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Post by Gianna on Sept 22, 2018 10:26:50 GMT -5
Recently I've watched a lot of 'potato reveals' on YouTube. Just love watching them, no matter how repetitious they may seem. The grower turns over a pot with scraggly tops onto a tarp or wheelbarrow, and then starts sifting through the planter mix and collects the taters he finds, then weighs them. And although I no longer eat potatoes, I am going to try this. It just looks like too much fun not to try.
So, in spite of it being the wrong time of year (we can do crazy things here on the left coast) yesterday I purchased some spuds at Trader Joe's. Some organic Yukon gold, and an inorganic red potato whose eyes were winking at me. I'm going to nestle them into moist coir, and put them in a warmish spot and hope to break dormancy before they rot. If I get anything to start growing, I'll put them near the bottom of black plastic nursery pots, cover, and hope for the best.
I've grown potatoes in the ground before, and generally had success. And always from grocery potatoes with no disease problems. Usually they had not been treated to prevent sprouting, but that was years ago. I did encounter some Yukon golds that had been treated, and they just sat there almost forever - then I did get some wimpy sprouts. I did not consider that a success. I think they do more nefarious things to our food these days, but the organic ones should grow. Eventually.
I want to be able to harvest new potatoes, which apparently have fewer carbs than older storage taters. Or I'll give them all away... if I get any.
I watched one particularly interesting video where the guy tipped out the pot at maybe 6 or 7 weeks, pulled out some of the more visible potatoes without disturbing the roots too much, put the plant back into the pot... then did a second harvest a few weeks later after they recovered. Of course the guy was really experienced growing spuds this way.
If it doesn't work, what's another garden failure? Lol, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Joined: January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2018 19:52:00 GMT -5
To the best of my knowledge about this method, it is best to use late season maturity vaerieties, so the stolen (?) keeps growing as you cover up the plant.
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Post by brownrexx on Sept 23, 2018 7:01:15 GMT -5
Sounds like a fun project. I usually let my potatoes get started sprouting just sitting on newspapers in a bright area of my garage floor.
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Post by Gianna on Sept 23, 2018 9:36:27 GMT -5
I am flying somewhat blind on this experiment. As for choice of which potatoes to use, the only ones available to try are those the groceries sell. We are not near a potato growing area, so what turns up is of limited choice. And they don't label them anyway, other than 'russet', 'red', maybe 'small yellow'. And 'Yukon Gold'. We used to get 'white rose', but haven't seen those in a long time, though admittedly, I haven't been looking. Occasionally the local nurseries will sell official seed potatoes, but never paid much attention to those. And since I tend to be very frugal and have had good luck with grocery taters, doubt I would spring for those. And, lol, since I really have no plans to start eating potatoes on any scale again (though they are wonderful and I miss them), no point to spending too much money on just another fun garden project (there have been so many). Yesterday I put my store spuds into dishpans of moist, new coir, totally covered. But am thinking some light might hasten them breaking dormancy, and I'll be able to see them when/if they do. "Bright" as brownrexx suggests. I have a coffee table near a window that will work well. Here is a fun video of a guy in the UK who grew both in-ground and container potatoes and compared the results. His container potatoes had greater yields for two years in a row.
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Post by paquebot on Sept 23, 2018 20:57:18 GMT -5
Nothing wrong with store potatoes for planting. Growers spend millions to make certain that their fields are free of disease and viruses. If rhey sprout, they will grow.
When planting in containers, remember how a potato plant grows. No tubers will be produced below the seed piece and no roots will form above it. Therefore the required nutrients musr be below the piece as well as ample depth for the roots to form.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by Gianna on Sept 26, 2018 22:13:27 GMT -5
4 days after putting my organic Yukon golds in moist coir in a warm spot, some are showing obvious signs of life. Thought so yesterday, but wasn't totally convinced. Today I am. A couple of the terminal buds have obviously doubled in size. I only looked at a few. That was fast!
The red potatoes, non organic, appear to be more fully hydrated, but time will tell if they will grow, or if they've been treated with some sort of 'anti-sprouting' something. Most store bought potatoes I've tried have grown well... but once I tried some yukon golds that just sat there. They eventually produced some sort of fuzzy growth at the buds (eyes), but not clearly formed growing tips. I think they had been treated.
