Well we tried to grow potatoes in tires this year and today when my DH couldn't wait any longer and he knocked over 1 set there was ABSOLUTELY nothing there. Any idea what we did wrong? He was so disappointed that he knocked over a second set of tires (Different types of spuds) he found the same result - NOTHING. We thought we followed instructions carefully but the soil right down to the bottom layer was very wet and mucky. Could we combined with Mother Nature have overwatered this experiment?We planted at the end of April (we live in eastern Ontario) and just kept adding soil and tires when the plants were 8 in. or so tall. We would cover about 4 in. and leave about 4 in. showing. We were up to 7 tires on the Pontiacs and the Kennbecs. Sure would appreciate some input my DH is devastated he is not going to be the Potato King of Verona. Many thanks.
Growing Potatoes in tires - A Complete Disaster!
Sounds like too much water,but I'm not a potato expert.
Maybe these links will give you more information and answer some of your questions that you may have.
http://www.paynesvillearea.com/News/HeadlinesArticles/archives/082599/Vicfischerpotatoes.html
http://www.humeseeds.com/potato.htm
http://www.edelsoft.net/garden/potatostack.htm
I have had great sucess growing potatos in tires. We used large tractor tires. Four of them made 2 beds and had more potatoes than we could used. Were the plants yellow or still green when you turned them over. Was there anything at all. I really want to hear about this because I am planting mine in tires too....Oh my this is terriable.... all that time and such a disapointment..
.. :o(
(I read your post again and edit.) Sounds like you did everything right..Thats about how I do mine..how cold has it been there...?? Thats the only other thing I can think of. Other than to much water..does sound like to much water... but if water was the culpit than you should have had some signs of distress. What did the actual plants look like... Were thay looking bad did some of them rot or look as they were trying to.??? Oh my.... :o(
This message was edited Sunday, Jul 27th 4:04 PM
CoCo thanks so much for taking the time to set up the 3 hyperlinks for my DH and I to read. One of them we had already found but not the other two. My DH is so disappointed especially when he followed the steps taken in the articles about 'how to' plant the spuds.
WillowWasp - the plants were still green but the tires were starting to tip so DH just had to see what was going on inside the tires. I personally think it was too much water as the earth was mucky all the way to the bottom tire. There was absolutely no signs of distress, the plants were green not yellow but of course they hadn't flowered yet. It's been quite warm here so temperature wasn't a factor. My husband playing with the new pump we set up to bring water from the lake rather than use well water is probably a contributing factor. In each tire there was only 1 long green stem with no shoots out of it and no signs of the spuds trying to grow.
I'll be anxious to hear how you made out with your potatoes in the tractor tires. We used car tires but I don't think that affected any thing. Good luck with your spuds. D.
I think you are right about the water, I know since I live on the coast of Texas we get alot of rain, ,..lol and the potato crop will be poor because of it.
I really hope you will try this again,it's a rewarding way to do potatos and some other veggies with the bigger tires. I don't have potatos in tires this year since we just moved to a new house but I'm a looking for some tires now and hope to do them in the spring. I will post pixs in steps when I set them up to help more people start this way of gardening.
When I use regular car tires I drive "T" post in along the outside (not too deep cause you need to remove them later) to keep them from tipping.
Welcome to tire gardening....lol..I know you will get it down and love to do this...... :o)
My son tried growing potatoes in tires this year. He's already sneaked a few out of the tires for dinner! We live in a cool, moist climate, so I don't think that's the problem. We grow our potatoes in whiskey barrels with fairly good success.
Thanks so much for the picture Weezingreens. The potatoes in your son's tires looked nothing like the first 2 sets of tires my DH had. I'm hoping he is going to have more success with the last 2 sets of tires he has going. These potatoes LOOK like potato growth should, with lots of flowers and no bugs. What type of potato did your son grow?
I honestly think that DH was so excited about the pump system we put in to draw water from the lake he went way overboard on the watering. If he had let Mother Nature take her course I think he would have had more success. After his disappointment with the first set he hasn't watered them from the lake just let the rain do its thing. Fingers are crossed here.
We cannot transport whiskey barrels on Ontario's highways so they are really hard to come by now. I had 6 for flowers at the old farm house but couldn't get any when we built our new home last year.Do you use whole or half barrels? I would still like to try and get some and give that a whirl instead of tires. Many thanks for your response - it cheered Warren up that someone was having success.
Hi, Kidneyguy. I think you may be right about the watering thing. Potatoes don't like to be soggy. It can cause rotting in the seed potatoes and it can definitely cause some scabbing. Good drainage is important. Rob has yet to dig all his potatoes, so we have yet to see how successful this method is. We have a short season here, so we seldom get a big crop... but they are soooooo good. He is growing 'Ididared' and 'Yukon Gold". My personal favorite is the Ididared variety. They are very hardy in our cool, wet climate, and they seem to sprout early.
