Potato Experiment

Hehehehe...no comment!
(out loud, anyway!)
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ok - FINE! How about we agree on a funky monk with lots of spunk!

Doggone it Dea, you and Shoe know me too well. Grinning

To all,
The U. of GA has a good PDF publication on their extension service website on "growing potatoes in the home garden." One thing that will help sparks is a good amount of nitrogen at the beginning of the season. My plants were 3' tall and Woodprairie Farm in Maine says that was fine. Secondly, only about 9" of mulch is necessary, mostly to conserve moisture and protect the taters from sunlight. Thirdly, water, water, water. People on sandy soil (like me) can use supplemental irrigation even if we are getting at least 1" of water/week, especially when the tubers have formed and need to size up (emergence of flowers). And lastly, lots of compost should ensure a great crop.
Taters will only form above the seed piece on the thicker stolons that come off of the main stem. (see American Vegetable Grower magazine this spring) All the rest of the roots are for nutrient/water gathering.
Next year, I'm going for a 15:1 yield on regular early varieties and 20:1 on fingerlings. See you guys at the weigh off.

Thanks Tbolt,
A lot of good information there. Some of it I had concluded after this years experiment. Was afraid of too much nitrogen but will use more next year. I realized after my experiment that the tubers only formed above the seed piece and that 9" of mulch is plenty. Expect to learn a lot more before next year is over.

Sparks

Isn't this typical of gardners, we aren't even through one season and already are planning what we will do differently next year!

Weighing in with preliminary results from my experiment:

My All-blues were flowering (really beautiful blooms, too!) when I knocked the stems over, piled more mulch (maybe another 6" of straw) on top of the sprawled stems, then went away until yesterday.

More blooms showing. We have had a lot of rain the past couple weeks, so being good, I stay out of the veggie garden when foliage is wet, I am not sure when the stalks re-emerged or when flowering re-commenced.

I didn't know taters liked rich soil -- I thought I was supposed to grow them in mostly spent earth before beginning my enriching program again? Eeerrrrggghhhh!!!!! I will do better next year -- put them in an area of high fertility rather than low. But with my soil so naturally high in phosphorus, really all my soil is fertile (very heavy clay).

Yukon golds not even a hint of bloom yet, but planted them last fall. Talk about lots of foliage! Not sure when I will pick them up, maybe not until way later in the fall?

I am new to growing 'taters, when mine bloomed in May last year, I wasn't sure what was going on! LOL Maybe my Yukons won't bloom at all?

It's possibly, lupey...they don't need to bloom to make taters. Can you sorta sneak in under there and dig out a little, take a peek and see any taters in the dirt?

You mean sneak a peak under their plants *snicker I will try to tomorrow ;D

HAH!....I hear ya!
Sheesh...color me either red with embarrassment, or green with envy! :>)

'Shoe, I am glad you asked me to look!

I was so involved noticing their blooms that I didn't pay attention to the stems. The stems were suspended above the sloping ground, not under (or even on top of) the mulch. So I re-arranged them. Couldn't see any sign of tubers, not until I remove all the mulch. If I try to now, it would, in effect, 'harvest' the still un-developed tubers.

I will keep y'all posted. And Sparks, you sweetie for suggesting this! Maybe double or triple yield? I doubt it, but any additional will be welcome!

Edited to tell 'Shoe to get out of the sun before you get poisonous! Green ones aren't fit to eat! LOL

This message was edited Thursday, Jul 31st 4:05 PM

Lupinelover

Sounds like your doing great. I have always been hesitant about planting taters in fertile soils but I sure will next year.

I really didn't know what I was starting when I initiated this thread but sure glad I did. Next year will be even more fun with all trying tater experiments.

When I grew one of these many years ago I think I added a shovel full of dirt every time I added mulch, maybe that made a difference. I want to grow another one but it is way too late to do it this year. Also I started with a whole baking size spud so it had a lot of eyes and there were a lot of stems and the thing just went crazy. My enclosure was about 2x2x2 1/2 ft high. All this discussion sure makes me want to grow another monster tater.

Sounds like we have the beginnings of a contest for next year:

The DG potato contest! Who can grow the most (in number) and highest yield (in weight) and most side-shooted (not sure how to put this last).

And the winners will be everyone who gets lots of 'taters from the garden ;D

With all the stuff last fall, I never got the chance to post details about my potato experiment.

Here goes: Where I had laid and then covered the stems of my plants, new potatoes did form. They were fairly small, not sure if the yield was more or less than normal, I had never grown that variety before. Also, I am not terribly experienced growing them at all.

Anyway, the plants were very attractive, the flowers were so ornamental that a few people wondered why I was growing them among "weeds" ( that is, the straw mulch), and I was assured by all my friends who took and ate a few that they were "the best potatoes they had ever eaten". Of course, they were probably the only new potatoes they had ever eaten!

I am definitely going to try this kind of experimental growing again. Anyone else?

Remember, a long season variety will give you the most potatoes (or so 'they' say)! The early season ones will tend to poop out early, it's not in their genes to keep on producing.