POTATOES UNDER STRAW/LEAVES #4

:o)

Dividensky what a wonderful harvest! boy you'll be set eating potatoes for quite a long time. As far as straw I did not place any on my potatoes, I used leaves instead but I got more potatoes growing in the dirt that I placed in the bottom of my containers than in the leaves so I will try to just use dirt next time around and see if that make a difference or not.

Carminator1,
That's exactly why I plan to do the 3-tier seeding experiment. I'll plant the first layer of seed potatoes, then let them grow up to the point I need to start hilling them again. When I cover them with another layer of soil, I'll lay down more seed potatoes. I'll do a final layer and add more seed potatoes. Hopefully, I'll have a container FULL of potatoes that grew in all three layers of soil.

I think I'll wrap the bins again with the poultry cage and layer in leaves, just for some insulation against any cold snaps we might get. It couldn't hurt, that's for sure!

I'm feeling like this experiment could actually work, especially when we keep experiencing the harvest almost exactly where we first plant the seed potatoes.

Linda

Yes Linda I am with you on this one, hopefully we can get better results this time but if not it is still a good experiment don't you think?

Outstanding, Dividedsky.

Also- is that your pumpkin patch in the background??

One pumpkin plant - Musque de Provence. It has escaped the pumpkin patch and is trying to take over the yard.

Wow, that is one gorgeous Musquée de Provence plant! I've been trying to grow them without success for a couple of years, now. They are supposed to be delicious winter squash and good keepers, too.

Okay, so I had a beautiful harvest of Russian Fingerlings and Red Pontiacs (no pictures, though!)... I planted in March and just finished harvesting the last of the Pontiacs.

I want to try growing a second crop this fall in a different area. All of my usual seed people do not have inventory until January (Ronnigers, Territorial Seed, Seeds of Change).

Would I be crazy to buy starters at the farmers' market or Whole Foods and put 'em on the counter to " eye-up"? Seems to me I've been warned against that, but if I bought organic potatoes?

Thoughts, please!

Happygirl3,
GO FOR IT! A few of us on this thread did exactly that, and got a nice harvest.

Ya'll know those lovely Kennebecs and Yukon Golds I showed ya'll up above? Well, I was showing my bedridden MIL my garden pics yesterday when I got to the potato pics. Then I remembered the bowl of spuds I harvested. Well, they've ALL sprouted.

So, yeah, Happy! GO FOR IT! 'Cause those same spuds I harvested will become my new seed potatoes, along with the others that definitely MUST be planted this Saturday, or I risk losing them to shriveling/rotting!

Let the experiments begin!

Linda

Happy, I did exactly that, bought potatoes at my local organic market and they did very well for me, sprouted, produced etc... no problems at all. I decided to buy another type of organic potatoes this season as well from the organic market and they are sprouting fine for me, so I say go for it.

happygirl, last year I used organic potatoes from Trader Joe's as seed potatoes. They were just labeled red and white early potatoes without any specific type names. I got a very nice crop from them.

You have to get organic ones because the non-organic ones will have been treated with something to prevent sprouting so they will store longer. I'm sure you'll get another beautiful harvest from your second crop!!

You people are the BEST!!!

I will go the farmer's marketing this weekend... WoHoo!

BUMP!

Bintje, Blossom, and Purple Majesty are in my lineup this year.

If anyone has an organic solution for dealing with the roly poly bugs that nibbled at my crop, let's hear it! (Probably a few rodents, too, that did some damage. It's hard to tell.)

Sluggo Plus

Interesting. Last time I checked, it didn't say it was approved for organic use. Maybe they were still going through the approval process.

I've also used crumbled egg shells, but not had a high success rate.

A French gardening tips book suggested using hair clippings to deal with slugs and snails. Supposedly the hair irritates them and they drool and then dehydrate. Don't know if it works but it conjures up a funny mental image!

I have heard of people using beer to drown just regular slugs but I am not sure if they would work for the roly poly bugs. As far as rodents maybe getting a couple of traps with peanut butter on the traps did the trick for me.

What's the latest possible time I can sow my seed potatoes that were cut into pieces a month ago!!! aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhh, and have sat on paper plates waiting for the procrastinator to put them into the ground?

Last time I planted on February 14th and harvested in July. They were fine, and only had one succumb to any kind of damage...150 days....

If I plant this weekend, 18 weeks (126 days) would put me at the end of July. I think I'd still get potatoes, but they might be smaller?

Linda

LOL Linda! I just got mine in the ground yesterday and some today!! Just go ahead and plant them and see what happens.

You know, that's what I love about this place.

It's soooooooooo comforting to know that I am NOT alone.....and, there are people willing to admit where they are too!

Hugs!

^^_^^^^_^^ (Me and Steph, doing the mashed potato!)

