Growing potatoes, a questionnaire

[MontyJ]

Thanks Journey! You and I are about in the same boat, though you are a little further south than I am. To illustrate how regional gardening is, you and I have similar soils, environments, insect and disease pressures, and growing styles. Guess what types of potatoes I grow...Kennebec and Red Pontiac.

This has really become a fun and very informative thread. I have been gardening for 30+ years and never heard the term chit, yet it has shown up a few times already. It makes me wonder what other terms and techniques we use and take for granted, that are not as widely known or used as we might think.

 

[Smart Red]

1. I garden in a everchanging zone. When we first built here I was in zone 4 according to all the maps and catalogs. As time passed the catalogs started showing that I was in zone 5, but I continue to purchase trees, shrubs, and perennials suitable in zone 4 just to be safe. Three years ago I was moved from zone 5a to the warmer 5b by zone maps and catalogs. For growing potatoes, however, my zone isn’t important because I don’t expect them to over winter in the ground here.
17. I have a soft, fluffy, dark loam in my raised beds -- the product of years of running pigs on the property, years of top soil run-off from my neighbor’s fields settling in my gully and years of compost. The soil is so soft that it never crusts and potatoes are planted by sticking a potato piece into the ground and harvested by reaching under the plants as I pull the stems up looking for tubers.
8. I usually cut my large spuds into smaller pieces of at least 2 eyes and often will let them ‘cure’ for a day to dry the cut side and reduce the chance of rot. Sometimes, though, I will cut and plant. I haven’t seen much of a difference, but feel better myself if the cut dries out a bit. I will plant small tubers whole, but those would be ones that survived the winter storage uneaten rather than purchased seed potatoes.
3. I have gotten my seed potatoes from a local feed store, from a local home center, and through the Seed Saver catalog. I also plant any leftover potatoes that survive winter storage although many warn to buy new stock every year as a hedge against soil diseases. I figure that rotating the potato beds is working well enough, but should I have disease in my potatoes, I would not plant over-wintered potatoes.
7. The potato pieces are planted as deeply as my hand and the tuber piece will sink which is usually about up to my upper knuckles (about 4-5 inches) deep. I usually toss the pieces on top of the bed so I can space them properly, and then I stick them into the ground.
2. I have planted Kennebec, Red Pontiac, and Yukon Gold as my favorites for all round use, but I’ve also grown All Red, All Blue, Rose Finn Apple, Russian Banana, and La Soda with more or less equal success. The La Soda I grew last year are delicious and prolific. Now to see how well they store. . .
6. According to Great Grandma Minta, potatoes are to be planted on Good Friday. Depending upon when the day comes in the spring, I plant most of my potatoes or a only a few to make the potato gods happy. By the end of April, however, my early potatoes are in the ground.
4-5. There have been few problems with growing potatoes here. One year I caught 19 adult Colorado Potato Beetles (CPB) and had no juveniles. One year I picked off several dozen CPB, but missed someone and had juveniles in one(of three)bed. I let the chickens spend a day helping to harvest the bugs and had no further problems that year. Last year I spotted one CPB on a tomato and none on the potatoes.There have been no other problems with potato pests or diseases.
10. I tend to do intensive planting and may have other plants growing amid the potatoes and potatoes amid other crops, so I don’t hill my potatos on a regular schedule. I do check and weed on a regular basis so when I see potatoes breaking ground, I just push a bit of soil over the tops. That works well for me to keep the potatoes from turning green. I wouldn’t know if not hilling reduces my crop since I’ve never tried hilling them. I did try growing potatoes in a fenced area that I slowly filled with straw, but that was unsuccessful for me. I didn’t know that some varieties of potatoes won’t grow more spuds on longer stems. It seems that the Yukon Gold I planted is one variety will not work in that type of growing system.
11. I harvest when flowering is over and the vines have died, although, I have harvested early potatoes while the plant is still growing. Not much will beat those first early potatoes for taste and enjoyment! I have had some varieties that never flowered, but died back about the same time as the flowering ones, and I have had some flowers develop seed pods. I’ve never tried growing spuds from seed, because of my shorter growing season.
13-14. I don’t see any particular challenges to growing potatoes in my zone other than occasionally getting a late start because of the weather and with my raised beds, there is no problem with planting in wet or muddy ground. Since I grow potatoes as an annual and have plenty of growing days for potatoes to develop my zone doesn’t matter. I have never tried planting a crop late enough that I’d worry about it not maturing.
12. After digging the potatoes, I let them cure (or dry)for a few days out of direct sunlight. Then I take them (unwashed) into the coldest part of my basement where I have an unheated area that I keep dark through the winter. I bring potatoes up in bags that will last a couple of weeks instead of opening the space up every day or so.

