Growing potatoes in straw?

[Wishin']

You put a cage around each plant. If your growing a lot it doesn't make much sense, but for someone with limited space and can only plant a few potatoes it makes more sense. Example if I plant three potatoes in straw 4 feet high I will get roughly the some amount as I would in a twelve foot row in just plain dirt.

 

[digitS']

You have created a mental image of something for me, Wishin'. It probably isn't what is intended but misconceptions are sometimes of value.

The potato vines in a strawberry pot. . . I'm really not sure how it would work and don't know how any hilling of the plants could be done.

Short of a very large pot, a circle of wire fencing might work but the plants would have to be allowed to grow out of all sides. Perhaps, that could be encouraged. Perhaps, several plantings of seed potatoes could be made as things are built higher and higher and the plants pushed out of the wire to the sides.

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

DigitS', I "see" a large burlap sack filled with soil. Potato sets planted in the top and in slits cut around the burlap sides. Cheaper than a strawberry pot, no need for fencing, and easier to harvest. Oh, my head hurts. Time to put the crystal ball away and get at the dishes.

 

[Wishin']

This is basically what it is like. These are not my pics they are from google search. Some people use tires instead of cages.

The potatoe is planted in the dirt and you build up the straw around the stalk as it grows, always leaving a foot or so of the plant uncovered. Like this

I like your idea DigitS but I find with those kinds of pots the top plants get dried out and you have to water more frequently then the bottom ones end up with to much water.
Smart red,
I actually used the bag version the first time, but it wasn't a burlap bag.

 

[Smart Red]

I saw the burlap idea on PBS. They were gardening in old parking lots. The sides might have been other plants than potatoes, but the end result was a beautiful, flourishing growing container in an unexpected spot.

 

[journey11]

I've seen them done in plastic garbage cans too, with holes drilled in the sides, cut off the bottom. I wouldn't want to do that to a new can though. Maybe an old, busted one.

 

[digitS']

There is a problem with burying too much foliage with "hilling." I have made this point on TEG, before.

Plant growth requires photosynthesis. Photosynthesis takes place in the plant's leaves exposed to sunlight. No leaves exposed to sunlight, no photosynthesis, no growth - that includes tuber growth.

Steve

 

[Wishin']

True DigitS. I thought a foot of two of exposed foliage would suffice. Do you think I need more foliage exposed?

 

[MontyJ]

I understand what you are trying to do, but I don't think it will work. This goes back to the "potatoes in a tire" thing. Here is the problem: Potatoes are a root-tuber, meaning they are not true roots, but are used as storage for the plant. They do grow in the root zone, and not truly on the stem, but rather in that area where stem meets root. Unless you can get your potatoes to root above the original root line, they will not produce more potatoes above that line.

 

[Wishin']

That was what I first thought. so I read lots of articles in magazines, and spoken to several old timers who all say they have done it. None the less I give up, I'm just going to grow 'em in containers with dirt. It's a shame because I have limited space and was pretty happy about getting a decent crop of potatoes.