potatoes under straw PART II

Congrats, GG! Really cool pics, too. I like the way you labeled them, too!

♫ I'm so excited...♫ I just can't hide it! ♫

(That's the song GG/Linda is singing, methinks!)

Shoe

Great picture!

HoosierGreen, do you have any idea of about how much straw you might use for two pounds of potatoes? I'm not sure how much to get.

Thank you so much, everyone! Being able 2 share this discovery with such a receptive community makes my heart sing.

Dave's Garden is just the excuse for what's growing on between the members! I'll be sure 2 keep you posted on my "air" potatoes!

Hoosiergreen,
Your explanation of my pics helps me understand why the potatoes need a loose growing medium. And, I see how the spud used the seed potato for nutrition while it was developing those "stems." I'm even more sold now on covering them loosely with leaves. Also, since they don't have green vines now, should I just cover them very loosely with potting mix when I plant them, and allow the green vine to start making its way upward through that soil? I don't wanna smother them. Please lmk soonest.

Thanks!

Linda

This message was edited Jan 29, 2010 9:09 AM

Now you know why growing potatoes is so much fun, and easy too!

This is what I would do:

You can plant them in the ground or a bucket or pot, etc. but the main thing you have to be sure to do is get the parts of the shoots that are sprouting the little white ROOTS covered with soil. This might mean that the (technically) underground stems on which the little potatoes are forming are buried too, or at least very close to the surface. That's just fine. If it's easier to do, just go ahead and cover 90% of the shoots (including the little potatoes and old shriveled up seed potatoes) with just the ends poking out of the ground. Those parts (the ends) will turn green and leaf out (vine) after getting sunlight. They will continue to grow up as leafy shoots. The underground stems will develop the root system and more potatoes. If you have access to dry leaves or straw, even shredded newspaper, etc. you can "mulch" the plants with a light layer over the emerging green shoots. They will continue to grow through that layer of mulch. As the green shoots lengthen, add more of whatever you're using for mulch until you have a thickness of about a foot. This mulch serves two purposes: 1.) it creates a light medium for more new potatoes to develop, and 2.) it keep sunlight off the tubers to prevent them from turning green (and toxic).

In your case, the potatoes might not develop many more new potatoes, since they're probably a little stressed. But, it's certainly worth the little effort to give them a chance... and it's fun!

Be sure to post to let us see the results. Good luck! (BTW, the original photo at the top of this thread is of part of my harvest, planting potatoes this way.)

Wow linda, love your potatoes definetely would love to see the results when you plant them, I am planting yucon golds as well, we will be able to compare notes.

Thanks, Hoosier! My spuds are going home today!

I have been fascinated with this thread! I have been growing potatoes for several years - but the last two have not been good. When we went to dig them, we found skins, but no "meat". I read earlier that it might have been slugs that got to them. I plant in half wine casks and use a "soil-less" mixture with added fertilizer. We never saw any slugs so what else could have happened? You all have me worried - I have not ordered my potatoes yet! My planting time (zone 8) starts Feb 15th. Any ideas about the "missing potato" mystery? Also - and this shows I am a city girl - what kind of straw do you use? If I say straw around here, everyone thinks of pine straw. I know not to use hay - read that last year. I have planted mine much later than suggested - could that have caused a problem? (April, May) My gardening is basically play time and the joy of learning new tricks. (I am an old dog.) Now I need to get serious and need help. Thanks for anything you can add. Marilyn

Marilyn: Were the "meatless" skins you found the original seed potatoes or were they the new potatoes that had grown on the plants? It would be normal for the original ones to be that way. It would be unusual for every new potato to be eaten. If there weren't any newly formed potatoes, it might be a problem with the way they were growing (too late, etc.) or some pest like slugs. With the very wet growing season we had last year, that could very well have happened.

I wouldn't use a pre-fertilized potting mix, and no manure. I've read there are problems in general with the first, and potatoes react badly to manure, surprisingly. You can fertilize with just regular 5-10-5 mixed into the soil, but no fertilizer should be used after.

Pine straw is just fine. Leaves, shredded newspaper, etc. are all OK. Regular wheat straw is probably not common in your area.

Potatoes are usually planted about five weeks before your expected last frost, as a spring or fall crop in the South.

Good luck this year!

