Author Topic: will my potatoes survive?? (Read 3173 times)

loopy · « **on:** April 19, 2009, 10:16:55 am »

having spent weeks allowing them to chit, and then planting them lovingly in good soil with fertiliser and giving them lots of tlc, my new potatoes had sprouted leaves,and had started to be earthed up, until the chickens ate them this week

There are green stalks about 1 inch above the soil surface but i think all the leaves have now gone - will new leaves grow? will the plant continue to grow/produce potatoes or will this kill it? they were planted a month ago, they are the swift variety which means in theory they should be ready in a couple of weeks (although still unsure whether 7 weeks is realistic!)

any advise welcomed

thanks L

Frugaldom · « **Reply #1 on:** April 20, 2009, 12:51:39 pm »

Hi Loopy,

I had the same problem and have had to earth up one bed of potatoes about three times before I eventually got around to fencing them off from the hens. I now live amidst a network of tny pens full of veggies and the hens have the run of the place, crazy, or what?

The potatoes seem to have survived and have kept growing, new shoots and leaves appearing, so perhaps yours will be OK too.

Fingers crossed for you.

The Relic · « **Reply #2 on:** April 20, 2009, 03:21:31 pm »

spuds by their nature are survivors a battle hardened root crop i have all faith they will make it through. mine just are just popping up their heads up now any chickens seen near them are ending up as sunday roast.

loopy · « **Reply #3 on:** April 20, 2009, 04:02:26 pm »

thanks frugaldom.....will cover the shoots in compost and hope for the best in that case! Sods law really that the buggers took advantage whilst they could - i ordered a lot of poultry netting almost 2 weeks ago so my garden will soon be just as you describe yours as being! lots of netted raised beds, with the chickens running riot across the rest of it....although if they insist on continually digging up the membrane from underneath my gravel paths they will find they are confined to a smaller area.....but i am yet to get chickens to obey my orders - have tried talking, pointing, shoooing, shouting, chasing, spraying with the garden hose....yet the one culprit Maggie insists on continuing to dig it up the second my back is turned...starting to think she thinks it's a game!

The Relic · « **Reply #4 on:** April 20, 2009, 04:18:37 pm »

the dinner table for maggie one thinks

Frugaldom · « **Reply #5 on:** April 20, 2009, 10:11:35 pm »

Run, Maggie, Run.... not the pot!

Gravel paths are something I don't have, fortunately, ours are concrete, which is probably just as well so I can sweep them and wash them

If only chickens could be litter trained.

Mine dig about everywhere so I find the fencing to be the best option. I'm in the process of digging out another potato bed that won't be fenced, owing to where it is, so we'll can compare potato survival notes soon.

I wish my hens could tell the difference between good and bad, though, as I've also had to put wire around the rhubarb after catching them scratching in there and pecking at the leaves!!

Don't they realise they're poisonous? On the whole, they haven't destroyed anything other than the neat rows I had along the potatoes, so they are pretty well behaved most times.