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Post by brownrexx on Sept 27, 2018 7:53:55 GMT -5
Gianna, when I used to buy store potatoes they almost always sprouted and the organic ones sprouted the quickest of all. However several years ago I wanted to try the blue potatoes and I could not find seed potatoes. I bought some at the store and left them in a bright area to sprout but they just never did. I feel sure that they were treated with something. When I buy seed potatoes in early spring, I usually see fingerling seed potatoes for sale and their label suggests keeping them in the refrigerator until ready to plant. They must sprout easily. You might like to try the fingerlings because they are elongated and small so you could eat one or two at a time and not be eating a lot of carbs. They taste really good too.
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Post by paulf on Sept 27, 2018 9:57:41 GMT -5
Several years ago I tried garbage can potatoes. Remember to water the plants. I didn't and they didn't.
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Post by Gianna on Sept 27, 2018 11:40:11 GMT -5
However several years ago I wanted to try the blue potatoes and I could not find seed potatoes. I bought some at the store and left them in a bright area to sprout but they just never did. I feel sure that they were treated with something. I also want to try some of the purple potatoes. I saw some in TJ's -trader joes'- the other day, but they didn't look as fresh as I wanted, so, no. But I will keep my eyes open esp for 'organic' ones, since they are less likely to have been treated. This is just for fun. You might like to try the fingerlings because they are elongated and small so you could eat one or two at a time and not be eating a lot of carbs. They taste really good too. I've grow fingerlings in the past, just once, and wasn't crazy about them. I had purchased them in a nursery, and they had been started in 6 celled packs, so they must be very easy to start. But if I see some that look good, I'll go for it. Not that I really want all that many potatoes around. My plan is to give most of them away. My goal in growing potatoes is to eat small, really young ones before they've had time to store much starch. I've watched a lot of 'potato reveal' videos, and some of these guys are actually unpotting plants to steal a few baby taters after only a few scant weeks (7?), then replanting them for a later harvest. I love the idea of trying this.
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Post by Gianna on Sept 27, 2018 11:47:06 GMT -5
Nothing wrong with store potatoes for planting. Growers spend millions to make certain that their fields are free of disease and viruses. If rhey sprout, they will grow.
I think there is a bit of a lore around using only official seed potatoes. Like many other things, it's something that just gets repeated. The only down-side that I see is if the store spuds have been treated to not sprout.
Two of my uncles used to be potato farmers in Indiana muck. Wish I had been able to learn more, but kinda hard when just a child, and not living in the area.
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Post by Gianna on Sept 27, 2018 12:00:13 GMT -5
Several years ago I tried garbage can potatoes. Remember to water the plants. I didn't and they didn't. I remember thinking about trying that too, but kept wondering how the plants would get enough sun when planted in a container that deep. I do remember trying to grow spuds in the bottom of 15 gallon containers. The plan was to 'hill them up' as they grew within the pots. This was before the internet, YouTube, and all those cool container 'potato reveal' videos. It was a dismal failure. The pots were in a far corner of the garden, and I just did not water enough. If I recall, everything died, and there was zero harvest.
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Post by paquebot on Sept 27, 2018 13:10:56 GMT -5
What I stated applies or ordinary potatoes which are only going to be in a store for a short time. Specialty types are a different story. Most of those come from seed which has been treated with MH-30, maleic hydrazide. The potatoes you see have not been treated with anything but the seed potato that produced it was.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by brownrexx on Sept 27, 2018 13:22:43 GMT -5
these guys are actually unpotting plants to steal a few baby taters after only a few scant weeks (7?), The rule of thumb is that the plants start producing potatoes when they start flowering and many people harvest some "new potatoes" at this time. They don't dig up the whole plant but just dig around underneath with their hands and grab a few small potatoes. I have done this in the past just to get a few for dinner.
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Post by Gianna on Sept 30, 2018 14:16:10 GMT -5
My plan is to harvest a few before they go to flower. Perhaps when I see the first buds forming as a signal. I really am looking for small potatoes that have had very little time to store many carbs - yet still taste like potatoes.
