Digging potatoes

[snewman]

My potato plants are still all green and healthy looking, and I was waiting for them to turn yellowish (I thought that's what I'm supposed to wait for...) but we're getting into the beginning of fall. I haven't dug any up to see what I've got, so should I just keep waiting and dig them after first frost (maybe one month from now)?

 

[me&thegals]

You should sneak in and look for some! I think it's referred to as "grabbing", this groping underneath the dirt to feel around for those round things (doesn't that sound dirty, pun intended) Hah! I always seem to find tiny babies that could have grown longer when I accidentally uproot a nice green plant, but it does no harm to feel beneath the soil and pull out the big ones. Have fun

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I think the word you're thinking of is "grubbing," or at least that's what I've heard it called. And where are the moderator's when you need them anyway? I thought this forum was supposed to stay clean.

 

[bills]

I usually wait till the foilage starts to wilt, before digging them up. Have they blossomed yet? Uou could leave them until a frost, but you don't want terribly wet ground, or they may rot. So if you start to get a lot of rain.....

If you like the smaller spuds for the pot, then by all means dig up a plant ot two for a treat. Depending on the type you have, some varietys grow pretty darn big before the foilage wilts, so you may already have good size spuds.

 

[chickaD]

I usually don't get around to digging up any of the spuds until the plants are dried to a crisp, but that could be the procrastinator in me...or just wanting the maximum "spuddage" possible. Every year we seem to do it at a different time, up to when the ground is seriously frozen, which I don't recommend. It's a bit rough then on the hands if you have lots to dig, and it gives the voles too much time to munch on your potatoes. The upside to keeping at least some in the ground later is that they may store better there, depending on what you have available for cool storage at your place...and how many rodents are on the rampage in your garden.

 

[blurose]

Although I've never actually grown any spuds myself, I grew up in Oregon's potato capital(Klamath Basin) and know that they don't pull them up until the plants die, usually just after the first frost. I worked the potato sheds in the end of October and up until just before Thanksgiving usually. This is also the time period for Idaho's potato harvest (worked those sheds too one year). You don't know cold until you stand in a potato shed (halfway underground) sorting potatoes off the truck from the fields in November. BRRRRRR.

 

[nccountrygirl]

Is that anything like working in tobacco with the weather so hot you thought your brain would fry. Good ole granddaddy had child labor.

 

[Grow 4 Food]

I break into them as soon as the first green beans come ready to pick. You just can't eat the first green beans without fresh spuds, can you?

 

[Chickchic]

I started pulling a few plants when I noticed them starting to turn yellow and wilt. I still have I think like 4 or 5 plants in the ground. Maybe I have pulled them too soon, but they appeared to be dying. I think I got what seemed to be about 5lb per plant. Not too many small ones still to grow, but most had good sized taters on them. I gave a bunch away and still have a tray full and no room in my fridge. Hope they will keep a bit.

 

[havi]

I normally dig around a little to see what I got. Sometimes their ready, sometimes their not. Have you ever thought about growing them in straw? Its much easier and cleaner to do. Just a thought though.