Did you see my question about how much straw you would use for about 2 pounds of seed potato?

According to Ronniger's my seed potato should be enough for about 25 row feet. Would 3 or 4 bales of straw be enough?

This message was edited Jan 30, 2010 10:22 AM

Oops. Sorry for the overlook. I have 20 ft. rows and each row uses about 2 bales, eventually, since I add as the shoots emerge from the first layer of 8" or so, building it up to about a foot or so thick. However, I usually mulch between the rows with more straw, so you can figure another bale if you do that between rows. If you have one row, I would think three bales would be fine.

Hoosier, Thank you so much for the info. I did not have any potatoes, so it was not just the original ones I planted. I used a potato bag from Gardner's supply for some fingerlings and I did get a few very small (I know they are small to begin with) ones from that. I definitely over planted that bag. Today is "figure out what you are going to order day!" here in SC. We have ice on trees and this southern girl doesn't go out in ice. We aren't trained for this and I am always prepared to stay in. So I have plenty of time to peruse catalogs. Thank you again for the help. This place is wonderful! Marilyn

Skywatch I have a question, can you tell me why is bad to plant the potatoes with hay, I was planing on mixing some hay with some cow manure and some peat moss and plant the potatoes, I thought it would help with drainage and also be a good source of food for the worms . I have some left over, I tend to use it as mulch in my raise beds and thought they would be a good mix.

Thank you! That helps.

I'm going to mulch the whole garden with newspaper and straw like I did last year. And I'm expanding the garden and adding potatoes, so it looks like I'll need to go get quite a few bales.

Re: using hay. I was told it would sprout seeds from the hay and you would be in a mess with hay growing with whatever you planted. If this is not correct, I hope someone will tell us. Hoosier was right - getting wheat around here is hard. I am amazed that pine straw can be used! I thought there would be something in it that might hinder the growing. I have to go get another 20 or so bales for my front yard so I will add a few more for the potatoes. I also have chopped up my leaves from the yard so I have them to use too! I want a lot of potatoes this year!!! Good luck. Marilyn

carminator1: All sources say to never use manure when planting potatoes. It encourages scab and a few other diseases; not sure why. Perhaps very well decomposed manure, but I wouldn't take the chance, or at least I'd bury it under a good layer of regular soil. Hay, compared to straw, is full of seeds which could create quite a problem in most gardens. Salt-water hay is different. Typical hay is harvested from meadow grasses and full of the seedheads from grasses and clovers, etc.

Pine straw is just fine for potatoes. Although it probably wouldn't change the pH of the soil very much if any, slightly acid pH is preferred by potatoes.

This message was edited Jan 30, 2010 6:43 PM

Thank you Hosier, I guess I'll have to change my strategy then, glad to have found out earlier than later that's for sure.

Here's a tip, if the only thing you can find is hay. Prep the hay bales by soaking with a hose every day for a couple of weeks. The wetness causes the bales to start composting, and the internal heat will kill most of the grass seeds. Some nitrogen fertilizer on the bales (when you soak) helps with the composting and heating process. There's more information on the gardening in straw bales forum.

David

You can find wheat straw at Lowe's.Last year it was 2.50. Don't know this year. Ask in the garden dept., it is usually in a truck in the back.

Do ask someone at Lowe's what the bales have been sprayed with. Sometimes the hay has been sprayed with pesticides which can be toxic to plants planted in them. Always ask your vendors what they have used! The straw tends to be safer overall as I understand they are not usually sprayed as much in the fields.

I have used the ones at Lowe's with no problems.

Good to know! I'll keep that in mind since hay is $6 a bale around here!!

I like to use the stuff from my local weed and feed store, it cost only about $6 a bale not too bad. The alfalfa hay I buy is much morte expensive but I use it instead of straw because it is supposed to have more nutrients and mine does not produce weeds like some people say or at least not many.

I use local people as well but can't find alfalfa hay, which I would like to try as well. Do you find it breaks down faster than the straw?

Alfalfa is great to use as a cover crop or turned into your garden at the end of the season. It's chock full of nutrients and good stuff for your dirt.

Gardadore, yes I really think it does break a little faster for me, and definetely better. I ended up just placing all my straw in my compost bin and boy it is taking an eternity to break down. I ended up calling all the feed and seeds stores and also nurseries out of my yellow pages and only one carried it, thankfully it is very close to were I live. You might want to try graighlist as well and see.