I've watched on video where someone lined a small container (5 gallon or so) with a plastic shopping bag, and then when the plants had good growth on them, pulled the entire thing up with an intact rootball, folded the plastic down, harvested a few very young taters, then rolled the plastic back up, put it back in the container apparently unharmed.
I've also watched other videos of potatoes in containers (in a greenhouse), carefully emptied when very young, a few potatoes harvested, and then the moderately disturbed rootball returned to the pot, ...and harvested again a few weeks later - and getting enough potatoes from the second growth to make it worthwhile.
Yesterday in the store, I found a bag of organic fingerling potatoes, with red, white, and purple potatoes for not much $, so I got it. I was mainly interested in the purple ones which seemed quite round and large for a fingerling. The other purple potatoes I've seen have not been organic and I don't want to run the risk of getting potatoes that won't sprout.
I've read about potatoes that 'they' (Aussies,NZ and Canadians, developed in the Netherlands) are growing now that are lower carb than standard potatoes. Maybe 25 to 30% lower. Green Giant sells them in the US under the label 'CarbSmart'. In my town they may be sold at two stores, one being Whole Foods. I see a field trip in my future. If I can find them, I'd bet anything they are not organic, and have been treated to not sprout. But I will try...
edit.. from Friday to Monday, the just purchased fingerlings, buried in moist coir and put in a sunny window, are already showing signs of eye growth.
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Post by Gianna on Oct 6, 2018 15:10:34 GMT -5
I purchased my first store-bought organic potatoes on Sept 23. First they were covered with moist coir, then I put them in soil (compost and old potting mix)in individual cups, about 5 inches tall, 3 inches across. (used paper coffee cups) And put them in a warm room. Today about 10 of these spuds have broken the top of the soil they are planted in. That is in just 13 days.
Out of curiosity, I tipped one of the growing 'cupped' spuds out to see what its roots were doing, and was shocked to see as many as there were - they were running down the sides of the soil and were healthy white. Not enough to hold the root ball together yet, but far more than expected. Very impressive. Guess it was giving its all - grateful to be stuck in the dirt rather than being boiled and mashed with butter and cream.
My plan is to keep them in natural and artificial light in the warm indoors to accelerate growth, until I can transplant them into their final pots for growing outside in full sun. I'm not aiming to get great numbers of taters and spectacular 'potato reveal' videos, but rather just some choice new lower carb baby potatoes.
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Post by paquebot on Oct 7, 2018 15:34:13 GMT -5
Voice of experience. There is one more thing about potatoes, they don't like transplanting. They will easily make new roots but not new stolons. They are separate from the rootball and difficult to not be damaged.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by Gianna on Oct 8, 2018 17:32:59 GMT -5
I don't doubt that. There is always a trade-off when trying to grow something fast and out of their normal habitat (the ground). I am growing my glorified chits in the house, in the sun through a window, with artificial lights for a few hours in the evening and early morning. Because of space limitations inside, they have to be in small containers.
But I think they will be OK, and ready for transplanting into their final containers before they develop significant stolons. I already have 4 Yukon golds that have definite green leaves above the soil surface.
When I was putting the taters into the cups, I was concerned about the future root balls holding together, so I pressed in the soil mix somewhat firmer than I usually would. That should help too.
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Post by Gianna on Oct 18, 2018 11:11:29 GMT -5
10 days later...
Things are going very well. I've transplanted many of the sprouted potatoes into their final pots. These are small pots, from 2 gallon to 5 gallon. Since the intent is to harvest them very young, they shouldn't get cramped.
I've seen a number of videos where the people used very large containers - even up to 32 gallon trash can sized, and they are just too large. Yield wasn't that great in my opinion, and they were cumbersome and difficult to deal with.
Most of the really good UK growers seem to use 30 liter containers - about 8 gallon. These are main crop potatoes grown to full maturity. For early or new potatoes, they tend to use much smaller pots.
Many videos have people using smaller containers, and for me they seem ideal. I'd guess the harvest could be reduced, but I'd rather have many small pots and with a quicker, easier harvest of one pot for each meal rather than have to deal with something that simply would be a less fun ordeal.
Experienced growers in containers use a general formula of '5 liters per seed potato' - which is about a gallon and a half. So we shall see if my two gallon pots with one spud will work.
