growing potatoes in the midwest.

Please post your success and failures in growing potatoes in the Midwest. This year I'm trying the Ruth Stout method of growing potatoes in straw and will keep you posted. Right now they are starting to put out blossoms. Last year I tried growing them in containers and got very few potatoes. I love homegrown potatoes but need some advice on growing them. HELP! ;)

Lots of areas near me where they grow potatoes commerically. Very loose, sandy soil. Irragted. If you want large potatoes you need an even supply of water. If there is a dry spell, plant will just start new potatoes next rainfall = lots of small ones. They use planes to spray the fields once mid summer with Malathion, I believe it is that one.

Hm, then we should get a bumper crop this year since it's been raining like crazy!

Guess I never had the desire to grow them. I can drive 30 miles north and get a 50lb bag of new, fresh (the best you ever tasted) potatoes for $7. Or, drive by the fileds and a few always, somehow fall into my trunk.

On a more negative side (perhaps) they use Paraguat spray just days before they want to harvest the potatoes. Amazing in a way. The once green and large plants are turned into shriveled brown nothing almost overnight. That way the plants cannot clog the harvest equipment. Efficient for them perhaps but I admit I was stricken at the ability to kill plants so quickly. And most of the time I am struggling to "grow" things.

hm, not sure that I like the idea of some sort of chemical killing off all of the foliage overnight...agent orange comes to mind. I'll be sure to grow lots of homegrown potatoes from now on. I had no idea that they did that...not organic I'm sure. ;(

Well, I'm growing potatoes in the Midwest but they're in grow bags. Norland Red and Kennebec. They are growing in potting soil and compost and I can see flower buds forming already. Probably won't be many potatoes, but it's my first time growing them so'll it's a learning experience for me.

This pic shows the bags half filled. They are now fully filled/hilled. The rounded leaves on the right are Norland and the pointy leaves on the left are Kennebec.



This message was edited Jun 15, 2011 12:27 AM

toni5735, I'll be interested in how your potatoes turn out. Are these bags made specifically for growing potatoes? It would be great if this works! I can't wait to hear about the harvest...please keep us informed.

IowaAnn, I found these bags at a store called Garden Ridge and they were $5 apiece. The box said Potato Bag and it was by TVBrands. I tried looking them up on the internet but it seems like you have to buy in lots of thousands from China. Anyway, they're made of a heavy-duty tarp-like material, about 20" tall and there's a small velcro opening on the seam of the bag big enough for your hand to fit in and "feel" for the potatoes.

Here's a pic of the bags fully filled.

I can't wait to hear about a bumper crop of potatoes. Please keep us informed. What a great Idea!!!

toni5735,
I am fascinated by your beautiful "planters". I hope you'll post pictures and comments, regularly, as you have time.

I've never seen those grow bags in any of our garden centers or farm stores. Very interesting.

Thanks Sashagirl, I'll keep this thread updated when the potato flowers bloom and when it's time to harvest.

for me. choosing what to grow has to do with effort level, cost, and flavor. Maybe I'm too old to tell the difference but a potato tastes like a potato. Different tomatoes, fresh herbs really taste better out my back door.

According to the hippy dude gardener/cook on Victory Garden, fresh dug potatoes taste "groovy"! LOL!!!

Nothing taste better than a freshly dug potato from your own garden. : ) When you cut into one it's crisp and juicy, almost like a crispy apple in texture. I love digging into the soil and finding the hidden treasures underneath. Like Forest Gump and his box of chocolates " you never know what your going to get". Big ones? Little ones? Big harvest? Small harvest? Always with a question of what to do next year to get a bigger and better harvest or what did I do this year different to get such a great harvest. I love growing potatoes! It's another simple pleasure in life.

Here are the first pictures of the harvest of Norland Red potatoes. It was fun spilling the bag and finding spuds tumbling out!

Another closer pic

Wow! I've got to try this! It looks like tarp material so maybe I could fashion something similar. Did it have drainage holes in the bottom? What a great harvest!! Did the vines die back so you decided to harvest?

I have several 5 gal buckets with holes in the bottom for drainage (from another project,) could they work for potatoes? Do tell us more.

Hi IowaAnn, I decided to empty the bag b/c the top growth was pretty much fried already. Leaves were turning brown and flea beetles were making swiss cheese out of what was left of the remaining leaves. The funny thing was that the plants never flowered; I thought all potato plants flowered.

The Kennebec's in the second grow bag are still hanging in there and they had 3 white flowers about 3 weeks ago. The plants are starting to look a little worse for wear, so I'm guessing they'll follow soon.

The grow bag does have drain holes in the bottom. I saved the soil into some plastic buckets and plan on keeping it for next year. I'm wondering if that is okay to do or if I need to start with fresh soil. I sure would hate to waste this potting mix.

This is a pic of the Kennebec's when they flowered 3 weeks ago.

Hi gasrocks, I'm new to this potato growing so I'm not sure about using 5 gal. buckets, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. The bags I use hold a little more than 5 gal. so I would try maybe 2 seed potatoes evenly spaced and start them in soil about 8" deep. As the plants grow, add more soil to the bucket and leave only a few inches of leaf growth sticking out. Continue to add soil as the plants grow every 6-8" or so until you reach the top of the bucket and then just let the foliage grow and do it's thing. This is how I did it with the bags.