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Post by brownrexx on Jan 11, 2019 9:13:56 GMT -5
spike asked me for tips on my potato growing method so I decided to start a thread. It's really pretty easy and it works well for me. I started doing it this way because my potatoes always got those rough patches on the skin called scab. It is not harmful but it's ugly. Scab lives in the soil so I kept planting them in different locations but they always got scab. I did try lowering the soil pH which seems to help but it did not eliminate the problem. It seems like the red ones get scab more than the white ones so now I have decided to stick with Kennebec which are large white baking potatoes. Last year I tried growing the potatoes in just straw and they didn't grow so I had to uncover them and added some soil over the cut pieces. Then they started to grow. I roto till my soil in the fall so it is already nice and fluffy when I plant but if you don't roto till first then you should loosen the soil first before planting. Cut your potatoes so that each piece has at least one eye and then let them dry for a day or two to prevent fungus on the cut side. Lay the cut pieces on the loosened soil with the eye facing up and then cover them with just a couple of inches of soil. Now cover the row with a layer of straw and wait a few weeks for the plants to start growing. As they grow, hill up the straw around the plants to support them and to keep the developing tubers from getting too much light which will turn them green. If you run out of straw you can add grass clippings on top of the straw. It is not for nutrients, it is to block the light but it still allows water to penetrate to the plants. This method works well for me. I get really nice potatoes and I can "dig" them with just my gloved hands. The potatoes form either in the straw or just on the surface of the soil. I didn't take a picture at planting time but here they are after they started growing. DSC00880 by Brownrexx, on Flickr And here they are after I pulled the straw off at harvest time. See how they are laying just on the surface of the soil? The red one must have been a volunteer from the previous year because I didn't plant red ones. You can see that the plants are still somewhat green. Some people wait until the plants are completely dead before harvesting but my plants were mostly dead and scraggly at the tops and lots more rain was predicted so I decided to harvest and as you can see I got lots of nice potatoes. They were big enough for my needs. 20180812_122732 by Brownrexx, on Flickr
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Post by spike on Jan 11, 2019 10:11:38 GMT -5
I have never grown potatoes like this before and feel the need to try it! So thank you brownrexx!!
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Post by brownrexx on Jan 11, 2019 10:13:11 GMT -5
It works well for me spike , and it gives the tubers more room to spread out than in a container. Not only that but as you know we had a really wet year last year. I was worried about my potatoes rotting and none of them did. Maybe being out of the saturated soil helped with that too.
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Post by paulf on Jan 11, 2019 10:27:25 GMT -5
When I grew potatoes this was the method I used. This year I will have room so maybe it is time to try it again. Thanks for the reminder.
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Post by paquebot on Jan 11, 2019 17:36:49 GMT -5
As one who has grown potatoes almost as long as I have tomatoes, just a few tiny critiques. Althogh most just drop the pieces willy-nilly, ideal is to have the eye on the side rather than the top.
Important thing to always remember is anything above the seed piece is merely something for the tubers to form in. There are normally no roots formed above the seed piece. If growing under straw, be certain to work the soil below and have all nutrients in that soil. I have often used a mix of soil and finely-shredded pine boughs to defeat scab by creating an acidic zone for the tubers. That despite using alkaline horse manure for fertilizer.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by bestofour on Jan 15, 2019 8:48:15 GMT -5
I've always planted deep and pulled dirt to keep the plant covered. I like your method much better.
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Post by brownrexx on Jan 15, 2019 9:28:05 GMT -5
ideal is to have the eye on the side rather than the top. I didn't say that quite right. I should have said the eye should be facing UP, not necessarily on the top. I like your method much better. It works well and makes the potatoes easy to harvest BUT you have to be careful to keep the developing tubers covered by adding additional straw or grass clippings as they grow or they will turn green by being exposed to light. It's the same as hilling up the soil with the traditional method.
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Post by paquebot on Jan 15, 2019 15:58:31 GMT -5
Growing potatoes under straw has some drawbacks. Besides being a hotel for small unwant4ed critters, the straw does not add any nutrients to the soil when it breaks down. It's still a good thing if the soil is either very heavy or very sandy. When scab came into my garden, I fought it with oak and maple leaves. I usesd them just as thick as one would use straw. Worked great except that the leaves would break down too quick in a wet year. Then went with shredded pine boughs and they worked the best as far as remaining as is for most of the season. But if applied alone at 6" to 8", could dry out or shed water. Solved that by mixing soil with them. Last year we really didn't need the digging fork as our hands would have been sufficient.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by bestofour on Jan 17, 2019 23:45:19 GMT -5
paquebot, you kept your potatoes covered with oak leaves? I have plenty and I mean plenty of oak leaves
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Post by brownrexx on Jan 18, 2019 9:07:01 GMT -5
bestofour, anything can be used to cover/mulch the potatoes. There is nothing magical about straw and I usually add grass clipping on top of my straw. The important thing is that it blocks light from the developing tubers so it needs to be thick but it also needs to allow water to penetrate to the roots so if you use leaves, they should be shredded because whole leaves will get matted and block water penetration.
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Post by paquebot on Jan 19, 2019 21:18:46 GMT -5
bestofour,I used oak leaves for mulch for several reasons. One, of course, is availability. Another is their slower rate of breaking down and high NPK value. That was based on a study by one of the Iowa schools who only added oak leaves for 20 years and production did not suffer. In reality, only thing that matters is to keep light out and keep the stolons damp. No roots in that zone so doesn't need any nutrients. Oak leaves are slow to break down naturally. In the forest, they fall upon intact leaves of the year before. Those in turn are still mostly intact. After 4 years, they may be a skeleton. Decompsition is rapid after that. Shred or till them into the soil and they'll break down in one season. That's why I love them when I can get them. Martin The truth is more important than the facts.
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