dear Hugh, You wrote: "My experience is give them a good solid boost from the chunk of potato behind them and you can rely on getting a good yield.......And I can't afford hauling out compost........" Hugh, are you farming on moderate to high clay % soil? I am growing in sandy soil (15 - 20%) and am finding that the quality of my potatoes suffers if I don't use lots of compost - both physical quality and health - without compost at planting, the skins are rough, flesh not as creamy and potato scab and "marbling" (misshapen potatoes, some with large round bumps - apparently caused by nematodes) are becoming more common. On top of that, I don't cut the potatoes - use whole, small seed potatoes at each planting. "And there may be other things that would help." (In your post on peroxide.) A leading statement - so the question, such as what? I am doing everything by hand in soil which has a well aerated A horizon (20 - 30 cm) and soft plinthite for the B horizon (good water holding for the deeper rooted crops). I plan to use alot more Effective Micro-organisms (EM) (Kyusei Nature Farming) through irrigation, than in the past, which will improve the aeration of the soil. Also, I assume that a peroxide bath will have a similar effect when planting onion sets? You mention than you use peroxide and BD 500 on the potatoes. I assume the sequence is the peroxide bath is first, then allow the spuds to dry, then the BD 500 bath. Other way round, the peroxide would kill the microbes in the BD 500 - not so? I have started bathing my seed potatoes in EM with the current planting, and wish to combine this with the peroxide treatment with my next planting (later this week). Thanks for your posts on the subject. By the way, what is a "spading machine"? Stephen Barrow
