Potatoes

Hi,

I've started harvesting my potatoes and am very disappointed in the quantities. I'm only getting about 4 potatoes per plant. I expected much more than this. I paid $40 for the seed potatoes. It was about $1 apiece. No way will I get even close to that in potatoes back at this rate. I can buy 4 potatoes for less than $1.

The plants looked real healthy, everything went well and the potatoes I'm digging up are great. It's just quanitities. Did I do something wrong or did I have the wrong expectations?

Thanks,
Gwendalou

We planted Red Pontiac potatoes on April 21, and while we've only dug up one of the 10 hills so far, the yield was 6.25 lbs. The largest weighed 1 lb, and of course there were some lil guys, too. Perhaps it depends on the cultivar?

For reference, the five seed potatoes we bought from Northwest Seed and Pet (a local store) cost 91 cents total with a net weight of 1.5 lbs. $40 sounds like a huge amount of seed potatoes!

No, I think mine were just expensive. I bought 40#, four varieties, 10# apiece. At least that's what I think it was. I'll have to go back and check.

When are you going to dig up the rest? I've been reading a lot and it seems you can leave them in the ground for better storage in our areas. Since I don't have a really great place to store them anyway, I may do that. I have read to cut back the vines to the ground and also to just leave them.

I know you're not supposed to do this, but I'm going to save the smaller ones to plant as seed potatoes next spring. They look really great, so I'm hoping they're healthy.

Gwendalou

We're just going to dig them up as we need them, for basically the same reason as you - lack of proper storage space. And why not use the smaller ones for seed potatoes next spring? Sounds very logical to me, as well as cost effective. :)

Which varieties did you plant? Seems to me that Yukon Gold is one that has low production in our area, though I dearly love the flavor.

Okay, I think I was wrong. I think I got four varieties and they were 1 # apiece. There were about 10 'seeds' per package. I planted butte, yukon gold, reddale, and rose finn. I planted them in the beginning of May. The earlies should be ready by now and those are the yukon gold and the butte. I have dug up both and eaten some. (Yummy.) I'll leave the other two in longer as they are 'late-season' and I guess I'll try storing them in the ground until frost threatens. (Usually mid October here.)

I still expected more than 4 potatoes from each seed potato, tho. And I remember that my total bill was about $40. I also ordered 3 tomato plants from them, two of which died immediately and the other which is barely surviving in the ground and has produced no fruit. I think it's hard to ship tomato plants and I won't try ordering in the mail again.

Off to Island County Fair now. I went to the parade this morning. It's so so-town and hokey, I just love it. My kids basically live there the entire four days it goes on. I have no idea what they do, just walk in circles and talk to each other, checking out the opposite sex and such. A couple years ago I entered some food. I was so insulted when one judge said my zucchini bread was too oily!!! I won about $2 total for all my entries. By the time I cashed the check, it was too old and my bankk bounced it back to me and charged me like $12. That was my first and last time entering. Maybe I should have entered the potatoes this year! ;)

Gwendalou

I've been doing some early harvesting and am getting a couple of good sized potatoes and a handful of smaller ones per plant. The seeds were from 15 pound sacks of potatoes I bought for the kitchen that started to sprout in the bag. planted them for the early crop & bought another sack for the kitchen. Some of those started to sprout also and became my late crop. I forget how much a sack cost. Maybe 3 or 4 bucks? Unless I decide I need a specific variety, I know where my "seeds" are coming from next year.

I know conventional wisdom is to not plant potatoes from the store, but the potatoes were grown on a farm not 5 miles from here, so I know they are appropriate for these mountains. And obviously they were able to sprout.

Wayne

I'm not a tater gardener, I grow'em but do not claim to be an expert. One year I had a lot a timber that fell from an ice storm I piled it up in the garden and burned it. That year I planted potatoes in that spot just by chance and I had the best potato havest I ever had. Was it the potash from the burning? Was it dumb luck? Was it just a good year for taters? I have not had a havest like that since then, but I only grow them every once in awhile and normally use the cage method which puts more plant under ground yeilding more potatoes.

Gwendalou, that stinks. Potatoes are pretty heavy feeders, and they like a lot of potash and phosphorous in order to set the tubers. You did dig all the way down? Dumb question; I'm sure you did.

