A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Overgrown potatoes out of control!

Hi all, sorry - I forgot to change the subject of my 'hello' forum message! Anyway, this is my question re my out of control spuds...I'm new to your site and I need some potato help! I've got three bags growning in my back garden, and unfortunately they are in partial shade. I'm assuming this is why they have grown way taller than expected and are taking much longer to flower than everyone elses in the area. Trouble is, they grew so high that they toppled over and were causing a huge mess in the small garden, so last night I pruned them - exactly as you would any other plant, by cutting cleanly just above a growth point. I'm sure the leaves will continue to bud and grow but my question is will they now flower and if not, will the tuber that I'm waiting for actually develop or is this conditional on a flower forming and being pollinated? If anyone can help I'd really appreciate it!

I'm not sure about the flowering but the potatoes will still make. The left over foliage will still get the sun.

Hi Bestofour - thanks for your reply! I was hoping that's what I'd get.. I sort of thought it through and reckoned that a plant biology must surely mean that it would still make spuds as long as I left enough greenery for it to generate food from the sun. I guess the only problem would be that it may use some energy to regenerate leaves instead of growing little pototoes, but I'll have to wait and see now! I'll post the results in due course!