After waiting and waiting - and waiting some more, the seed potatoes finally came up, just not all at the same time. For whatever reason, Adora sprouted first, Bintje next and just a couple of days ago, Norkotah showed little sprouts above the soil. The Adoras are big enough to have the next tire added and filled with soil. Anyone else got budding French fries?
Close up.
Looking great, Alma! Mine are showing absolutely no signs of anything yet... I poke around under the straw once in a while, just to see if they're still there! They are, and slowly putting on growth, but it's gonna be a while before they're even thinking about leaves... :( I'm guessing the spot I have them in is cooler than I had thought.
How tall do you let them get before you add more stuff over them? And how much do you leave sticking out when you take the next cover-up step? I put mine in tires, too. I'm going to put wire around the tires and fill with straw as I go. I was going to put the seed potatoes in the ground -- ha, ha -- would have taken me a week to dig down four inches in this clay.
Karen
Karen, I put them _on_ the ground, and covered with hay :). Actually, I did it last year, but too late, I think. They bloomed nicely, but I never saw much in the way of potatoes. Enough little ones that I could make my brother eat blue potatoes, but that's about it. Went up Monday to re-start my Bale Garden, and low and behold, the potatoes I thought long rotted away are baaaaaack. We'll see how they do this time. I sure am glad I was too lazy to rake them all out over the winter....:)
catmad,
I planted potatoes last year in straw and they didn't do diddley. I found out I watered them too much. Well, nuts, that's my worst gardening foul-up. I water way too much. Got me a moisture meter though which has helped a lot. That's the reason I put them in the dirt this year. It should be easier to check the moisture in the dirt rather than the straw.
Karen
Karen, all the instructions I've read say to add soil when the plants are 8" high. The Adoras you see in the photo are 8" or more, so it's time for me to add another tire atop the one they're in and fill with soil. This is supposed to fool the stems into thinking they're roots so they'll grow potatoes and the short foliage left on top will continue to grow up. That's the theory, anyhoo, so we'll see how well it works. I've never grown potatoes at all so this is an exciting little experiment. I also have one kind in a basket and another in a tub. They're not up yet.
Jill, are your potatoes sitting on soil? What are they in? Curious because I still have a few I could plant using another method. And heaven knows, I've got plenty of straw!
Alma
Thanks, Alma. Appreciate the info.
Karen
Oooh ooh ooh, Alma, I've got one! Just poked its little green head up out of the straw today! I think it's the Bintje you gave me. I don't have a picture, and it's raining... ☺ so I'll take one later. But, I've got a bag of compost sitting between two raised beds. The taters are on top of the compost, with a layer of straw over the top. (and a chickenwire fence on the outside to keep the dog from eating them prematurely.)
Tomato
Can I just use chicken wire and straw on the outside to avoid using the tire? I have started sprouting some red potatoes and have been contemplating how to avoid the tires, I only have one tire, makes trouble for stacking! :O
Mine took a long time to sprout too.
Sonoita, why not start your seed potatoes in the tire, then when they're tall enough, surround the tire with chicken wire and fill around the potato plants with straw. I'm thinking of doing just that with at least one of my tires. I really want potatoes, but I also want to see what works and what doesn't.
When you plant potatoes this way, you're supposed to work the ground underneath so roots can go down, but where I planted these, it's hard-packed dirt and gravel. So I put down stacks of straw before I set the tires in place and filled with dirt. Btw, when you fill tires, you have to completely fill the inside of the tire, not just the hole.
Jill, Hooray! for your little 'taters! I sure hope they all come up. Can you believe I still have some to plant?
If anyone else has grown - or is growing - potatoes in containers, please chime in and let me know how it worked for you. I have a wine barrel and a big washtub I'm considering.
I do it like Jill. First I dig a trench around the bed for drainage*, then dump a pile of compost inside to make a sort of raised bed, then put the potatoes on the compost, then cover with straw. I have a low folding edging fence that I put around the bed to keep the straw from blowing away.
*drainage is a problem in my garden
Okay, here's a pic of what I've got. You can just barely see my baby Bintje poking up in the very middle of the straw--I'm so proud!
Sonoita, I don't see why you couldn't use chicken wire to keep your potato pile corralled. It seems like I read a thread somewhere around here where someone (helpful, aren't I?) was doing exactly that. I don't think there's anything magic about tires, except they're often handy and the price is right! Alma, you might know more about this than I do, though, I know you read a lot before planting.
