Have I lost my whole potato crop?

[bookit]

All growing in sacks and got quite tall (about 3 foot). Then last night there was a really heavy storm and they went over

Is there any way I can save them? The stems haven't completely snapped but are bent right in half.

Is it too late to plant more?

Any suggestions for stopping my next lot growing so tall? Last year I put them in the shade and they grew 5 foot tall and fell over. I thought I'd cracked it this year by putting them against the shed in the sun

I'm quite new to gardening so please tell me not to give up hope of ever getting a good spud harvest!

What type are you growing? If they are earlies, they may be ready to pick now. When did you plant them? All is not lost yet!

You can still plant potatos for a Christmas harvest.

It's been a difficult year for potatoes. Well, mine aren't great either. When you plant them, did you keep adding soil when the growth poked through until the sacks were full to the top? I'd just hold on, they may well be fine.

They are Maris Pipers and were planted a bit late, end of April I think, as our family don't eat new potatoes - they only like mash!

I did too the soil up but as I was so busy not as often as I perhaps should have - they are full now but had quite a bit of time half empty. Do you think that might be why they grew so tall?

If it was me I would stake and support them and hope for the best! I would also top up the soil to varying heights in each one to stagger how soon they will be ready to harvest.

That's a good idea, I could stake them.

If it didn't work and I had to dig them up early, would they be okay to eat? (If a little small)

Good idea about planting a crop for Christmas too !

I think they will be fine.
they tend to flop over when they get top heavy.

I wouldn’t stake them, you might pierce the potatoes growing underneath. Maybe add more soil at the base of the stems to prop them up that way?

so long as the stems aren't broken, they'll survive. You could stake them up, but while the leaves are doing their job feeding the rest of the plant I wouldn't bother.

@Ifailed

so long as the stems aren't broken, they'll survive. You could stake them up, but while the leaves are doing their job feeding the rest of the plant I wouldn't bother.

Agree absolutely. And in any case over the next few days they’ll either pick themselves up, or they’ll start growing vertically from the ends

They’ll be fine, but agreed on filling the sacks right up to the top. You could also put a stake into the ground at each end of the row and run twine between them, just to get the leaves off the ground.

Never grown in sacks but my allotment spuds never get to 5ft! Wonder if you might be overwatering, making them a bit leggy? Once a week in dry weather is all they need.

Earth them up as others suggest and then if you're really worried you could put a couple of bamboo canes in round the edges of the bags (maybe not all the way down to the bottom, as that's where the growing crop will be) and run some twine round to make a bit of a cage.

But they should be fine. This happened to mine last year after a sudden spell of bad weather and I still had a good crop.

You need to take them out of the bags, they need more root space to accommodate for the tall stalks. They have been well watered but now need good anchorage. Bag time is up!

That exact same thing happened to my potatoes (also grown in bags) last year.
Many of the main, thick stems were slightly split, but not in two iyswim. They sort of split along the length of the stem, rather than across.
I didn't get a chance to stake them up again immediately, so the flopped over potatoes then tried to grow towards the light (upwards), and ended up with a 90 degree bend in the stem where they changed direction.
I tried propping them up but they were a big, floppy, tangled mess and it was hard not to snap the stems.
Then my dc kept kicking balls at them, so more stems snapped.
Looked a right mess.

....but the harvest was amazing! Loads of potatoes. None were ginormous (although this was partly the variety I planted) but plenty of them.
So from my experience they are fairly robust plants that can handle a few falls.
😁
I think in a big field, they will be exposed to winds and heavy rains, storms etc and fall over.

🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

@SquishySquirmy that's really reassuring! I thought all was lost!

Thanks for all the help and advice everyone. I went with the tying them to a stake idea. Operation 'save the spuds' was a huge success!!