[Greenerlife]

When should I do it?  Grew lots of majestic this year, which have been really yummy, and nothing like the Majestic in the shops, but need some handy hints as to how and when...

[Dan]

We normally harvest a week or two after the last haulms have gone yellow and fallen over. We had a frost here last night though, so might lift what's left in the ground this weekend.

Lift carefully with a fork, remove as much earth as possible, and dry for 48 hours, turning after 24. We do this on the floor in one of our out buildings. Set aside any with cuts, broken skins or bad scab and use these first.

We store in hessian sacks, and they last well into the new year. You need to check regularely (~monthly) for any rot (there are always one or two damaged ones that get put in), which can spread quickly if left.

HTH.

[MAK]

As Dan said - after die back. We ( neighbour and me) did ours in the second week of August. The ground is dry then and we gather the spuds up before noon and dump in cellars to be sorted by size when we have time.


Hot work though!

[Carse Goodlifers]

For me, it depends on what class the variety is: salad, 1st early, maincrop etc.

Do test digs on the plants - see what the tuber size is like. 
You obviously wouldn't leave charlotte or Anya until the shaws died as the tubers could be huge and they aren't then really salad tatties.

If the tubers are at a size that your happy with I would then cut the shaws off leaving about 6 inches of stem above the ground.  Then leave for 2 weeks for the skins to harden up.
Letting the skins harden will reduce any rubbing of skins which could lead to an entry for disease or rots.
Then lift and store in either paper or hessian sacks or if you have them wooden trays. 
Also, if blight is about and getting a hold in the crop, check the tuber size.  If up to size, again cut off as above and burn the blighted shaws - don't compost them.

Some folk say lift the spuds once the berries have formed - not all varieties of spuds produce flowers and not all flowering varieties will make a berry.

[Greenerlife]

Thankyou Carse Goodlifers!  i have now learned the word shaw!      Actually, I dug up my carefully labelled Majestic potatoes at the weekend,only to find out that they were in fact some kind of pink fir apple!  No good for storing but absolutely delicious!  I am now eating them every day for the foreseeable future! 

[Carse Goodlifers]

Shaw - a good Scottish word.
There is the saying 'ah shaw and nae ba' translated as 'lots of haulm growth and no tubers below' which can happen. But little haulm growth and lots of tubers can also happen.

Pink Fir Apple should store ok providing they have no rots in amongst them.