Masterclass

Well Sherie Plumb was her usual thorough self last night, and guided us through her growing year with spuds then runner beans. Her attention to detail is legendary and I was listening intently to try and work out if there was anything she did a lot different to me. A few points struck home and will result in me trying them out at least.




Sherie washes all her seed spuds before planting, discarding any that have scab. Now then, the science says that the scab lesions on a seed spud are merely the physical mark left by the scab fungus on its journey through the soil or growing media, and that it is impossible for scab to be transferred to a daughter crop from seed. Sherie remains unconvinced but perhaps the fact she washes all her seed spuds is the key here. The scab fungus overwinters on garden detritus so perhaps it is the dust that coats your seed spud that is actually the culprit here? Could this be harbouring the fungus so that it gets transferred into your bags? David Peel was also at the talk and he has had an excellent year, winning the collection at Harrogate and he washed his seed spuds this season as well as discarding any scabbed up spuds.



Because I believe in and trust the science I won't go as far as discarding any scabbed seed but I will now wash them before planting purely as an extra precaution. The key is STILL to make sure your bags never dry out. The scab mycellium thrives in warm, DRY conditions so a regular watering regime will ensure you don't suffer any scab marking your skins. I made sure my bags didn't dry out last season, especially at tuber initiation (when the haulms are about a foot high) and I think I can remember about three tubers having a single scab marking, a vast improvement on what I was getting before when I wasn't as keen as I should have been with the H2O.



Sherie uses medium grade moss peat (fine grade compacts too much) that she passes through a shredder. I have lent my shredder to a friend for a couple of years so I think I'll be getting it back for this purpose. An important element we all overlook at our peril is AIR and I think shredding the peat not only breaks up any lumps, twigs, fibre but incorporates air into the peat and allows the roots to really breathe and get out into the fluffed up mix. A good root system will give you good tops and then good tubers.



And finally, she stores all her spuds after lifting and grading in fresh peat rather than the stuff they've been growing in. This needs to be really dry and David Peel even said he went as far as spreading his peat out on sheets in the sun to get rid of any excess moisture. I wonder whether this may prevent the silver scurf marks that I seem to be prone to towards the end of September when I get my spuds out of the peat for washing? However, as i've said this does seem to affect the white spuds more than the coloureds.



There has been a lot of debate about the effectiveness of calcified seaweed. Apparently it has been estimated that it takes over a year in the soil for it to be of any real benefit and as the spuds are only in the bags for 10-14 weeks then surely it's a waste of time? Sherie pointed to an experiment carried out by John Branham where he trialled some bags without any calcified seaweed and they weren't as good as those spuds grown in bags with it so she is adamant about its advantages and will carry on using it. Good enough for me but I will be using the new alternative product from JBA potatoes this season that is more finely ground than the boxed stuff you buy from the garden centres these days. They are not ground up very fine at all, resembling small white stones and I'm sure some of the skin blemishes are down to these large granules resting against the skin during storage.



Here is the link to the JBA product: http://www.jba-seed-potatoes.co.uk/maincrop/powdered-calcified-seaweed-p300.html



Sherie bought several plates of different varieties to the talk that she'd washed that morning for the purpose. These weren't deemed good enough for showing during the season but I can assure you all they would probably have been in the tickets at just about every show i've ever been to. I wish i'd taken a photo of them. Sherie was adamant that Casablanca will never compete with Winston and held a sample of each together to demonstrate. During the break myself and Dave Thornton had a closer look and both of us were in agreement that the Casablanca looked superior. It seemed to positively gleam in comparison to the Winston that seemed a creamier hue. Each to their own I guess although no-one doubted that Kestrel would rule the roost in the coloured class for a long time to come yet, Purple Eyed Seedling and Blue Belle being some way off.