Potatoes take up a lot of garden space and the cost of them in the grocery is low. Many people feel that growing potatoes is a waste of time for those reasons. There are certainly more efficient uses of garden space, but I love going out for new potatoes and knowing that my potatoes are being grown organically.

 

[baymule]

1. What is your zone?
Zone 8
2. What varieties of potatoes do you plant?
Red Norland
3. Where do you get your seed potatoes?
Feed store.
4. What insect or disease pressures have you faced?
None.
5. How do you combat those insect or disease pressures?
Read about ya'll fighting off the bugs.
6. When do you plant your potatoes?
February 14-21
7. How deep do you plant them?
Six inches.
8. Do you cut your seed potatoes?
Yes
9. Do you treat the cut pieces? If so, what do you threat them with?
I just let them dry several days to toughen up the cut.
10. Do you hill your potatoes? If not, do you notice any crop loss?
I plant in small beds and really don't have room to hill them.
11. When do you harvest your potatoes?
End of May.
12. How or where do you store your harvested potatoes?
I spread them in the grass under the crepe myrtle tree and wash them off. I let them dry several days and put them in a laundry basket. I put them in the dining room in a corner. It is too hot to try to store them outside.
13. What particular challenges to growing potatoes do you face in your zone? And how do you overcome those challenges?
Potatoes are pretty much a no-brainer.
14. Do you have any specific information that might help others successfully grow potatoes in your particular zone?
Just follow #1-#13
****15. What type of soil do you have?****
Hard as rocks, amended with LOTS of compost over the years and now it's nice stuff. Last spring I planted potatoes in a rotted leaf pile and horse manure. They grew big, beautiful and without a blemish. And yes, I do have a leaf pile right now waiting on February.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

1. What is your zone? 5 in NH

2. What varieties of potatoes do you plant? Purple Viking, Irish Cobbler, Green Mountain, and All Blue. i have grown in past years Kennebec and Red Norland, which are common in the area.

3. Where do you get your seed potatoes? PV originally came from Potato Garden few years ago, been saving them ever since. others from local feed store and farmers market.

4. What insect or disease pressures have you faced? occasional potato beetle pest, occasional hollow heart.

5. How do you combat those insect or disease pressures? potato beetles i companion plant around the patch with eggplants. hollow heart isn't a disease or pest, just happens when there is quick growth after stressful growing conditions.

6. When do you plant your potatoes? try to get them in the ground in early May, could get them in April.

7. How deep do you plant them? about 4 inches deep, try to get them deeper if my tiller is willing to work an area that deep.

8. Do you cut your seed potatoes? nope! leave them whole!

9. Do you treat the cut pieces? If so, what do you threat them with? no treatment.

10. Do you hill your potatoes? If not, do you notice any crop loss? it depends on the variety. some (PV) will do fine without hilling if enough dirt/mulch over them. others do better with the hilling method (All Blue).

11. When do you harvest your potatoes? PV is the earliest at the end of July, Irish Cobler and All Blue 2 weeks later, and Green Mtn was new to me and harvested in October!

12. How or where do you store your harvested potatoes? i've used plastic totes in the past with straw and put them in my basement. this year i have bushel baskets with straw and stored in the root cellar.

13. What particular challenges to growing potatoes do you face in your zone? And how do you overcome those challenges?
-getting the ground to till deep enough without hitting a boulder or the old foundation of the barn that was once on the property. solution: been adding chicken manure and shavings to amend and build up the soil while trying to remove some of the rocks that till up.
-early/mid spring runoff and flooding. solution: found varieties that do well in area but also tolerate different conditions (PV has been the best to tolerate the wacky weather the past few years.)

14. Do you have any specific information that might help others successfully grow potatoes in your particular zone? don't be afraid to work that soil/sand deep, it's helpful to have a mechanical tiller till you hit large rocks! keep those small rocks in the patch, they can help keep the nighttime heat in the ground.

****15. What type of soil do you have?**** mostly well drained sand/silt on one side of property, other side mud....er...moisture retaining soil during early spring and 'wet' seasons. i have grown PV and the Irish Cobbler in both soils and both did well for me. PV gets bigger tubers when there are wet conditions while it is growing-an almost trouble free type for my area.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Modified mine to say well composted clay soil. Well-composted compost, no fresh manure.

 

[thistlebloom]

So, when you chit your potatoes, do you do anything to them? Is the process basically, place them in a single layer in a shallow cardboard box in a sunny location? Do you mist them? Set them in soil? Just bare and dry? Is it even a single layer? Are they covered with anything?