I was also surprised to find out taters prefer acidic soil - about the same as blueberries. ph of 5-6, or so. Since our tap water is 8, I'll have to make some adjustments.
My transplants are doing extremely well. The first 4 Yukon golds are already as hilled up as they're going to get, with vegetative growth 4-5 inches above the surface. They are close to a month old - from their first introduction to moist coir. No where near ready of course, but if they continue to grow fast, after a few more weeks, it's going to take great restraint to not start digging around...
The fingerlings (from 'organic' store bought), a red, white, and purple, are also doing well and planted out in their pots but not as strong growers as the standard Yukon golds.
I have also seen a couple videos of people who tipped out pots with very young plants, finding enough small spuds to harvest, and replanting the quite disturbed root ball for a later harvest. And it worked. That was a real surprise.
Also, I ordered some official seed potatoes, 5 or 6 varieties, most early ones, from someone who will ship pretty quickly.
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Post by brownrexx on Oct 18, 2018 12:45:32 GMT -5
Potato roots do not go real deep and the tubers form fairly close to the surface so a 32 gallon trash can would have a lot of wasted soil that is deeper than the plants require.
I sprinkle sulfur on the part of my garden where the potatoes are grown to lower the pH. A higher pH makes it more likely that the potato skins will develop scab, a harmless but disfiguring bacterium. Scab does not survive well in acidic soil.
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Post by Gianna on Oct 31, 2018 18:26:27 GMT -5
Potato roots do not go real deep and the tubers form fairly close to the surface so a 32 gallon trash can would have a lot of wasted soil that is deeper than the plants require. I sprinkle sulfur on the part of my garden where the potatoes are grown to lower the pH. A higher pH makes it more likely that the potato skins will develop scab, a harmless but disfiguring bacterium. Scab does not survive well in acidic soil. In the videos I've been watching, the really large containers just don't seem to be worth it. Too cumbersome, use too much soil/mix, and don't give a larger return. The UK allotment growers, who seem to have the best results, use mostly hard plastic nursery pots. Other people use soft-sided woven potato bags, but those just don't seem to give as good results either. I think because they tend to dry out faster. So unless one lives in a rainy area, the bags just dry too quickly. If you do;n't have sturdy pots, I'd go with all plastic grow bags (not mesh) that are not as well aerated so moisture levels remain good.
As for volume, the grower that seems to get the best results, says that for new potatoes harvested early, you only need about 5 liters per seed potato. That's just over 5 quarts. So 2 seed potatoes in each common 3 gallon nursery pot.
Re sulfur. I had used some in the soil for my blueberries, and found a half bag of prilled sulfur. And I've been adding that to the soil in my later potted potatoes. As well as other fertilizers. The plants are doing very well vegetatively. Hope the tubers are forming too.
It's getting closer to tipping a pot over to see what's there. Again. I couldn't wait and a week ago, I carefully tipped one out (about 30 days) and got what I expected - nothing. But I replanted it, and it's growing again, though a bit behind the undisturbed ones of the same age.
Now some of the other first-planted ones (Yukon gold) are showing the first, small flower buds. One plant even is showing a bit of light petal cover, though still long way to blooming. But it's in the cross-hairs...
At the same time, I also planted some fingerings, and although they are doing well, are not as advanced at the Yukons. I've seen reports of Yukons being 'early' and other reports of them being later. But I don't really care what they are called as long as I get super young tender spuds from them.
My official seed potatoes - all early varieties - are supposed to be here in about a week. I can see giving spuds instead of fruitcakes for the holidays this year, lol.