Gardadore, check a local dairy farm that sells hay for alfalfa. Ric

Have any of you planted your potatoes yet? According to my Farmers Almanac potato date planting, I can plant them from the 10th of February and the last day of planting the potatoes is the 12th of Feb, but boy we are still having some chilly temps over here, sometimes it gets in the 40's or so but in fact tonight the lows will be in the upper 20's so I am wondering if it would still be safe to plant the taters out or not, weather just does not seem to cooperate too much. Will the potatoes just stay dormant until it warms up or will they rot in the ground?

Yesterday I planted some nastursiums out in a pot and this morning between the heavy rains and the cold nights I think I killed the poor things, the package did mention that planting dates for this area was in Feb time frame so I really thought that they could take the cold but I guess not. It just looks like a guessing game, when to plant when to not plant.

No. I'm supposed to plant on Valentine's Day. However, I might have to wait a few days if we get more freezing weather and snow. Blech!

I haven't planted mine yet, either. We're going into the 30s for the next 3 days until Saturday. I did line up my 3 washing machine tubs that I'm pressing into service! I'll use those plus the two 20-gallon SmartPots. This'll give me room to plant all the potato seeds I have without crowding 'em. I've also been collecting 40-gallon bags of leaves which I'm gonna use to cover the vines as they grow up. I'll start with 8" of an aged compost/garden soil layer in the bottoms, they go from there. Also, I'm not gonna add any fertilizer or anything to the soil. Just let it be, and see what happens!

I am truly excited. I'm More excited about having skillfully placed 3 more planting vessels on my "fringe"!!!!

And to think that the useless spa has sat covered, and unused, in the middle of a big patch of sun for more than 4 years, and I'm just now discovering how to sit containers on TOP of and around it to catch all those rays!!!

Better late than never!!! ^^_^^ (doing the spa dance!!!) ♪♪♪

Since we've been having so much rain I have not planted my taters yet. They are on the agenda for this weekend though...

My planting dates are Jan 15th through February, early March, so better get on the ball I guess...

Well according to my calendar our last frost date in here is March 5, and according to my planting calendar and I am not talking about the Farmers Almanac, the dates to plant potatoes in Mobile are from the mid january til almost the end of Feb so maybe they can take a little chilly weather, but not sure. I can definetely tell you that people over here are getting a little tired of the extreme weather change, from cold to hot.

make sure you use that last frost date as a guide only Carmen... Our last frost date for Phoenix is supposed to be March 8th - coulda fooled me. I've never seen frost that late and rarely past Valentine's Day, but you never know. I shoot for Valentine's Day to transplant a lot of things, but I always check the extended forecasts very carefully to get an idea of the weather. Transplants are very succeptible to drastic changes in temps. I am prepared to cover/protect things as necessary. However, if the temps are cooler than I like, I will wait to transplant, especially tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. They will just sit and sulk and not do much in the garden if it stays cool, so I'll keep them out of the garden a bit longer...

They can take the chilly weather. Most sources recommend planting them 2-4 weeks before the last frost date. I think that might be because they're developing roots during those first few weeks, and it's the leaves that are sensitive to frost.

I'm like you, though, and worry about the sudden changes in weather. What if it's warm enough for them to sprout up and then gets super cold? I guess I'll trust that they can handle it.

Hey you guys! What seedlings do you have going now for Plantout?

So far I have tomatoes, bell peps, and mustard green seedlings germinated in jugs I also have some Early Dividend broccoli, and a few Silver Cup caulifls, also early. The turnips an spinach are coming up in one raised bed, n I added the Wando peas n 1 jug of the WS mustards this past Saturday. The other bed has sat vacant since it was prepped early Oct.
Got 13 cabbages and 2 cauliflowers makin heads, and 2 kohlrabis , all in the eBucket patch. I also have 3 straggly mater cuttings rooted from last falls non-crop and 3 bell pepper plants that've stayed alive for the past 2 years.

And 4 collards n 1 mustard growing in 3 patented EBs. That's my update. How 'bout yall?

Linda

I lost all my bragging rights with the big January freeze. I have 2 heads of broccoli left, small and bitter. Three ugly rutabagas and about a dozen kohlrabi. My garlic, onions and strawberries look decent.

