Potatoes Under Straw/Leaves #3

I've got a bunch of those crane flies, too. The larva eating decaying plant matter, so I think it's the piles of leaves. Supposedly they don't eat live plant matter, leaves or tubers, so no problem to just let them be.

They're Crane Flies! And, from what I read, the larvae were in the bags of decomping leaves I filled the potato bins with. They hatched and are all over the yard. The adults live 5 days. The larvae feed on the decomp!

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/beneficials/beneficial-29_crane_flies.htm

This message was edited Apr 5, 2010 2:36 PM

This message was edited Apr 5, 2010 2:39 PM

I never knew what those were called. Thank you. I didn't think they were harmful and I'm glad I didn't freak out over them.

I want to get rid of the ants because I don't want them in my potato bin! I generally don't like ants, eventho they feast on the aphids. Besides that, I don't do well when they sting me.

Those things freak me out because they DO look like giant mosquitoes. But someone on here said what they are and do and now they don't worry me anymore.

Ants don't eat aphids; they farm them. http://www.ghorganics.com/page11.html I don't know anything about stinging ants. I don't think we have those up here.

I don't mind the little ants on plants and in areas where there are aphids. I do mind them in other places.

We do in the south, they bite and the bit hurts too. Yes, ants come along following aphids, so if you got ants, you got aphids, if you got aphids you need to spray to get rid of them before they suck the life out of your plants.
joy

Steph,
After you read what that "ant herding" is all about, you might wanna rethink not minding the little ants. I never knew that's what they were doing!

No more ant herding!

Joy,
What do you spray for aphids? After I read the article, I found ant and aphids on one 'a my newly planted bells.

Ok, ya'll,
My planting chart says it's time to plant SWEETIES! So, who's started their slips yet and can tell me all about what I need to do? I think there's an article or a video on Dave's about starting slips.

We're about to change gears. Get ready! Get ready! Get Ready!

Linda, I spray Murphy's Oil Soap and fish emulsion or liquid seaweed.

Here are mine.

Here you can see the size of the can.

Linda, my sweetie slips are growing in the window of my kitchen as we speak. :D One of them is almost ready.

It's finally potato-planting time in parts of the midwest! I planted 23 tubers or pieces of tubers - Blossom fingerlings, Maris Piper, Caroloa, and Nicola. Each one about a foot or so from the one next to it and about 3" deep.

One thing about Maris Piper as compared to some of the other potatoes - the ones I got had very few eyes. So I didn't get as many seed pieces from a pound of Maris Piper as I did from some of the others, even the nonfingerlings.

If the estimated yield (depending on various weather, insect, disease, and potato-variety factors, of course) is 25-50 lbs per 25 row feet, I guess I might end up with 25-50 lbs of potatoes. Harvest is in 5-6 months, so we'll see.

Here's my potato patch nestled in the mess of last year's garden. The thin layer of straw is there mostly to tell people where not to step or till.

Not sure if you can really see it, but in the lower-left corner is my sage with a blanket of spruce needles. It looks like it made it through the winter just fine and is showing new growth. On the other side of the potatoes are burnet and thyme, which also happily made it through the winter.

You know the interesting thing about these threads? Zones and Timing!

All of the potato growing discussion so far has been with the Southerners in zones 6b to 10a. We're all in gear and hilling and hilling, and just biding our time....

And now, the Northerners have come alive and are jumping aboard the Potato Express!

I used to staaaaaaaaaaay sooooooooooooo totally confused with the growing because I didn't understand that all the people talking were in different growing zones. I was trying to follow advice from everyone and nothing was coming out right!!!

Now, I know!

"She knows!" (line made famous by a once-totally-confused newbie grower who's finally seen the grow light! Not to be confused with a famous line by a screaming half-blind woman who showed a soon-to-be-famous little blind girl some light...!)

^^_^^^^_^^^^_^^ (Me and my potato-growing friends doing the Spudz Dance!)

Gymgirl: I use spinosad mixed with permethrin. It covers the full range of bugs. If you want to go totally organic though, you can get Dr Bonner's Peppermint soap mix in 1 TBSP of tabasco and 1 TBSP of garlic powder for 16 ozs of water. Ants hate peppermint and all the other bugs will be either repelled by the garlic or one taste of the tabasco will do it, works for critters too, supposedly.
joy

And the peppermint soap smells heavenly!