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Post by paquebot on Oct 31, 2018 21:03:33 GMT -5
For potatoes, they can handle very acidic down to 5.0. Ideally is to maintain 6.0 in order to prevent or minimalize common scab. I never had it here until I got some seed potatoes form Fedco many years ago. I had to begin a program of lowering my slihglty alkaline plot to acidic. It was done with sulfur, oak leaves, and peat. A little scab was back again this year so it got two bundles of milled peat the past week. One can avoid scab in alkaline soil by using only acidic material above the seed piece. My favorite is a mix of shredded pine boughs, shrfedded oak leaves, and just enough soil to hold the moisture in. Doesn't need to have any nutrients in it since all of the roots are below the seed piece, not above.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by Gianna on Nov 3, 2018 20:01:52 GMT -5
I never had it here until I got some seed potatoes form Fedco many years ago. I had to begin a program of lowering my slihglty alkaline plot to acidic. I can't say I've been a prolific potato grower, but I have grown them some years. And every time, I've used ordinary potatoes from the store. Reds, russets, Yukon golds, and some petite thing from Trader Joe's. And the plants produced have been very healthy and productive - except for one year when I think I put down too much nigrogen. But the plants were extremely lush. Just no spuds. But no hint of any disease. So this year I decided to buy some official, disease free seed potatoes, mainly to try different varieties. I found a site that would even send them to me at this time of the year. Not all do. So they came yesterday, relatively quickly, and after inspecting them, one variety of the 5 clearly had scab.... Very disappointing. I've never had scab here. Can I trust the 4 other varieties? They are grown in containers, so that might make a difference. On a nicer note, the lowly store-boughts growing outside, the plants continue to be vigorous and the flower buds continue to mature. I'm thinking in about a week or two I can dig up another to see what's going on. It would be lovely to have some new potatoes for Thanksgiving. But that's probably wishful thinking.
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Post by paquebot on Nov 3, 2018 22:53:43 GMT -5
Common scab is not guaranteed to be missing with certified potatoes. Certification is only for potato virus. If you have it with one variety, good chance that it may spread to all of them. At close range, it can be airborne. In my case, I did not clossely inspect the Carola tubers from Fedco. That vareiety had some scab that year. All other varieties showed it the following year. It will probably be in my ground forever now.
Fertilizer should be a 1-1-1 NPK ratio. 10-10-10 is typical. A little extra potassium is also appreciated. Tis year, we used some organic 8-6-5 which was opposite of what was needed but got decent results.
One of the best years in the home garden was when I had trenches ready to plant and big rain. In back of the pickup were 5-gallon pails of horse manure. The manure soon became a liquid slurry. I dumped them in the trenches and covered it with a little soil and planted on top of that. Never had such a harvest before or since.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by brownrexx on Nov 4, 2018 7:28:18 GMT -5
One can avoid scab in alkaline soil by using only acidic material above the seed piece. I have scab in my soil which is why I only plant the seed pieces under about an inch of soil and cover the entire row with a thick layer of straw which I build up as the plants grown. The potatoes can be harvested using only my hands and there is little to no scab. Scab is considered to be harmless for us to eat but it is cosmetically undesirable. Store potatoes are listed on the "dirty dozen" list because they are treated with anti fungals, pesticides and finally the plant is killed with herbicide before harvesting the tubers. This is why I grow my own. DSC00880 by Brownrexx, on Flickr
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Post by paquebot on Nov 4, 2018 11:52:18 GMT -5
Scab is only cosmetic but affects storage as it allows moisture to escape. In extreme cases, the potato will take on a corky texture. This year, most of my potato stock was grown by a friend in two different locations. One of the red ones, probably Red Pontiac, came back quite scabby but not deep lesions. Most can be merely scrubbed off with a stiff brush.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by brownrexx on Nov 4, 2018 19:33:02 GMT -5
The red ones are supposedly more prone to scab and that seems to be the case in my garden which is why I no longer grow red ones.
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Post by Gianna on Nov 5, 2018 11:21:41 GMT -5
darn! I just wrote a reply, and it was lost.. and no draft saved!
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ldc
New Member
Posts: 3
Joined: October 2018
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Post by ldc on Nov 9, 2018 12:29:37 GMT -5
Just checked my planted in container seed spuds...looks like a raccoon dug them up and ate them! Fail!
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Nov 9, 2018 14:53:10 GMT -5
Awww...that is really frustrating, I know.
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Post by brownrexx on Nov 9, 2018 19:15:44 GMT -5
We have a cabin in the woods in central Pennsylvania about 125 miles west of where we live. One Summer I planted sweet potatoes in a pot on the deck mainly to see the pretty vines but I guess they made some tubers too because one weekend we arrived to find that a bear had ripped them out of the pot and eaten them. He left his muddy paw prints all over the deck.
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