Potato Planting

Getting ready.

Round 1 almost done. We are planting Red Norlands.
Bernie

Checking it over.

Little helper is along too.

Looks like you have kept that old Super C is as good a shape as your fields. Both looking good.

Picked up two types of seed potato today and am planting them in the morning. Maine and Idaho Potato.

Hi y'all! I just heard about something and I wanted to run it past you to see if you ever heard of this. My DH was told by a friend at work that he plants potatoes in a drum. He takes the lid off the 55 gal. drum, drills a few drainage holes around the bottom, fills it about 1/3 with dirt, puts in the sprouted potatoes, and then over times adds leaves to the drum for mulch. (careful not to completely bury the potatoe plants in leaves).

At the end of the growing season he rolls the drum back and forth to loosen up the dirt and the potatoes come sliding out with ease. Sounds so simple, I think we will try it.

Anyone else ever done potatoes in drums?

Some of us have done potatoes in old washer/dryer tubs... :)
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/432049/

It is a pretty standard procedure. Actuall y most folks use cages.
examples http://www.gardenguides.com/articles/tatertowers.htm
http://www.mastergardeners.org/projects/ninepalms_2003/potatoes.html
http://www.farm-garden.com/growing-vegetables/27/
http://www.milkranch.com/Potato/PotatoGrowing.aspx
http://www.griffin.peachnet.edu/ggarden/may0303p1.html
http://www.thegardenhelper.com/potato.html ( this one uses old tires)

I'm trying a bin this year, just for fun.

I'd love to try a bin since moles are a big problem for me, one year they ate just about my whole crop of sweet potatoes.
Frost blackened the tops of my potatoes this past Sunday morning but I know they will continue to grow and make a comeback. I planted five different varieties so it will be fun to dig them later on in the summer.

You had frost there on Sun. ?
We had a touch on Friday & Saturday, again this morning. Didn't hurt anything though.
Our first planted potatoes are up.
Bernie

Rose ; Just for your information, It is voles and ground rats that eat your potatoes. They will follow mole tunnels so they are often confused. Hard things to control.

wow - this is good information. Thanks so much for the links. We have been reluctant to plant potatoes since we do have moles or voles or something making tunnels underground. I have some organic grown Russets I bought at the grocery store that are sprouting nicely. We will plant those this weekend.

I was also thinking that instead of adding just leaves to the drums, that I would shred the junkmail and add the shredded paper occasionally to keep them mulched. Any thoughts on using recycled mail for mulching potatoes?

Rose, we had a good freeze here Sunday morning, too. I don't think I lost anything but it did discolor some of the leaves on my corn that has just come up last week. I know, I planted before the charts said to plant, but I just couldn't help myself! :-)

Farmerdill, Thank you, good to know the enemy and not blame the innocent. The garden is riddled with tunnels and I have too many fat lazy cats eating out of cans. I should know better....

Hmstyl, your plants will no doubt make a come back. I'd rather risk being early on some things and get a head start on the cycle of pests that show up when the weather gets hot.

Pour the used Cat Litter into their tunnels, then no more Voles/Moles etc...

Drew

Dunno if I want cat scat in my veggie garden, but elsewhere... might be a nice idea! :)

Well, as I've posted elsewhere, it may be a good idea but I don't have any used cat litter. My cats are country cats and use the woods as their facility. I don't keep little boxes in the house.

How did we get from potatoes to used cat stuff?

I'm not sure, probably tunneling critters that eat the potatoes as they grow.

Not that I know of.

Let's go back to talking about your potato plants and how they're doing an forget about critters, used litter and cats. I promise I won't post on this thread anymore.

Well now that we are back to potatoes, how do these drum things yield. I've seen this discussed before, but never any results. Our old fashioned way of planting in a field in rows yields tons of taters. We will start digging in mid June & go until late October. We sold upwards of 500 lbs per week & still had enough left to save for planting this spring & also ate on them all winter.
We planted 340 lbs of Norland Reds in early April. They are mostly up now.
Bernie

With such a large operation, I would imagine that you do not cut them up like we did for our small garden; we only planted 1.5 pounds. Whether you cut them or not, what size/sizes work best for you, Bernie?

Donna

We do cut them. We try to get 2 eyes per piece.
Bernie

Looking good, Bernie! I love growing taters!!

You really have a long harvest season (from June to October!). Do you stagger your plantings or grow early, mid-season, and late varieties to stretch your season out that long?

I hope to get some in the ground this week (depending on rainfall). What fertilizer/plant food do you find gives you the most abundant harvest?

Tutti, I just thought I would let you know that we took your advice and DH planted the potatoes in the drums right after my last post here. I looked in on them yesterday and I can't believe how much they have grown. The little sprouts are up above the leaves, so I guess it is time to add more leaves to the drums.

I also followed your lead and started watching the container gardening forum. There is some great stuff over there, so I added it to my home page forums.

Thanks - again!
Cindy Lou

That's great, Cindy! You're more than welcome. :)

Donna