Next year I plan to grow mine in a leaf mulch; seems to work great for everyone I know who has tried it. Davart, that's pretty strange. Maybe I'll try wood ashes too... but that's so odd, since potatoes like a nice acid-y soil.

Gwen Yukon golds are not the greatest producers in my garden either but you should have more than you describe. Did you hill them as they grew? I try to keep mine from getting more than eight inches high then I bury them again leaving four inches stick up. where did you get your seed a good source for you would be the cenex store on the island they carry potatoe seed like the farmers plant around here. I prefer to buy the size seed that lets you plant the whole thing rather than buying the big ones and cutting the eyes off. The island you live on is pretty cool even in the hot summer months giving you a bigger challange than most of us have The frost will not hurt your potatoes stored in the ground freezes bother but not frost providing they are covered. I have left potatoes till march but the risk is field mice chewing on them.Ernie.

ps I stop hilling when they start flowering and cut way back on water


This message was edited Aug 21, 2005 8:05 AM

Zep like I said could have been a fluke, could have been the woodash, I had ashed about a foot deep that I tilled in. Never had a crop like that since but I don;t grow them all the time.

Dave

Yes, I did hill them. If anything, I over-hilled! First I dug trenches and put the potatoes in there. I did not cut any of them. I bought them from Territorial Seeds.

I filled the trenches initially with the soil I dug out but after that I hilled with straw. I used a *lot* of straw. I completely covered the plant every time it poked above the straw as that's what I had initially read to do. I have since read in some places to leave top leaves showing. Every time that planted showed, I put more straw. Finally I stopped. (They are pretty plants.)

I was thinking maybe I didn't dig down deep enough or out to the sides enough also but I went out pretty far and nothing was there, so I don't think that's it. Maybe just bad luck for the first year or maybe the variety. I'll try wood ash next year just on the chance that'll make a difference.

Yes, it is cooler here and in my yard cooler than other spots nearby. We don't get as much sun as other places either as our surrounding trees are so high. And now the shorter days, just when the weather is nice and hot. Darn!

Next year I'm going to put everything in earlier. I always wait too late as I'm afriad of frost. I have recently read that our average last frost is mid April so I'm going with that. I will also probably buy seed potatoes from either Cenex or Bayview Farm and Garden if I end up buying any, instead of ordering. For now I'm planning to use what I have from this harvest, but we'll see how it lasts.

Gwen

Gwen sounds like you did it right enough and maybe the varieties are just not the ones for you. You maight likr
e to try the way I do it. Imake the row raised about a foot high and 20 inches wide on top then trench down about 8 inches and barely cover the seed filling the trench with loose dirt .When the trench is full as the plant grows and the weeds start drag some loose dirt up from the row sides and cover the weeds and all but 4 inches of the plant.

Providing you have a well drained garden spot you can plant your potatoes the last week of march as the frost will not hurt the seed. The soil in the raised row will warm a lot faster than the soil at below ground level.

A generous application of lime will help your garden spot and several of your veggies will appreciate it. The farm store will have a fertilizer with a high potash content but I have always gotten by with all purpose myself.Ernie

Just another opinion, but I'd skip the lime in the potato bed. If anything, I'd add sulfur to acidify. I dust my seed potatoes in agricultural sulfur and they haven't had a hint of scab and produced nicely. Of course, other crops failed completely and I'm not sure why, so I guess I'm in the same boat, Gwendalou.

Eweed, where do you get the extra dirt of make the raised rows? Is that just taken from another part of the yard?

I still have to check my soil. I think it's fairly acidic. Is most of the yard, they hydrangeas bloom blue without any help from me. Lots of pines and firs. We are in the PNW after all. ;)

Speaking of the PNW, anyone know of any way to get rid of all the blackberries that come up everywhere. I pull them but they just keep coming and I can't pull faster than they grow.

Gwendalou

Gwen if you are not into organic then Crossbow is your hero it slays blackberries I don't think you have the time or energy to erradicate by digging. Mowing short and often will keep them at bay but will only kill them back, for a done deal you pretty much need to spray them and kill the roots which are several feet long.

The extra dirt is pulled up from the rows of the garden when the raised row is made I rake it up and retill just the walk row and rake it up again. Farmers do plant in the ground and cultivate the row up with machinery.