I've repelled fire ants from a couple of my veggie beds using Howard Garrett's mound drench. He says it actually kills the ants but I dunno, I thought the mound drench just displaced them. No matter, they're gone and the soil benefits from the organic treatment to boot.

http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/1341/

John, I've used mound drench before and had success. We still have some so I might go that route. I checked for ants in the bin last night and didn't see any, so maybe the DE worked.

I'm afraid to try anything not organic with potatoes, so far so good, no bad bugs, but we ain't hit summer yet. LOL

Gymgirl: Yikes, guess I will go with one tote of okra then.
joy

I got aphids on my taters and peppers, but also a big 'ol bunch of ladybugs munching away... Life is good!

I've got 'em on my pepper plants, too. But, I've got a coupla LADYBUGS working overtime, too!

This message was edited Apr 7, 2010 9:34 AM

I released ladybugs late last week. The aphids go wild for my daylilies in early spring. Haven't seen any on the veggies, though.

Did everyone see this article today?

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1790/

Last year, I planted nasturtiums as a trap crop for aphids, but the nasturtiums were so pretty that I couldn't bring myself to pull them up. Just hosed them off occasionally. I had only one ladybug. I hope more come around this year.

I did notice, too, that certain kinds of aphids seem to prefer certain kinds of nasturtiums. The aphids on the Empress of India (with the red blooms) were black, and the aphids on the Fordhook mix were lighter in color.

Do you put your straw down when you plant your potatoes or wait until they come up?

Thank you,
Donna

You cover your seed pieces with about 3" of dirt, then once the sprouts are about 8" tall, you cover them with straw, leaving 2"-3" of leaves showing.

So the straw that I put down, I guess I need to take it back off until there are sprouts.

Ok. I just got back from my local fertilizer store. I went to buy phosphorous to side dress the potatoes, and stimulate good ROOT development (= more potatoes??!).

Read that article posted above and bought two bags of Triple Super Thrive (0-45-0) and read on the way to the parking lot that it was NOT recommended for containers.

So, I returned those two, and picked up a general all purpose fert only to see the same such warning...

Ended up with Organic Rock Phophorous (0-3-0) and 5 lbs. of Triple 13 for the eBuckets.

Be careful to read your labels, folks...let's not go roasting our spuds before we can see them!


DDDAL: Yeah. Wait for the shoots to come up through your soil...

This message was edited Apr 7, 2010 2:47 PM

Donna - if you put the straw on so thick that the potato leaves might have trouble popping up through there to get to the sun, rake it back from where you planted the seed pieces. Carefully, in case they're already coming up.

The straw holds the moisture in, and you don't want the soil to be too moist before the seed piece puts out some roots and stems and leaves. With this rain we've had, I'm a little nervous about mine because my clay soil doesn't drain well. It has been warm enough to dry it up a little, though. I haven't had a chance to go out and check mine since I planted them. Good luck with yours!

Let me tell 'ya, folks. Once you start hilling, those plants think they're on steroids and start growing like crazy!! I think that some of my taters have grown about 6"-8" overnight! These guys were NOT that close to the top of the bin when I checked them on Monday evening. I added more leaves to them today. There are still some shoots that have just come up so I can't totally put leaves down like I want, but we're getting there!

Yep. Steph, would you change anything about the design of your potato bin? If so, what would you change?

I checked and mine have just about reached the top of the trash can. I think in a few days, I'm just gonna be letting them go nuts.

My potato plants are doing well, too!!! I just need to build my chicken-wire fence around my raised bed and I will be good to go. I have already piled some leaves on top of some of the plants, so time is running short because they're starting to take-off. I'd have some pics but my kids screwed-up my camera...I'll have it fixed soon enough.

I'm afraid to use my leaves, they might have pesticides on them, is okay if I stick to potting mix, I started to use it as it seems lighter than the compost and garden soil I started with. They really took off once I used the potato fertilizer on them.
joy

Joy, yes you can definetely use potting mix, for what I have read. By the way what potato fertilizer are you using?

Steph?

Linda?? LOL

I love the design of this particular bin. I don't think I'd change anything with this one. The others, though, I think I'd like to be deeper. And if I'd do anything different, I'd only plant 1 kind of potato per bin in this big one.