Posted by Bertie Doe on June 9, 2010, 4:21 pm
One of the allotment holders had the June copy of
Amateur Gardener, where writer Bob recommended flower
removal to increase vigour in the yield.
This raised a few eyebrows. Anyone got any thoughts on
this?
Bertie
Posted by Stewart Robert Hinsley on June 9, 2010, 4:42 pm
>One of the allotment holders had the June copy of Amateur Gardener,
>where writer Bob recommended flower removal to increase vigour in the
>yield.
>This raised a few eyebrows. Anyone got any thoughts on this?
>Bertie
If you remove the flowers the potato plant can't spend its energy
reserves producing fruits. Some plants would respond by producing more
flowering shoots, but potatoes may well respond by producing more or
bigger tubers. I don't have personal experience of the matter, but my
intuition would say that the latter is the case.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley
Posted by David in Normandy on June 9, 2010, 5:30 pm
On 09/06/2010 22:42, Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
>> One of the allotment holders had the June copy of Amateur Gardener,
>> where writer Bob recommended flower removal to increase vigour in the
>> yield.
>> This raised a few eyebrows. Anyone got any thoughts on this?
>> Bertie
> If you remove the flowers the potato plant can't spend its energy
> reserves producing fruits. Some plants would respond by producing more
> flowering shoots, but potatoes may well respond by producing more or
> bigger tubers. I don't have personal experience of the matter, but my
> intuition would say that the latter is the case.
I wonder if anyone has done any controlled tests on this to see how much
(if any) the yield of tubers is increased by? It sounds like a lot of
hassle picking off the flower heads if the supposed increased yield is
only anecdotal.
--
David in Normandy. DavidinNormandy@yahoo.fr
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.
Posted by Bob Hobden on June 9, 2010, 5:56 pm
"David in Normandy" wrote ...
Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
Bertie Doe writes
>>> One of the allotment holders had the June copy of Amateur Gardener,
>>> where writer Bob recommended flower removal to increase vigour in the
>>> yield.
>>> This raised a few eyebrows. Anyone got any thoughts on this?
>>> Bertie
>>
>> If you remove the flowers the potato plant can't spend its energy
>> reserves producing fruits. Some plants would respond by producing more
>> flowering shoots, but potatoes may well respond by producing more or
>> bigger tubers. I don't have personal experience of the matter, but my
>> intuition would say that the latter is the case.
> I wonder if anyone has done any controlled tests on this to see how much
> (if any) the yield of tubers is increased by? It sounds like a lot of
> hassle picking off the flower heads if the supposed increased yield is
> only anecdotal.
Then there is the damage you will do to the hulms trying to walk into your
potato patch.
--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK
Posted by David in Normandy on June 9, 2010, 6:20 pm
On 09/06/2010 23:56, Bob Hobden wrote:
> "David in Normandy" wrote ...
> Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
> Bertie Doe writes
>>>> One of the allotment holders had the June copy of Amateur Gardener,
>>>> where writer Bob recommended flower removal to increase vigour in the
>>>> yield.
>>>> This raised a few eyebrows. Anyone got any thoughts on this?
>>>> Bertie
>>>
>>> If you remove the flowers the potato plant can't spend its energy
>>> reserves producing fruits. Some plants would respond by producing more
>>> flowering shoots, but potatoes may well respond by producing more or
>>> bigger tubers. I don't have personal experience of the matter, but my
>>> intuition would say that the latter is the case.
>>
>> I wonder if anyone has done any controlled tests on this to see how
>> much (if any) the yield of tubers is increased by? It sounds like a
>> lot of hassle picking off the flower heads if the supposed increased
>> yield is only anecdotal.
>>
> Then there is the damage you will do to the hulms trying to walk into
> your potato patch.
Yes, I managed to snap a few minor stems yesterday while hand weeding
them. Trouble is weeds like chickweed run rampage in my garden so unless
I keep on top of them they take over. They seem to run to seed very
quickly. As the potatoes grow even larger it will soon be impossible to
walk down the rows at all.
--
David in Normandy. DavidinNormandy@yahoo.fr
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.
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>where writer Bob recommended flower removal to increase vigour in the
>yield.
>This raised a few eyebrows. Anyone got any thoughts on this?
>Bertie