Mini tuber harvest 2018

This year, 60,000 seedlings were brought in and planted in pots over the course of 4 intakes.

Each batch is harvested in turn, and the mini tubers collected are then stored in a carefully regulated temperature-controlled environment over the winter.

As the plants reach maturity the irrigation is turned off so that the leaves die back and the skins of the potatoes set. The dried leaves are all cleared by hand before the pots are collected up and taken to a set of tables in the centre of the greenhouse where they are emptied.

Pots are emptied out and all the potatoes collected, and as a general rule there are between 8 and 10 tubers per pot.

Every potato is kept, regardless of size and greening. The mini-tubers are planted out the following spring and 'bulked up' over 2 years before being used for export.