Hi everyone, I have zone envy as my garden is still covered with snow. ;) I am living vicariously through you. LOL
I have grown potatoes for several years and for me the most successful method has been mounding of soil over the potato plant, with a final topping of mulch. I tried the mounding of several feet of mulch over each plant, but the level of moisture was the key ingredient I couldn't master. So, I think whatever method you choose, it is very important to supply the potatoes with enough moisture to want to reproduce.
Beautiful potato plants, TF! And very interesting varieties, too. I buy what is local here so would be interested in hearing about which ones you like the flavor of! Cyndie
After they grow up over the tire add another tire then add more soil so just 4 inches of the plant show then do the same with a thrid tire after they grow over the top that way you will get more poatoes as they will grow in tiers [Layers} Paul
I got my four tires from the local tire store for free. Actually, he told me it was against the law for him to give them to me so he charged me $0.05 payable in the next three years. LOL. There is a tire disposal charge when you buy new tires, so I guess that's why he can't "give" them away for free.
I'm going to try putting chicken wire around them instead of additional tires. I think with the watering advice I got from doccat5, this will be easier for me not to water too much. But I wondered how to keep the chicken wire cage from blowing over if it got windy. So before I filled the tires I put four pieces of heavy twine, equidistant from each other, around each tire. Now when I get ready for the cage, I can use the twine to tie the cage to the tire. If they blow over while attached to the filled tire, I've got a way bigger problem than how to grow these potatoes.
Karen
Karen, that's funny! If you're using a new roll of chicken wire, it will curl around the tire very well. Call it wire memory. And I got my tires just like you did; I went to Discount Tire, told them what I wanted them for and got about 6 for free. I put the second tire on the tallest set today and I'll backfill with soil tomorrow.
Cyndie, I got carried away ordering. All the varieties sounded so interesting. Besides the ones I've already mentioned, I got Charlotte, Yukon Gold (just had to), and Caribe. I think I need to move Charlotte and Caribe into a sunnier spot.
Jill, are any others showing up? I really wonder why some take so much longer than others. Phicks or LT, do you know?
Alma
Diff Types of Potaoes Germnate At Diff Times or if the same it might mean some are still sleeping
heres my poatoes
I bought a set of tires in February and asked them to put my old ones in the back of my car. They are waiting for my sweet potato slips which according to George Brookbank should be planted in May or June in the desert.
Those are beautiful plants, phicks. How long have they been planted?
Rtl, where do you get your sweet potato slips? According to everything I've read, those are super easy to grow. Is that right? I want to do some.
I bought an organic sweet potato and sprouted them in a vase.
Forgot to attach the picture.
Tomatofreak mine have been in sents 2nd week of feb. those that are growing in tires i was just thinking that it may get to hot for theam in may the ground temps in AZ and in Fl get around 90 in june and july around 110 . Sweet poatoes are fine but regular Poatoes are more of a cool wheather crop Paul
Paul, I chose early season potatoes, but I know I will be hard-pressed to keep them cool in just a few weeks. That's when I'll put up shade, maybe even a mister and surround with lots of straw. It's about the best I can do - unless you have some good ideas. I guess I could dump the ice from the ice-maker on 'em every day!
LoL Next Year Plant your White Poatoes in Sept Use a Early type
I already have Yukon Gold seed 'taters in the fridge for exactly that plan. Hopefully they won't mind the summer in the fridge.
they might rot in the fridge
Tomatofreak, where did you get your seed potatoes? The reason I went with sweet potatoes is I couldn't find regular seed potatoes. I thought we are supposed to plant in January but most companies aren't shipping out that early. There is only one local nursery I know of that has the seed potatoes but they looked pretty bad this year.
You can get seed potaoes in most seed and feed Stores and if that Fails E bay has theam just type in seed poatoe
I know, phicks, but I'm just going to have to hope they don't. Otherwise, I guess I'll have some expensive additions to my compost heap. It's the best I can do to keep them cool and dry, though. And, as rtl850nomore mentions, (and you probably have the same problem too, being in 9b), for those of us on non-traditional planting schedules, sometimes things are hard to find when you need them!
Try this place http://www.ronnigers.com/id8.html
phicks, what are you seeing that I am not. I need them to ship in December for planting in January. As far as I can see they had trouble shipping in February and will resume shipping in March. That is way way way to late for the Arizona desert. I see where they ship clear through the summer but when summer is over in Colorado it is still blazing hot here. I wish they had feed and seed stores here but unfortunately to my knowledge, they do not.
How Far Are you From Phoenix, ?
minutes
Theres 5 or 6 feed and seed stores there
I must be having a string of senior moments. I googled and see nothing.
