Potato Experiment

Hi All,

I am putting in this picture at the suggestion of one of my DG friends who said this will work. I had one small box which I was not using and one seed potato left over so thought I would try the following as an experiment This is one potato, the mulch now is at least 14 inches deep, the potato is laying on the soil the level of which is about 3 inches below the top of the wood frame. The growing area is only 16x18 inches. Afraid to go any higher, at the moment, because I will have to cover up some of the leaves. Don't know if the plant will grow high enough above the mulch now to be able to add more.

I wonder how much of the stem will send out potato slips and can I go higher? What happens if I cover the lower leaves? Would like to hear opinions on it.

Sparks

It looks good to me. Be sure to keep that layer of mulch moist all the time. I think the whole stem will make tubers as long as it is covered up and doesn't dry out.

Looks good, Sparks.

I'd be willing to bet you can go higher if you want.

Keep in mind, however, that there is a point at which the exposed foliage cannot convert enough sunlight into tubers. No, I can't tell you what that point is. It no doubt depends on the variety, amount of moisture, nutrients, and a whole slew of other factors.

The rule of thumb is 8 inches of plant, and cover four inches. I would guess that you could keep that up until the plant flowers. I would certainly stop at that point, though, because that's when tubers start to form.

Let us know how this works out.

Thank you both for your comments.

Brook, I think you know of what you speak but not quite sure what you mean by 8 inches of plant and cover 4 inches. Does that mean when 8 inches shows above the mulch you can cover 4 inches? When that happens I will be covering one lower leaf or will have to remove it.

Sparks

Yeah, Sparks, that's exactly what I mean. Let the plant grow eight inches tall, then cover with soil, mulch, straw, or whatever you're using)half of it.

Sure, you'll be covering leaves and stems. That's the idea. Wherever stems are buried they will put out stolens and tubers.

Also don't forget if any tubers are showing on the surface they need to be covered. Sunlight causes them to turn green, and produce a toxin. But even an inch or two of mulch is enough to stop that process.

Thanks Brook,

It gives me some confidence then in going ahead and adding more as the plant grows taller. I am familiar with greening so will watch it close.

Sparks

Sparks! You ol' hound dog! You're having the best time with your taters this year, aren't you! Now THAT in itself is called gardening! Enjoy!

I agree with Mary and Brook, mulch mulch mulch that baby, keep it moist (not overly wet) and it'll produce a good crop.

Be sure to post how it goes, with pics! ô¿ô

sparks, your bin looks real good. we did our bin real big. with this 2 month drought i don't think it looks to bad. by june they will be ready to harvest.

Hi Farmgirl,

The one in this thread is just an experiment. Have others in raised beds, 52 pototoes to be exact. I have two questions: do you know when you planted yours and what are the wall made of?

Yours are looking good.

Sparks

i think they went in week in march, maybe last week in feb. i lost the sheet of all my dates. lol. we were going to use chicken wire but didn't have any on hand so we used stock fence and the white things are plastic ceiling grates we found in our local recycle dumpster. ours is an experiment too. hoping for better results than when we planted in the ground.

Thanks Farmgirl,

Your about a month ahead of me so I will have to try and be patient before I check to see what I have. Patience is normally not one of my best virtures. I like to start getting potatoes when they are still small. We will both have to keep posting as things progress. I will back up a little, I generally have great patience but am sure anxiou to see how the potatoes do.

Sparks

yes i am very excited to see how they do. we are really hoping for a bumper crop. this way would be so easy to do each yr. the way we rigged the fence is when they are all done we will just remove the fence and use all that compost out in the field garden (wonderful clay soil) and start fresh next yr.
might try for a fall crop too i think i read somewhere that we can get another planting in this zone. i believe start in august. i need to find that info again.
i have the patience to wait, not patient on planning ahead. i think that is called counting my chickens before they hatch which i do that too lol.

who would've thought you could be so creative with a potatoe? I just planted mine in a tire raised bed. Good luck with the experimenting. Hope they turn out ok. Mine not yours, I'm sure yours will do great. I've never grown any before so I'm not so sure. Just the fact that ya'll planted yours much earlier than I planted mine makes me think I'm in trouble here.

we are in a few zones warmer than you lol. you should be fine.

thanks, I hope so can't wait to see how the experiment turns out! Tracy

Hillbilliebo,

I have tried in past what you are doing, it works. One thing though I found the tires absorbed too much heat. Think by rapping white garbage bags around them it would help. Just an opinion.

Sparks

Thanks, sparks I'll try that or paint the pototoe tires white maybe? Tracy

Thought I my bring everyone up-to-date, I now have 18 inches of mulch on my experimental potato and the stem is 10 inches above the mulch. Hope to keep going to end up with two feet of mulch, possibly could go higher but for this year two feet is high enough. If it works will try higher next year.

Sparks

Hope you have pics of the harvest, when it comes in. Also a "weigh-in"...that would be great!

Yeah Shoe, I plan on that. Not sure what I will find when the day of unveiling comes. Could be a big disappointment.

Sparks

now now we cannot think like that! lol it will be a bumper crop.

Just grinning farmgirl.

Hi all,

Thought it was about time I updated the experiment. I now have 20 inches of leaf mulch on top of the potato. To me it seems to be going slow but it is only the first of June and that last photo was taken on May 18th, not quite two weeks ago. The following pictures were taken today from different angles. I done sumthin wrong, only got one pic in.
Will go down and post it below.

Lets try again to get the second angle.