Concerning the barrels, I think any large container would work... plastic barrels cut in half, those large plastic totes, etc. Make sure there are plenty of holes in the bottom for good drainage. If it is extremely wet where you are growing them, you might try some rocks in the bottom for additional drainage. I also set my 1/2 barrels up on 4x4 blocks to make it less inviting for the slugs. Slugs do love to munch on the potato greenery.
Here's a picture of our Ididareds that we harvested last year. They were so crisp and juicy that they snapped when I cut them up for breakfast...yum!
Success at last! While there was not a bumper crop when my DH turned over the other 2 sets of tires we had potatoes in there were potatoes. Hurrah!!
The potatoes while few in number were very large. We will definitely try this again next year. Warren didn't water the 2 sets of tires he had left after we last posted in July and the soil in the tires was considerably less mucky, so I think he was his own worst enemy with the first 2 sets.
WillowWasp we will be looking for the pictures you said you would post when you plant with tires next season. Now you've got my DH on the lookout for tractor tires everytime he goes to the dump.
D
I grew pototoes in the raised bed and one thing that I am finding is that once I put in the seed potatoes the first time, now they are contining to re-seed themselves. There is no end to them once I started. I am not sure if this is good or bad. Anyone else have this experience?
Picturelady: Rather than 'reseeding', I think you are missing a few little fellows when you dig, and they are sprouting to produce your next crop. I can see no reason why leaving a few potatoes for the next crop is a problem.
Certified seed potatoes are tested for diseases, and that is the main reason to used them, as far as I know. Here in Alaska, we have been relatively free of potato blight, etc, so the Cooperative Extension highly recommends buying certified seed potatoes rather than using sprouting potatoes from the grocery that may come from out of state.
A common problem with potatoes in our area, due to the excess rainfall, I imagine, is scabbing. I grow my potatoes in barrels, and if they have scab, I not only don't use any of those potatoes as seed potatoes, but I do not use the same soil for potatoes the next year. If your potatoes are healthy, using offspring for seed potatoes should be fine.
Nice looking spuds!
Thanks, NoH2O, but I can't take credit for these. They belonged to Ceeads, another Alaskan DGer that lives down the road. Her veggies always put mine to shame!
Just think, if you hadn't told me I would never have known!
That's OK, NoH2O... I never know when to shut up and just say, 'Thank you.'
Took me a couple of seconds to figure out what DH was....and then I cracked up.......never heard that phrase before. :)
Your potatoes that did produce, did they happen to be the Pontiac potatoes planted in tires from a Pontiac? ;-)
Good question, Kelli! I don't know about 'Kindneyguy, but my son's always been a Dodge man, and I don't know of any Dodge potatoes! Mostly we grow Yukon Golds and Ididareds up here, so you'd think he'd have planted them in a dog sled! LOL!
May I suggest a sure solution to your questions about proper nutrition? a proven complete natural mineral nutrient formula is available free at www.foodforeveryone.org. You can grow lots of potatoes - or any other vegetable - either in simple containers or right in the ground. The instructions are all there as well. Just go to the Gardening Techniques section and chose soil or containers.
These methods and materials have been proven with monster yields in 29 countries for the past 39 years.
The picture below is the Rick Dietrich family, Mittleider gardeners in eastern Tennessee, and they have many more pics of their other vegi's.
Jim
Kidneyguy,
I grow my taters in 1' high welded wire cages mulched with leaves. I think the problem is stacking all the tires so high that the plant never bushes out and has enough foliage to properly support tuber growth. After reading some research, I have concluded that you don't need more than 12" of mulch. Potato plants won't keep setting tubers if you pile on more mulch. There are more roots that grow out of the stem, but those are just for water and nutrient uptake. If you look at a sprouted tater, there are heavier/thicker roots that grow laterally from the sprout near the seed piece. These are the ones that your new taters will form on. All in all, the purpose of mulching is just to protect the taters from light and more importantly in my warm climate, keep the soil cool and conserve water. So try less mulch, it will work better and your plants should like the ones in Jim's pic above.
Tom in NC (go leafs go!)
Tom, what you say makes sense to me. Growing our taters in barrels, we have sometimes mulched quite high and sometimes not, and I could never see much difference in production. I always attributed this to our short season, but now I have to wonder if we were inhibiting the foliage from taking in the nutrients necessary to produce more tubers.
Also, in our part of the country where it never gets hot and the soil stays cool, it takes longer to break down organic matter. This can actually detract from the nutrients to the potatoes, so we seldom add anything but soil or processed compost to the barrels.
I have to say, some of the best results we've had are from the potatoes we saved as seed potatoes from the year before. By the time I planted them out, the sprouts had become so long we had to wind them around inside the barrel, laying them laterally in about 8" of soil. Foliage came up from every sprouted spot on those long stems and produced potatoes. I think that helps confirm your comments.