Not an expert here. Have been reading up and watching bunches of youtube vids on growing Potatos.

But nowhere have I see it mentioned or suggested that you plant Potatos on a monthly/staggered basis. Always a big planting and big harvest.


Am I missing something or clueless?

In many circumstances, you can just leave root crops in the ground. Most root crops aren't like sweetcorn or many fruits that have a narrow harvest window. Things like the ground being frozen, petrified by drought, or soggy/muddy wet make harvesting harder, but the time frame is pretty wide unless you have a blight problem.

If you want them to reach a mature size at different times, staggering planting times works, but so does planting different breeds. Going the different breed route also gives you greater genetic diversity.

 

And in some climates, potatoes won't work. At all. Ask me how I know!

 

Also...

This makes it easier to keep seed Potatos, IMHO.

I didn't mention it. But I am planning on Potatos being a staple. There will be multiple containers and dating of new and seed Potatos. Not going ALL scientific. But trying to track and better control things.

My soil here is sandy loam. So it's not that good. I am going to get a bunch of 55 gallon blue barrels and cut them in half. Add to that a sifter to dump the half barrels into to separate the soil and spuds. I'm thinking a grid of one inch dowels. Initially was thinking of 2 x 4 wire fence. But think the wire would dent them.

I am a little uncertain about grow times. Some are good in 90 days or so I've read.


Sierra Dave

 

This makes it easier to keep seed Potatos, IMHO.

I didn't mention it. But I am planning on Potatos being a staple. There will be multiple containers and dating of new and seed Potatos. Not going ALL scientific. But trying to track and better control things.

My soil here is sandy loam. So it's not that good. I am going to get a bunch of 55 gallon blue barrels and cut them in half. Add to that a sifter to dump the half barrels into to separate the soil and spuds. I'm thinking a grid of one inch dowels. Initially was thinking of 2 x 4 wire fence. But think the wire would dent them.

I am a little uncertain about grow times. Some are good in 90 days or so I've read.


Sierra Dave

I used plastic garbage cans for some of my potatoes. THe voles gnawed right through the plastic and ate about 35 - 50 pounds worth of Kenebecs and Swedish Fingerlings. If you have a lot of voles in your area, make sure you use hardware cloth or screen to keep them little monsters out!

 

I was given an idea the other day about how get the most potatoes with the least amount of work. Instead of hilling up the potatoes with earth as they get larger you can pile hay around the plants. You can shake out the potatoes from the hay in the fall. Much lighter and easier than moving earth around.

We have a relatively short growing season here so we use the entire season to grow them. They store well in the root cellar so there is no need to use them all up in the summer.

 

Why would staggered planting period give you a higher yield than a single?

How LONG is your growing season?

Candidly, I only take new potatoes from the fields whenever I want them. Gently push in that tater fork, remove the new pots and release the tater fork.

I wouldnt leave them in the ground as a means of avoiding storage. You noted weather but pests and molds are another.

 

Continued spud talk....



I didn't say it would give a higher yield. In my mind, it seems easier to plant once every month and then harvest them fresh. Instead of a huge harvest where piles of them start going bad and making eyes. Sure, there are ways to can or dehydrate. But why create the extra work. Plus, with multiple containers, there's less chance of all getting blight.

Some Potatoes are supposedly ready in 90 days. Have not confirmed this.

I'm in North Texas. We should have about 9 months. Maybe more if you knock together some kind of greenhouse.

One person said they pull them from the ground when they need them. Maybe that works for them wherever they are. I'm in agreement with keithp on this. Seems like taking chances on rot and bugs getting to them.

I'm looking at this from a practical prepper point of view. Using barrels or towers. Growing the Spuds upwards. Taking a small area. Can easily provide enough food for many with little effort.


Sierra Dave

 

This was my first year for growing potatoes,

im now convinced they are Gods way to make an Irishman work.

I just dug up my crop and im beat.

 

lol did you manage to dig them all in one day???wish i could get so lucky lol

i agree they are lots of work,,i use mine to help break new ground

i till it ,,,plant ,,,hill and weed a couple times then mulch with clippings and whatever i can get,,come fall i start digging the rows out ,,,the trick is to dig deeper than you need to for just the spuds,,,i place my shovel right at the bottom of the hilling and try to get it as deep as i can ,,,usualy the full shovel depth,,,and pry up,,,breaks the ground deeper than where it was tilled and planted,,,now these rows have a trough right under them to hold water for any other crops

so far ive dug about 2k lbs of spuds befor the rain shut me down ,,,still had about 5 x 68 foot of row ...chances are it will not dry enough for me to get them out ,,,,planning on using a clippings pile to mulch them in and hope we get snow befor the ground freezes

 

Mine didnt help break up the ground they let me do all that work.