Lookin' good! Keepin' it watered well? (hehehe...we've had umpteen inches of rain here lately folks)

Sparks,
I am doing a similiar experiment this year. However, I made 4' diameter cages, 2' high out of typical welded wire. After I planted my seed pieces 3" deep in a circular pattern 8" apart in the cages, I added about 1" of compost to each cage (30 total) with about 2 cups of organic fertilizer. As they grew, I added partially decomposed leaf mulch, about 12" thick. My tater plants are gigantic, and are forming about 6 tubers per plant. They have been in the ground since 3/25, and I expect to be harvesting in about 30-60 days depending on variety. Potatoe beetles have been present, I only sprayed once with a combo of BT/Pyrethrin/Rotenone. Most of the time I just leisurely scouted and crushed the interlopers. Overall, a much easier way to grow taters for market both with the use of space and time spent. I also grew dwarf sugar snaps around each cage which worked great. I'll send some pix in a soon as possible. As soon as I do, though, Horseshoe will be trying to find them for his market.....
Tater Tom

Hi,

Horseshoe I haven't used the hose on them once, do you think I am making a mistake?

Tater Tom, sounds great, what size openings in the weldwire?Sure hope it works out fine, I have only a small garden and something like that would certainly help out.

Sparks

oops i think i made a mistake wasn't i supposeed to mulch my yukon gold potatoe sets? I don't see any mulch on the pics here and i don't have any vines up as yet? planted sets a couple of weeks ago. Should something be happening by now?

Hey Sparks!
How has your experiment gone? Mine has done well. Overall, I mulched all my cages with an 8-9" "finished" layer of leaves (after compaction). It seems from the research I've done and my own results that tubers only form off the stem between the top of the seed piece and ground level. After talking with the folks at Woodprairie Farm in Maine where I got my seed from, they said that one of the best things to do is work in as much compost as possible into the soil and irrigate regularly. I also think in Carolina that the best varieties for this method would be the earliest ones, primarily b/c you can get them to market nice and early. I found Carola (yellow fleshed) to yield about 9:1 in my cages. Not bad, but I know they can do better. WPF also said to try fingerlings, b/c they can yield at a ratio of 15-25:1. Not bad, plus I think they would sell very well at market. Well, I'm off to go pick some Independence Day Veggies.
tbolt76

The great potato experiment is completed. To begin with the potato vines (at least the Red Gold tater) only puts out taters at about the same level as the seed potato. The experimental tater was just laid on the ground, what potatoes I got were at that level. My other boxes planted just below ground and that was where those potatoes were found.
I had started with a left over seed potato and only one eye and maybe that cut back on size and quantity of potatoes. Horseshoe, weigh in? I got three taters about golf ball size, do have pictures if any one wants me to post.

Sparks

Hmmm, not a very good yield, it could have been because there was only one eye on the piece you planted. When I did mine I planted a whole spud and it had a lot of eyes so maybe that made a difference. Also the sides of my enclosure were solid so the mulch was kept evenly moist, that may have been a factor too. Are you gonna try it again?

Glad to hear of ya'lls experiments. tbolt, I'd try it again if I were you, especially w/the crazy weather we've been having this yr. Cool weather but with lots of sun helps taters form. Did you leave enuff of the plant sticking out from the mulch to ensure good photosynthesis? Also, I would think a late-maturing variety would be a good choice for these experiments, mainly because the vine wouldn't die down so early and you'd have a better chance at producing a higher yeild.
As for the fingerling taters, you should approach one of our newest members here, MistyMeadows Farms (Ralph and Kathy)...they grew fields of them in the past for their markets and CSA members. Good source of info from them!

Sparks...(heheh, everytime I say that name now I see you as a young radio operator on a sailing vessel!)...I agree with Mary, perhaps a bigger spud to start with will give you a bit more energy to work with. That plus plenty of potassium to help them form tubers more easily. Wish I'd have done an experiment along w/you folks, just so we could all compare more notes.

Mary, did you say you've tried this method out your way before? Any other input? Plant food used, irrigation, temps, what kind of spud, etc?

Horseshoe, that book did accomplish one thing if you now think of me as a young man and not a broken down old geezer.
Also wondered if covering all those leaves cut back on the yield, will try again but next year. We will want you to experiment also. Maybe we all should try the same type of potato so we are talking oranges and oranges, sorry ,taters and taters.

Sparks

Sounds like a plan to me, Sparks!
Let's do it!

I like the looks of your experiment Sparky!
I have a rain delay here,I am going to try to get a few more chapters under my belt.
Shoe have you finished the book?Don't tell me the end,I want it to be a surprise,LOL!
Rooty.

I want in on this one too! Just LMK which varieties!

My Redgolds were dug: one seed potato planted, 10 eyes, harvested about 40 medium taters, too many little'uns to count, and enough babies to make any former marble player proud ;D

Still waiting for my Yukon Gold and All Blues.

Sparks, I will always think of you as a Monkhood ;D

Lupinelover, I am sure I fit the character of a Monk. lol
Red Gold potatoes never get very big but sure do have the flavor. It will be real intersting if a number of us do a smiliar experiment.

It was good to see you in here Rooty, I chat with Shoe almost every day.
Sparks

A Monk? Holy Cannoli!!! Anyhoo - we've been in the property 2 years now and the flower gardens seem to be doing well so we'll go back to our "roots" and get the vegetable gardens going in September.

So, we'll decide to do a common tater with known growing characteristics; one that produces taters at all levels, not just seed level and we should be able to pick something to plant now and harvest in the fall.

Don't know what tater that is, but if anybody has an idea or is game for this experiment just let me know.

Dea, whatever did you get the idea I might not be a canidate for monkhood? ha! Sure hope you can find a type of potato that does produce higher up but have strong doubts about it.

Sparks

Meant to add Dea that you hurt me to the quick, how do you know I haven't mended my ways? That is a possibility or maybe a small possibility or maybe a tiny possibility, or maybe we just better skip the subject. Please don't ask Horseshoe what he thinks. lol

Sparks