Is this really a potato plant? how long till it makes its seedball? cuz I read in a mag that it does

[Guinea and Chicken raiser]

It's in a medium pot sadly. and it takes taters 90-110 days. where we live there is no good soil to put in ground. and we aint moved to our bigger farm yet. I may transplant it there if I find a way to take myself and the plant there. but then who will water it? it looks like brocolli to me. Neat that there is a garden section on this site. The top leaves look like they are brown and dying already I know. But this was my first look at the growth of the plant. I put three eyes of a tater skin there. I was even careful to cut to the middle of the tater. I tried to plant tater before but it never worked like this. And there is a small plant on the side, the top of pick, skinny twig size that blends in... just had two leaves.

 

[Guinea and Chicken raiser]

ha ha.. and is this how they make fingerling potatoes? in a pot? well how they trained the tater to be smaller.

 

[wyoDreamer]

It looks like a potato seedling, I guess. I never really looked close when they were that small.

I plant my potatoes in a potato bag I made. Our soil here is just too rocky and alkaline to try to garden in. Just a strip of landscape fabric (water permeable) sewn into a 18" diameter circle, tuck the ends under, roll down the top edge, fill with soil/compost and plant the taters. I also made a welded wire "pot" to put it in to try to keep out the gophers. As the plant grows, unroll the top edge a little at a time and add loose soil or compost to cover the stem. At the end of the summer, dump it out and pick your potatoes.

The only problem I have with this system is that I need to water every day, sometimes twice a day as it dries out fast. I also cover the machine fabric with plastic to keep the constant wind from drying it out too fast.

I dump the bag out into my garden trailer (a dump trailer for my ATV). It brings the soil pile higher, so it is easier to sift through looking for potatoes. Then I dump it into my raised beds for next year's garden.

 

[Linn Bee]

It takes that many days for a potato plant to reach harvest size. The flowers and seed pods will arrive about mid-way in the plant's growth cycle. . . perhaps a tad into the second half of 50-60 days.

In general, I will harvest a few "early" potatoes at a time after the flowers have bloomed. The rest of the spuds are left for proper harvest time.

 

[Guinea and Chicken raiser]

thanks

It looks like a potato seedling, I guess. I never really looked close when they were that small.

I plant my potatoes in a potato bag I made. Our soil here is just too rocky and alkaline to try to garden in. Just a strip of landscape fabric (water permeable) sewn into a 18" diameter circle, tuck the ends under, roll down the top edge, fill with soil/compost and plant the taters. I also made a welded wire "pot" to put it in to try to keep out the gophers. As the plant grows, unroll the top edge a little at a time and add loose soil or compost to cover the stem. At the end of the summer, dump it out and pick your potatoes.

The only problem I have with this system is that I need to water every day, sometimes twice a day as it dries out fast. I also cover the machine fabric with plastic to keep the constant wind from drying it out too fast.

I dump the bag out into my garden trailer (a dump trailer for my ATV). It brings the soil pile higher, so it is easier to sift through looking for potatoes. Then I dump it into my raised beds for next year's garden.

I will try looking to get a potato bag. My soil that i use for my pots was soil from deep in the woods... many trees and roots and it's a ways to walk to water every day and even harder to keep from pests, but most of my soil in my land is clay. how do taters do to sandy loam soils?

thanks for all the details in your comment. I used to water my flowers (mix of colors of marigolds) twice a day in summer, that was no problem. they were like 15-20 feet from the house... lmao. I read in my magazine I got that you can order plants from territorial seeds that you let soil around tater to dry but not completely, and when you water, you water heavily. That's all it said. I have to order from them to get more information. I used Walmart bought potatoes, but only 3 of them from different bags only. first two did nothing for me anyways. It looks the same today (pic took 3 days ago), I'm giving it sun now. I plan on transplanting to get more room. I'll try the potato bag, You suggest I make one homemade like you or buy a bag already made? I don't mind doing crafts

 

[Guinea and Chicken raiser]

thank you too linn.