Oh, right, you're looking for actual details.
When chitting potatoes they need no special treatment. Just put them in a shallow box, in a single layer (some people use open egg cartons ) and keep them in a bright room, but no direct sun on the potatoes. The sprouts they make will be short and stubby and green or sometimes purple. For me two weeks seems like an optimum time to allow the sprouts to develop.
It is said that chitting increases yields.

 

[the1honeycomb]

There has been some talk of combining our efforts to create some gardening articles to boost the already vast amount of knowledge available on TEG. Since many of us are cooped up for the winter, doing not much more than thumbing through seed catalogs and waiting for the first warm rays of spring, I thought this would be a good time to get started and maybe give something back to the site we all love so much.

I have created a questionnaire on growing potatoes so I can gather information from as many members as possible, then use that information to write an article about it. Why potatoes? I don't know, figured we have to start somewhere.

Answer the questions below, in as much detail as possible. Note especially any regional requirements you are aware of to make this as informative as possible for anyone who may read it. We all know gardening is regional, so the more zone specific information we can gather, the better. Also, if you think of a question or piece of information not covered in the questionnaire, please post it and I will edit it into this post.

Thanks folks!

1. What is your zone?

2. What varieties of potatoes do you plant?

3. Where do you get your seed potatoes?

4. What insect or disease pressures have you faced?

5. How do you combat those insect or disease pressures?

6. When do you plant your potatoes?

7. How deep do you plant them?

8. Do you cut your seed potatoes?

9. Do you treat the cut pieces? If so, what do you threat them with?

10. Do you hill your potatoes? If not, do you notice any crop loss?

11. When do you harvest your potatoes?

12. How or where do you store your harvested potatoes?

13. What particular challenges to growing potatoes do you face in your zone? And how do you overcome those challenges?

14. Do you have any specific information that might help others successfully grow potatoes in your particular zone?

****15. What type of soil do you have?****

****Indicates questions added after the original post****

I feel like a reporter interviewing some of the very best gardeners in the world.

Good day all!!!!

 

[the1honeycomb]

Good day to all!,
Iam in zone 6 peidmont NC

There has been some talk of combining our efforts to create some gardening articles to boost the already vast amount of knowledge available on TEG. Since many of us are cooped up for the winter, doing not much more than thumbing through seed catalogs and waiting for the first warm rays of spring, I thought this would be a good time to get started and maybe give something back to the site we all love so much.

I have created a questionnaire on growing potatoes so I can gather information from as many members as possible, then use that information to write an article about it. Why potatoes? I don't know, figured we have to start somewhere.

Answer the questions below, in as much detail as possible. Note especially any regional requirements you are aware of to make this as informative as possible for anyone who may read it. We all know gardening is regional, so the more zone specific information we can gather, the better. Also, if you think of a question or piece of information not covered in the questionnaire, please post it and I will edit it into this post.

Thanks folks!

1. What is your zone?

2. What varieties of potatoes do you plant?

3. Where do you get your seed potatoes?

4. What insect or disease pressures have you faced?

5. How do you combat those insect or disease pressures?

6. When do you plant your potatoes?

7. How deep do you plant them?

8. Do you cut your seed potatoes?

9. Do you treat the cut pieces? If so, what do you threat them with?

10. Do you hill your potatoes? If not, do you notice any crop loss?

11. When do you harvest your potatoes?

12. How or where do you store your harvested potatoes?

13. What particular challenges to growing potatoes do you face in your zone? And how do you overcome those challenges?

14. Do you have any specific information that might help others successfully grow potatoes in your particular zone?

****15. What type of soil do you have?****

****Indicates questions added after the original post****

I feel like a reporter interviewing some of the very best gardeners in the world.

 

[the1honeycomb]

I am in zone 6 Piedmont area NC
I plant primarily yukon gold
I get my seed from local organic markrt
I cut large potatoes but always y to keep 3-4 eyes.
I dry my cuts overnight and plantmy potatoes in a feed bag. Cover with about3 inches of soil
I dont really have bug or disease problem
I harvest when the plants die or earlier for new potatoes I plant in feb again in march april and may

Love no digging!

 

[digitS']

First posts for the1Honeycomb on the new forum!!

****15. What type of soil do you have?****

****Indicates questions added after the original post****

Gravel . . . glacial till! The garden where I grow potatoes has fertile soil from 10+ years of adding compost, however. Potatoes benefit from plentiful plant nutrients.

Cutting the tops or allowing them to completely die before the harvest is a good idea. The potato skin is really tender if those vines are still green. I like to give them 2 weeks before harvest and will just go thru and cut the tops at ground level. I've also used a weed-whacker for the job.

Steve
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