In case you want to use manuer for fertilizer you may want to compost it first to kill the weed seed that comes with it and apply it in the fall. Green Manuer while high in nitrogen is said to cause scab in potatoes many years ago I did it once lol never again. Yes lots fo fir and pine needles in the PNW. Ernie

I do have an organic garden/yard. No one has ever used chemicals in it. I may succumb to crossbow on just the blackberries some year if I get tired of them. I do love the berries! I am planning on having several of the 'big' areas plowed up this fall. There is a cultivated berry patch on the property that is no longer producing so I'm going to pull up what's there and put in new - thornless varieties partly - raspberries and blackberries. But the whole perimeter of our property is currently surrounded by huge blackberry bushes and they also put our volunteers all over the yard. The volunteers are not (yet) completely unmanageable; it's the perimeter stuff that is out of control.

I didn't put any manure on the potatoes as I had heard that it can cause scab. I used aged chicken manure on the rest of the garden. I can't say it really did anything for it. If we do get chickens, which I'm hoping for next year, then I will use their manure, but I can't say I'd ever go out and spend money on it again.

Gwendalou

Gwendalou
Sorry to hear of your lack of potatoes. If you companion plant with beans, it is supposed to increase the yield. I got low yield on one varity this year. I didn't cut the up, & they didn't have beans with them. But since it also could be the soil, I will pick a new spot next year.
The costs of your potatoes does seem high too. I got mine from

http://www.milkranch.com

They have certified disease free, & optoion of buying certifdied organic, but all of theirs is grown without chemicals.

Better luck for us both next year. I am leaving the ones that are yielding well in the ground till November. Let them get bigger & store well...

tf

So the rains won't hurt the ones in the ground?

Gwendalou

i suppose that depends if its a flood or not. doesn't bother them here. dug fresh potatoes on Thanksagiving Day last year, & they were good. But I missed some, so got volunteer plants this year. What can I say, was in a hurry, & it was cccccc-cold!

I would like to suggest that rather than blindly amending your soil that you take samples of soils from around your yard ( a teaspoon of soil from half a dozen areas of the yard) and have it tested. If you have acid soil it needs amended differently than alkali soil like I have. Call your county agent to see where to send or take the sample. When you sample where grass is dig to just about an inch under the grass and take your sample from the root zone area. The farmers around here who grow potatoes for a living test their soil every couple of years.

Certified seed potatoes shouldn't cost more than about $1.49 a pound and usually less anywhere in the country.

Good luck and may you have years of great yields on your spuds.

Like Gwendalou I was disappointed with the crop from my potatoes which was the first year I have planted them. I have a raised bed and am in Northern Westchester County in NY. (Zone6). I bought my seed potatoes from Ronnigers and was happy with the deal. A small sample lot of 4 varieties. Favorites were Red Gold and Desiree. Wouldn't grow All Blue again. Kennebec were pretty good as well. I planted them pretty deep and hilled them up as they grew but in the end the foliage was huge. I wondered if all hte growth went into the leaves instead of the spuds! However the potatoes I did get were all delicious and I will definitely grow them again. The photo attached I think is from 3 or 4 plants that I dug up in late July.

We grabbled a few of our potatoes a couple of weeks ago and were very disspointed in the size of the ones near the surface this year. We planted them in a trench in March and built up the soil as the vines grew. We have been struggling with the pH being too high this year and had to spend several weeks getting the alkalinity down. Overall, I'm thinking that this year's extreme weather swings have played a significant part too. We've had unseasonable cool weather followed by a heat wave, followed by a chill. What' a poor plant to do when it can't tell the season from week to week? I'm going to wait until October to dig them up unless we get early rains.

Hey Guys;I too got my potato starts from Milk Ranch.The Huckleberries were by far the best producers.I use compost,bone meal and Azomite.I got really large returns.Peaceful Valley Farm Supply sells Azomite.I also had more bees in my garden this year than usual.
And I Loved the 90*+ weather we had at the beach!

zebraman, we bought our seed potatos from The Milk Ranch too. They are planted with a heavy mix of compost, with Azomite and comfrey. We skipped using the comfrey leaves under the seed potatoes one year and lost a third of the crop to verticillium wilt. No VW problems if we use the comfrey. I think your weather down south has been more consistent than ours up here. We'll see what the total harvest looks like in October.