It takes that many days for a potato plant to reach harvest size. The flowers and seed pods will arrive about mid-way in the plant's growth cycle. . . perhaps a tad into the second half of 50-60 days.

In general, I will harvest a few "early" potatoes at a time after the flowers have bloomed. The rest of the spuds are left for proper harvest time.

and if i transplant it out of that container, the days will restart till it harvests.. and that's if it survives transplant. but at least I did that much so far. I can always order different taters, from my mag, I'd like the purple skin because the brown skin at the store tastes bad.

 

[Avonlea22]

thank you too linn.

and if i transplant it out of that container, the days will restart till it harvests.. and that's if it survives transplant.

No, it doesn't restart. Just plant the whole thing without disturbing the soil too much (try not to let it break apart when you take it out of the pot) and it should do fine. When will you be transplanting? It's good to mound up the soil a bit every couple of weeks for about a month. I would suggest you do a Google search for growing potatoes.

 

[wyoDreamer]

It was just cheaper for me to sew the bag than buy one. I have three - one each for Idaho's (russet), reds and yukon golds.

We purchased a whole roll of landscape fabric years ago because I got over twice as much as I needed for 1/2 the price that a pre-cut packaged piece would be for the landscaping that we were going to do. We ended up selling the house before doing the project so I had it just sitting in the garage.

I also got to make it the size I wanted, and could make the wire surround to help support the bag - it doesn't need it however.

Our growing season is only about 60 days, so by making the wire surround, I can wrap it in plastic and get a longer growing season.

I also carefully dig into the soil toward the end of summer and pull out little potatoes for supper.

 

[Guinea and Chicken raiser]

My plant died like 2 weeks ago. But I didn't harm the roots. The cats bent it. It got to be 27 inches high. It was dying so I cut it but left the healthy leaves in place. It grew a shoot a week and a few days later. Now it has like 5inch tall 4 shoots in every direction.

Congrats on all your tater plants..

I also put lots of bean plants around the tater.. Beans have shallow roots, so they won't hurt the tater, right? The tater is in a giant container. It weighs like 200 pounds of dirt, full. like 14 inches of dirt, I think, I gotta check on that if you want.

Taters don't really need like a tressil for like tomatoes do they?

Now that it regrew, how long till a seedball, you think, my good friend, wyoDreamer... cool name u got there.

I have worse to wait for than 60 days. I just planted like 10-20 squash seeds and I gotta wait 100 days for those lmao... same time my Cauliflour should be ready too. Weird. We'll have a bountiful feast or something like that. you can can all that, right? lmao.. to last to eat in a year whenever you feel like it? I'd eat some fresh of course.

I asked my hunni if we already had that potato sack thing to grow a tater plant in, he said no, we'd have to get it. I got a mag that says when the plant dies, that's when it's telling you you can harvest. but sometimes it doesn't really indicate it, and it says something about you picking it when you feel it's a good size. how can you know?

And one last question on taters, Can and how much rain can a tater plant handle? In Louisiana, it can downpour for hours... the pot it's in should be well-draining. Last night I protected it with a cloth a little past halfway done with the storm, at night I put the cover on. Seeds of squash rot too when it rains too much... But I had 3 squash seedlings and some didn't pop up yet cuz it's too early. That's all, thanks.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Potatoes like it moist, but not wet. Let soil dry out once in a while so the tater's don't start to rot in place.
In WI, I watered every other day in a really sandy soil. Up here in the high mountain desert, I water every day, sometimes twice a day if the wind has been howling.
After about 45 days or so, you can poke your fingers into the soil and locate growing potatoes. When they get the size you want, you can dig them up and have them for supper. My favorite is the quarter sized red, steamed with a little garlic, rosemary and butter.
If you are careful and don't disturb the roots too much, you can keep harvesting the little buggers until the plant sets seed and dies. Once the plant turns yellow, and drops its leaves dig up the taters and knock the dirt off. Set them out in a single layer in a shady spot to dry out some. If you don't dry them alttle bit before storage, they will spoil really fast.

I found some quarter sized remnants from last year that I am planting this weekend in my bags. Trying to start them early in the house to get a better, longer crop.