Growing potatos

[StupidBird]

I don't know about purple irish potatoes, but I grew some purple sweet potatoes last year. These were REALLY intense purple. I thought the foliage would be purple tinted, for ornamental variety, but was the same color as regular orange sweet potatoes. DH really liked the taste, starchy, dry and not sweet. I got them at the organic section; will grow again this year for DH.

I tried the vertical irish potatoes last year, but I killed them. Not enough water?

 

[Mahonri]

I've never been able to grow them here in Phoenix. Get's TOO HOT, TOO soon.

Back in Utah when I was a kid, we would start out 'low', one eye per chunk and then as the green would come up we would cover all but the top every week or so, making a huge heaping mound of a row before September came. We got LOTS and LOTS of potatoes that way.

 

[FrenchHen]

The tire method starts by prepping the bed, which in this case is only the circle of the inside of the tire. You're supposed to plant two pounds of seed per tire, but that seems like a lot. I'll probably chuck in four small seed potatoes. One website said use four tires, and just harvest as needed. I may try for five since that seems like a better number.

 

[andalusn]

Great info! We picked up the purple potatos at the local nursery. As a store they have a great reputation and the staff there raise great gardens so I am crossing my fingers that these will be good.

Question.. What is the depth of the tires being used? Are we talking pickup truck or car? What type of soil are you prepping with? I have lots of horse manure that is composting and wonder if that's too rich?

Anyone else on here from West of the Cascades of WA? When do you plant? I have yet to till the garden as it's been so wet and still frosting here. Plan to till mid part of april and plant by end of the same month.

 

[FrenchHen]

We're going to try with car tires, but I imagine truck tires would work, if you have them! the hard part would be shoving them off the pile to harvest. I'm going to start with good soil; compost mixed with our clay. I'll add some straw and dirt and compost to the layers to keep them a bit lighter. I don't know about the horse compost, but last year I used aged shavings to pile over our row potatoes and got a pretty good harvest.

 

[andalusn]

Garbage can potatoes...

After a lot of reading and research we are going to try our hand at growing the potatos in a garbage can. I even have people at work going to try as well.. it's the great potato grow er a Throwdown

Pick the container of your choice. Everyone is interested in the idea of vertical growing and the garbage can is getting rave reviews from experienced gardeners. I am going to establish my potato seeds/starts in dirt then as they grow I am going to add more bedding of straw instead of dirt. I stopped off at Wilco and picked up a box of russet and yukon golds. Adding this to the purple we already have. I am thinking of growing the carrots in a large planter too.

 

[ScoobyRoo]

Just giving you my experience on the cuttings. Last year I cut half of the tators and let them 'scab' over a day and the other half I cut and put right in the ground. Didn't notice any difference. Those put right into the ground after cutting did not rot. Maybe it all depends on the season whether it is too wet or too dry???

 

[fldiver97]

I'm trying the 'container' aka garbage can approach too....just picked up some seed potatoes a couple of days ago.....somewhere I read the pH is best at 5.5 - 6 and one site recommended to use 1/2 compost and 1/2 peat moss. was told to use small seed potatoes whole, 4 - 5 per garbage can and cut bigger ones so they have 2 eyes and are about 1.2 - 2 inch pieces??? Some sites say to let them 'cure' for 1 - 3 days to prevent mold etc, other sites say it is fine to cut and plant. All seem to agree that the soil should be watered well but have good drainage, soggy soil will cause rot.....Has anyone ever tried the Smart Pots r whatever they are called that are non rigid like fabric????? First time for potatoes here, container or otherwise.....

 

[andalusn]

Henry'schickens :

Just giving you my experience on the cuttings. Last year I cut half of the tators and let them 'scab' over a day and the other half I cut and put right in the ground. Didn't notice any difference. Those put right into the ground after cutting did not rot. Maybe it all depends on the season whether it is too wet or too dry???

Good to hear you had positive results on both. DH forgot the part about scabbing over and just cut/planted in a container that is about 2.5 feet deep. It was a potatoe from the kitchen he found sprouting it's way out of a bowl

He figured if it was volunteering so much it should get planted. I wanted to just plant the whole thing but he cut it into two pieces. It's in the "who know" section. Time will tell if anything comes of it.​

 

[BarkerChickens]

We have always cut our potatoes up to one eye per cube and then leave then in a kitchen door or cupoard until they scab over well. We have also used the starter potatoes (baby potatoes from the nursery) and plant them whole. We tried the tires, but it is too hot here (So. CA desert), so we use our garden bed with mulch and/or straw mixed in. It works well. You an cut potatoes off whenever you want, as long as you leave a few behind. We usually take a couple from each plant as to not startle them or anything.

Quote:
Mojave Desert here, so we aren't that much cooler than you (just a few degrees...nothing significant). Our way of gardening is definitely different than other areas of the US! Our trick has been shade. We use shade fabric angled over the plant so morning and evening sun hit the plant no problem, but the kid day sun is reduced by the shade fabric. We drove rebar into the beds (south side only) at an angle, then hooked shade fabric onto PVC, which slipped right onto the rebar. Quick fix and can be removed easily if a rare cloudy day comes along. We found that an EZ up works well too, but it is not as nice looking. Our tomatoes and peppers did much better too!! Full sun plants here in the southwest deserts really need partial shade!

For several years we've harvested yukon gold, white rose and red potatoes with luck! Haven't lost a plant yet!!