Sunday, August 2, 2015

Early potatoes

So I planted some potatoes back in April, in a container. I wanted to experiment with a new way of growing potatoes as I haven't had much luck with them.


April 2015


Goodness, they looked good. The bad news is, once they grew over the container sides, I had to mound more dirt up. That somehow killed off, one of the plants. So I kept the other one going and replanted a tiny spud from the dead one. In no time, the new plant had emerged, but the old one was now starting to die, after mounding up the sides.

Please tell me - you're supposed to mound dirt up the sides of potato plants, aren't you? I pluck off a few of the lower leaves. Perhaps I added too much water. Are spuds supposed to be kept more dry, like garlic?


August 2015


After 4 months, my replanted spud from my formerly dead plan, died again. Spuds are supposed to be ready to pull in 6 months. So it was a little disconcerting to find what I would uncover, as I overturned the pot.


Potato harvest 2015


While it looks depressing, its the best crop I've ever had. I've grown THREE potatoes!! Not one, tiny thing, the size of my thumbnail - but three relatively bigger ones and they look pretty good. Still small compared to how big potatoes can get, but big for me!

The three potatoes won't be eaten. Instead, they'll be my new seed stock. Once the eyes sprout, I'll plant them in new soil, so I won't have to worry about spreading potato diseases.

Are there any potato gardening tips people want to share with me? Should I spare water from potatoes at all costs? Do they prefer a sandy mix to grow in, or rich hummus? I always hit problems when I mound the dirt up the potato plant - otherwise they grow fine. Do I need to take off the lower leaves to mound up the dirt, or did I just invite rot to invest the plant tissue?

How do you treat your potatoes?


11 comments:

  1. My scant spud growing knowledge is this. Rich humous (in fact I buried some green ones from a harvest under mounds of horse manure and lake weed and produced my best ever crop). Mounding up is primarily to prevent the top ones going green. I've heard mixed stories about producing more spuds by burying. Some say yay, others, nay. If you're mounding you could try straw or nice rich compost. They need the moisture but not wet feet. I'd say a 2 for needing water (1 drought tolerant, 2 mid level, 3 moist).
    Have you heard of growing them in straw? Lay down spuds on the soil and bury with straw. Keep surrounding with more straw as they grow, leaving 10cm plant free for sunlight. When you harvest, just lift up the straw and clean spuds await. I've not tried it but I've read about it. Perhaps YouTube might have more info?

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  2. Well, I'm no expert but here's my experience. I've mounded up with dirt and never got any spuds to grow in the mounded up section, so now I don't mound. Interesting that rabidlittlehippy says mounding up is to prevent the tubers going green. I've had tubers near the surface go green too, so what I do now is the build up organic material around the plants, such as mulched bracken or leaves or short prunings, just to keep the light away from any tubers near the surface and prevent greening. This stuff is fairly open so doesn't hold much water and probably wouldn't encourage rotting of the stems. I don't do well with potatoes over winter. I've found they're best if the tubers are planted late winter and grow through spring, with the plants dying off and being harvested in early summer. This might be why the garden centres down here sell disease-free tubers in July or thereabouts. I tend to just plant anything that sprouts in the back of the cupboard and take my chances with what I'll get out of it.

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    1. Maybe that's an issue here too? We do get warm days through winter, and even though the frost hasn't gotten to the potatoes on the verandah, it doesn't mean they like the cooler temperatures of night. Maybe my soil was too wet for winter? I figured if I put the pot in the sun during the day, it wouldn't be a problem - but the plant obviously thought differently.

      Thanks for sharing your experience. More to ponder.

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  3. The mystery of a good spud? I've tried a few times to grow spuds in containers with much the same results that you are getting.
    The best spuds I've grown have always been planted in soil which has had plenty of horse and cow manure added.
    Planted in August, I hill once to cover any developing spuds and then mulch heavily with straw as the weather warms up.

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    1. Thanks for sharing your experience. I know you're al local Stewart, so its good to hear of a method which works in these parts. We tend to be a little warmer than Toowoomba, during winter, but we still get the lower digits.

      I read recently that most commercial farmers only hill their potatoes once, so maybe there's something to that logic? The mystery of a good spud, indeed!

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  4. We've always grown ours directly in the ground but folks have great results planting in old tires or under straw. I have trouble with blight, which shortchanges my harvest every year, so I'd be happy with even three per plant! You can harvest when you want, but I think most folks wait until the plant is dying back in order to give the longest time for the largest harvest. Waiting until the plant is completely dead sometimes means having trouble locating them! (For me anyway)

    Great experiment, Chris.

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    1. I'm assuming when people use tyres, they're also adding dirt? Though maybe its just straw? I think I need to check out some more videos to see what the consensus is.

      Gosh, I hope you get to eat some potatoes with that blight around. :)

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  5. I can't really add anything to what everybody else has said. We mound up using straw regardless of whether we planted beneath the soil or on the surface which requires a lot of mulch on top. That is what we are doing now. I recall a friend of mine locally had used those buckets to grow potatoes as well and I don't remember her mounding. We wait till the plant starts to die back but I noticed potatoes the other day so I may have to begin harvesting soon as well.

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    1. Good luck with your potato harvest! I hope you get a lot. I think the consensus seems to be, to avoid the mounding and go straight for dry mulch on top. I'll have to give that a try instead. :)

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  6. i have grown potatoes with some success, i only water for a few weeks then just keep adding the straw from the chook shed. in the blue mountains we had a fair bit of rain so i didnt have to water much and when the mulch was added it kept it wet enough. i think it depends on the potatoes you use the seed potatoes are no where as good as using organic potatoes, they had the best yields for me so if you can get your hands on a kilo of those i highly recommend them,they dont have a growth inhibitor sprayed on them so will sprout readily. i also found that if you just grow in the ground in rows the yield was bigger than in tubs or cages.
    Good Luck i think they are a worth while crop, they also last longer than store brought.

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    1. Apologies for not replying sooner. I've been terribly busy (as I'm sure you two must be as well). Thanks for sharing your experience growing potatoes. I find all these contributions great to read, and it gives me more confidence. I suspect, now I've experimented, the container approach may not yield much compared to the ground either.

      I will try potatoes again. In ground though. :)

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