 

Another way of growing potatoes AND in a much smaller area.
http://info.irisheyesgardenseeds.com/index.php/grow-100-lb-of-potatoes-4sqft

 

Nice article. I've considered growing in a barrel before... I may actually try it now.

 

My best friends father is a potato farmer and they stagger (he plants on less than 10 acres). I think the ones that don't, have hundreds or even thousands of acres of farm land and they rotate crops in those same fields.

 

We grow about 15 varieties of potatoes but this year, grew 28 varieties. Several were just grown to get the seed tubers for next year so they were grown early. Normally, we have 2 big plantings in the Spring, sometimes another planting in early Fall. Last year, I decided to grow a big crop of Fingerling varieties in early Fall and had a nice harvest since the conditions were good and Fingerlings don't have a long grow-rate. So depending on your conditions, yes, you can plant potatoes at different times. You can also stagger the planting by a few weeks but remember that potatoes don't do well if planted in the summer (they rot with hot and dry or cold and wet).

Our main crop of early Spring-planted potatoes go in around the same time. But they have varied 'finishing' dates. Potatoes are often classed as "early", "mid-season", or "late". Those classifications are based on the length of time needed to grow good taters. Early potatoes take 55-70 days, Mid-season potatoes take 70-90 days, and Late potatoes take 90-110 days. We grow some of each, here are a few examples: Chieftan and Caribe are "early", Augusta and Purple Majesty are "mid", Desiree and Green Mountain are "late". We plant some of each type at the same time but the harvest time varies.

In my opinion, potatoes are an excellent crop to play around with. Last Winter, I grew several potatoes for seeds in 2-foot pots in an unheated greenhouse. I watered minimally through the Winter and those taters cranked out enough small seed potatoes to get me started in March. I did this little 'experiment' because I was given just 1 seed potato from a potato breeder and wanted to grow a few seed potatoes out. I was SO pleased with the results that I'm going to do it again this year (seeds are producing eyes now and will be planted in their pots in the next week or so).

Anyway, hope this helps.

 

Will all Potatoes work in the towers? I have read yes and no as to the ones that will sprout tubers all the way to the top soil.

I want to be productive for myself. But it's good to show the sheeple that they too can grow a huge supply of spuds from one seed. If they have a pool for water and at least a few 10x10's of square feet. They could do the Potato towers and grow enough food to survive in the middle of Suburbia. Yes a variety of veggies is good. But 3 Spud towers producing enough for a year shows it's quite doable.


Sierra Dave

 

We have to dig up all ours as soon as they're ready, May and June. If we leave them too long around here we'll be digging up baked potatoes.

Rick

 

I don't have a lot, but I just put them in areas where I'm not growing anything else and cover them with dirt, leaves, whatever I rake off the rest of the garden, they grow right through it. Deer don't eat them, unless they're really hungry. My buddy at the market gives me the ones that they are going to chuck out, I cut them in half and toss them in the mix. Red and yukon gold both grow well. Russets don't. Garlic and onions get planted the same way too.

 

what really helps organize what to plant when is a planting graph

^ thats a helpful example get the planting guide from your ag extension
heres TX for you and basicly make a chart of the plants you want to grow then you can see ok month x-y plant these havest here and then plant z and b right after

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/earthkind/ekgarden14.html

 

I'm just a little further north, i cannot leave them in the ground once the tops die down, they will rot.

Also, if you just add dirt,straw,or whatever on the top as the plant grows, be sure you dont let it grow too much. once the stalk turns green it will not set any more potatoes from there up. you have to be vigilant and only allow the tip to turn green and keep it just at the surface. other wise you just have a bunch of the plant covered up and the only potatoes will be at the bottom.

you may be better off planting different varieties that mature at different times instead of planting one variety at different times. Once june hits and the temps soar, they will probably not produce much.

 

Really? My family always used staggered planting. Not just for taters, either. :thumb:

 

I'm kinda skittish to try the tower designs after this years draught.