I've got new broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, pac choi, chinese cabbage ready to go. I planted some out last week but it's supposed to snow Thursday night. They're scattered all over and won't get covered. My tomatoes are in slomo because of all the cold and cloudy days. I'm really excited about the maters because I've got 40 different ones so far and only 3 are repeats. Peppers are on the heat mat and haven't stuck their heads up yet. My potatoes are sprouting nicely but I'm not going to plant for at least a week.

Valentines Day is normally the trigger for a lot of garden activity. I'm supposed to have the taters planted, the roses, fruit and pecan trees fertilized. Everything is supposed to be pruned and ready to go. This year I'm a slug and if they have any sense, they will be too.

Twiggybuds! Thanks for the update! It helps keep me on track to see where the other growers in my (relative) Zone are!

Kell, Carmin, Steph and you other Zone 8-9 folks here please post an update so we can ALL keep up with each other (relatively speaking)

Yay!^^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^^_^^ (me and Ya'll doing the update dance)♪♪♪♪

Morning! I have peppers, tomatoes and eggplant started in the Aerogarden. Valentine's Day is my shoot for plant out date, but looks like we are going to have cool weather for a bit longer. So will watch the extended forecast closely and decide when to plant out. I started I think 15 types of tomatoes and probably as many peppers (hot & sweet), plus 3 kinds of eggplant. Was gonna start my Basil inside but had good luck direct seeding it last year so gonna do it again.

Steadily harvesting broccoli, carrots, bok/pak choi, chard, peas and beet greens; the herbs (thyme, oregano, rosemary, parsley and cilantro) are going strong. Still waiting to plant the taters (this weekend for sure) and I need to get some sweet taters at the Farmer's Market this weekend to get my slips started. I want to plant them out by the end of March. Last year they didn't go in the garden until June, and by October I needed the space. Had I put them in earlier I would have had a bumper crop rather than a just OK one - lol. Now I know...

See, this is what I'm talking about! I should be harvesting crops like Kelly is right now! And I'm not 'cause I didn't know when to plant stuff last time!

Kelly,
My schedule has April for sweeties, but I think I could go with the end of March, too. although 2? 3? yrs ago we had a BIG freeze in April on Easter Sunday! Wiped out more tomato seedlings than you wanna think about in Houston (not mine!!!)

I was delivering my 120+ extra seedlings (I was being fascinated with the shelves, lights and timers inside and got zealous with the seeds...) to Houston growers all over the place. Made several rendezvous's!

I can plant sweeties the first part of March with protection if it gets cold. Mid March through July is normal planting time for here. The biggest issue I have with SP is they take soooooooooo looooooooooooong to mature - lol. I have to time them so that they are finished by the time I need the space. Maybe I can con, um, talk DH into a small bed just for the sweeties - lol. You could always plant some out and keep extra slips like I do just in case... No harm if you don't plant them until April; just take into account most varieties need upwards of 120 days to reach full mature size. You will get taters sooner, but fewer and smaller (my harvest last year)...

Don't feel bad about not harvesting. It's been so dang warm here my last planting of bok choy is bolting before it's even eating size - oh well, time to pull and replace it with something else - lol.

O.K here goes my update, I am planting about 8 varieties of indeterminate maters and about 4 varieties of determinate maters , I have planted a few peppers and also started some basil but the basil is not doing too well, for some reason the leaves are burning, getting brown on the tips, my DH thinks it is because they are too close to the grow lights, the maters are doing really good but 4 of my seedlings are getting too big and I really need to make another shelving unit to place the bigger plants, I think I started those a little too early.

I will be starting some cucumbers soon and also some winter squash and will be planting some corn and beans as well when weather permits.

I have been harvesting some broccoli ( small heads and side shoots) some mesclum mix, kolrabi, bock choi( this one is already bolting), red russian kale.

One of my beds is full of onions so it will be a while until I can plant anything else in that bed and then that only leaves me with 2 raise beds and about 4 earthboxes to plant the rest so we will see how it goes.

I will be planting my taters soon, maybe either today ot tomorrow.

I am having the same problem, some veggies I started a while back are taking so long to grow that I will not be able to let them grow to completion before I have to pull them out and plant my spring veggies in the garden.