This message was edited Mar 15, 2011 9:31 AM

Steph, My BPF,
What're you covering with this go 'round? I had some eBuckets filled with an anaerobic mess of garden soil that I'm drying out. I'm using pine bark fines, MG potting mix and perlite for all my containers, since I've started from scratch. I always wanted to try Tapla's 5:1:1 container mix, and so far, so good. I, and the plants, are loving it! It's a super light, well-aerated, quick draining mix ().

Since I have 8 of those 25-gallon molasses tubs, I'm thinking of cutting in some of that old soil to stretch. I truly don't wanna fill all those tubs, cause I think all 8 together could hold about 3/4 yard of garden soil! Hold on. Lemme check my trusty online conversion program....be right back...

Ok. 25 gallon [US, liquid] = 0.12377829218 cubic yard x 8 = 0.990226336 cu yards!

I've got a call in to Ronniger's to see why we're only getting spuds at the level we place the seed potatoes vs. potatoes vertically in the whole container. If we're not doing anything wrong, and it's just a function of the restricted container space, I'll go with filling the whole tub but add at least 2 layers of seed potatoes per tub...

I'll let you know what Ronniger's says...

I think this is what we're supposed to be shooting for...

I think this year we're going to use dirt and compost. My compost potatoes are doing great!

Ok, here's the scoop from Ronniger on why we're not getting the yields:

First off, like UBERshoe said on another thread, in order to get those kinds of yields like in the pic, we need to be growing LONG SEASON varieties. Ronniger's suggested "Nicola".

Long season varieties need 100-130 DTM, without freezing the spuds. According to Ronniger's, Kennebecs are MId-season, Yukon Golds and Purple Vikings are EARLY-season.

I explained we are short-sighted, short-season growers (smile). HOWEVER, where there's a challenge, there's Gymgirl....

I explained to her that I grew my first spuds from Feb-June (120 days). I picked my very last potato in mid-July (at 150 days with no problem), and I got a single layer of spuds -- which is exactly what I was supposed to get with the varieties I grew.

So, if I switch over to Nicola, plant a little earlier, and be prepared to keep the vines protected in case of our freaky freezes (throw a hoop over and put some blankets around the container) I should get a different harvest by late-June to mid-July.

So, next season, I'll be trying the Nicola. If I could figure out how to plant in the fall and keep the containers protected through the winter and into late spring, I'd have a bumper crop! hmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

Well, there you have it from Ronnigers.....

Linda

Linda I also started my potatoes just a few days ago, this year I am experimenting, I have 1/2 a raise bed with the yucon golds and then I have about 7 contractor bags with the rest of my potatoes, some fingerings and some reds, I really want to see if they do better in the bed or in the bags but only time will tell. I am using some cotton compost that I purchased from this guy in craighlist, the stuff is wonderful, it is very black and crumbly and my winter veggies did really good in this soil.

Hmmmm, so what about Rose Finn Apple and La Ratte. I have no idea whether they're long season or short. But how neat that you got some answers!

Steph,
Horseshoe recommended an adjustment to my planting schedule.

If I order the Nicolas variety and plant out at the end of May, I think I could keep the vines from frying in our summer heat. Remember, I kept three cabbages alive through a summer, fall, and winter!

I read somewhere once that the optimum growth cycle is for the vines to start in the warmth of spring and the producing spuds to grow into the cool of the fall.

I could safely let them go all the way to the 1st or 2nd week of November. That would be 7 months or 210 days. Something ought to happen by then, yah think?

I could even wait until June to plant out.

Lemme know what you think.

I dunno. Try it and see!

I still have Rio Grand russets to plant, but my labor force is sick

Ok. I've ordered Nicolas and Canelas (prefer to be planted in April or May...) for planting in May and harvesting mid-November. That's through the BLISTERING heat of our Texas summer, and into the FREEZING cold of November.

Canelas have a long dormancy period so I guess that means they'll take their time through the summer. Which is not at all a bad thing!

We shall see...

I bet that if you grow them under shade cloths they'll be fine, or even if you can grow them in some shade. My taters growing in the compost pile are in a very shady area with hardly any direct sunlight and they're going crazy!

Yeah, Steph, but your compost pile isn't smoking yet! I do have a shady area I could put them in...

Should the see potatoes be firm or is it okay for them to be a little soft (not squishy)?

When should I plant them? Our last frost is the 2nd week of May.

They can be a bit soft.

Lookie! Lookie!

Those are reds and purples. Here's the entire bed. I left my husband in charge of planting them. He didn't write down what he planted where and then he did something weird and planted the ones he didn't think would grow all together in the MIDDLE Of the bed!

Yesterday, the first of my Rio Grand Russets poked out its first sprout! So excited!

Thanks Stephanie. How soon before your last frost did you plant yours?

Normally, it would've been 4 weeks (Feb 14 because our avg last freeze date is Mar. 15), but this year everything happened and we didn't get them planted on the correct date. The bigger ones we got planted about 2 weeks ago and the one that's just poking through was planted about a week ago. Needless to say, my eyes were growing really well by planting time but I did plant some pieces without any eye growth.