Any potato growers?

smokinrav

smokinrav

Well-Known Member
I've grown potatoes for years. Few plants have a more beautiful flower than the pale blue of the potato. I grow mine in raised beds with high density, about a plant per sqf. Some say this reduces yield, but I never suffered from yield issues that I know of, and they were smaller, which I prefer. Mine were nutrient tolerant and rarely had bug issues when then the surrounding beds (tomatoes, beets, carrots, onions, garlic, celery, herbs, etc.) were constant work against them. I stored them in winter in a giant container filed with fine white sand down in the basement. Never had one go bad.1420674126446.jpeg
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
smokinrav said:
I've grown potatoes for years. Few plants have a more beautiful flower than the pale blue of the potato. I grow mine in raised beds with high density, about a plant per sqf. Some say this reduces yield, but I never suffered from yield issues that I know of, and they were smaller, which I prefer. Mine were nutrient tolerant and rarely had bug issues when then the surrounding beds (tomatoes, beets, carrots, onions, garlic, celery, herbs, etc.) were constant work against them. I stored them in winter in a giant container filed with fine white sand down in the basement. Never had one go bad.
Click to expand...
nice.
so i took our old fridge and made it into a potato bed. start off at the bottom with just a starter and enough soil to cover it. then keep adding soil as they grow upwards. it works really well. hail got me last year big time: destroyed all of the leaves in like mid Sept. still got a few that were done.


do potatoes like anything nute wise? i just feed them the alaska fish 2-1-1 .

will be adding hail protection soon to mine.
 
smokinrav

smokinrav

Well-Known Member
I tried the layering method once, couldn't get it to work like it should. But I love the concept! Yeah, that nute formula should be fine for them. We were poor, so I used the cheapest Chem ferts I could find, looking at you Miracle Grow, and never had a problem.
I love growing potatoes. I'd make hundreds of quarts of soups of all kinds when my kids were growing up, the only ingredient I didn't make was the meats.
 
Rurumo

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
I LOVE growing potatoes and weird tubers of all sorts. Here is my favorite place for hardy potatoes and all manner of weird tubers and traditional crops...this place is amazing https://oikostreecrops.com/products/perennial-vegetable-plants/hardy-potato/

AND if you have a climate they can grow in, you gotta try the other traditional Inca tubers https://raintreenursery.com/collections/andean-tubers
They sell out fast so get on the email list. Everybody and their mother is a backyard farmer because of Covid
 
hotrodharley

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
I got 5 for $35 delivered. You can definitely run them in smaller ones. The guy who owned the potato farm grew his personal reds ( we only ran russets) in a fruit crate full of wheat straw. Not in the ground.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top