Growing Potatoes - Zone 4

[Ridgerunner]

Me being me I did it differently, the same way Dad did it. I don't grow them down here with my limited room and other reasons but grew them in Arkansas at the border of of zones 6 and 7. I only grew a small amount, I did not have a good place to store them so no use growing them if they are just going to rot.

A couple of things to remember. Potatoes grow at or above the level of the seed potato. not below. If the potato itself is exposed to sunlight it turns green. Green is a sign it is not good to eat, as Steve said, it forms toxins.

Some seed potatoes are very small, maybe the size of a golf ball or smaller. I'd plant those whole. If they were bigger, and many are, I'd cut them before planting. They have eyes on them. places where they sprout. I'd cut the big ones into chunks with each having a couple of eyes. I did not "chit" them. That's where you keep them until they sprout before you plant them. If you wish do a search on "chitting potatoes", all kinds of info on that. If you've never seen a potato sprout it might not be a bad idea so you can see the eyes.

I planted them in rows. After the ground was prepared I would use a garden hoe and scrape out a trench maybe 2" deep. I'd put a piece of potato in that trench spaced about 12" apart with the eyes mostly facing up. Not sure how important that is, I'm sure not at all, but it just felt right. Then I'd gently mash them down into the loose soil with my boot just to settle them. Then I'd cover them with a few inches of dirt, just enough to form a small mound a couple of inches high, so maybe covered with 4" of dirt total.

After they sprouted and were 6" to 8" high I'd use a garden hoe and scrape dirt from in between rows to make a mound to where only a few leaves showed. That weeded them. I'd do that again once or twice depending on how the growing season went. That formed a mound which gave the potatoes room to grow and to remain hidden from the sun. Once the potato plants got to a certain point they were too bush to hill and they self-mulched. They formed such a dense growth they kept weeds from growing.

I only planted them in one short row. If I were planting them in several rows I'd probably want those rows maybe 32" apart? I'm just guessing on that as I didn't do it but that was a common spacing in my garden for most crops.

They start to form potatoes when you see blooms. Some people like to "grovel" them. That's where you dig in with your fingers and remove "new" potatoes. They are not mature, the starches are different and the skin is really thin, I find those to be delicious when fried.

When the vines start to die they are ready. You can leave them alone for a while and let them mature some more. As mentioned above that helps storage but if t is wet they will rot in the ground. Remember you don't want the sun to hit them for a period of time or they turn green. Sometimes the ground would crack and expose them so I'd fill those cracks with dirt until I was ready to dig them.

The potatoes are underground where you cannot see them. You don't want to cut them any more than you have to to dig them. I'd tear off the dead and dying tops, eventually those go in the compost. Some potatoes would come up with them. Then I'd use a mattock to dig around the sides of the hill to loosen and remove a lot of dirt before using my fingers to do the final digging. Remember I'm on a small scale. There is a bit of a learning curve but it doesn't take long to develop the technique, especially since it's the way I grew up doing it.

You are not supposed to wash them off, just use your hands to brush dry dirt off of them, but I did. Then I'd dry them on a rack like this inside a shed out of the sun but with decent ventilation. Remember, out of the sun. I'd let them cure like this for three or four weeks before moving them into final storage. The scrapes and cuts will either heal over or the potato will rot. Keep and eye on them and remove any rotting ones.

This is sweet potatoes, not the type you are growing, but the idea is the same. I made a couple of frames from 2x4's and 1/2" hardware cloth which I set up on 2x4's to let air below it. I'd cure onions, garlic, sweet potatoes, and regular potatoes on it. I'd screen compost through it, quite handy.

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

Most root vegetables dont respond well to transplanting, You could sprout them indoors, like in a cup of water and transplant them outside and they would do ok. If you had them in soil and dug them up and replanted i dont know if they would fair to well. I've never tried.

Good to know. Thanks. I've found my deep taproot trees also don't do well with transplanting, like Oaks, Hickory & Buckeye. There's a small time-window where you can transplant so I have to be careful when I sprout them for future planting in the tree farm

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

Thanks @Ridgerunner , stuff like this is exactly what I needed to understand. I know people mound them, but understanding that purpose is key

Potatoes grow at or above the level of the seed potato. not below.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Do taters reach well to any type of direct manure or only compost? I have chicken manure galore and compost my horse manure for future garden yummies.

Chicken manure is too hot to put on directly, it needs to compost first. Putting it on the ground a month or more ahead of time and tilling it in works well, maybe that would need to be the fall where you are. I don't know how hot horse manure is, probably too hot, but fresh would just be messy.

So do taters respond to soil around their main stalk the same way as tomatoes and what you're essentially doing over time is "deep planting" them?

No, you are just giving potatoes room to grow. Interestingly several years back we discussed growing potatoes in tires or something like that. You lay an old tire on the ground, plant a potato or two, and cover it with dirt. As the potato grows you add another tire and fill with dirt. You can maybe get four or five tires staked before they bloom and make potatoes. Real easy to dig, just remove the tires. Some varieties of potatoes will make potatoes all along that tower, other varieties just make them in a clump at the bottom. I can't remember which variety was which.

This link talks about other ways and mentions varieties. I saw something here I didn't know. I knew potatoes and tomatoes are the same family, I didn't know that potatoes come in determinate and indeterminate varieties. For y method I'd want the determinates.

Potato Towers - Which Varieties to Grow and Other Tips for Success (commonsensehome.com)

 

[Ridgerunner]

Do taters respond OK to replanting?

I think it's dependent in how much you disturb the root system as well as how early you transplant. That system might work if you were careful.

I've transplanted volunteer potatoes that just show up in the wrong place in the garden. I took a shovel and tried to move everything I could. They produced but not as well as ones started from seed potatoes and grown in place. Part of that might have been the time of the year, not totally sure but I was not that successful.

 

[digitS']

Now don't be working yourself too hard on this, although with 7 (?) In the family, I can imagine that you go through several pounds of potatoes in a year.

I don't know about the crop being as easy as @Alasgun 's neighbor said but have read that seaweed was a common fertilizer along the seacoasts of the British Isles. Somewhere on TEG, I posted a picture of "lazy beds" for potatoes. I remember saying that it didn't look all that easy to me!

Starting indoors and moving them. We had a fun lady on here who planted potatoes in empty feedbags in her basement. When the weather was okay for outdoor growing, she would have her husband carrying the bags upstairs and outdoors.

As @Ridgerunner just mentioned: There are some varieties that grow tubers right along the stems. If you have seen the stories about growing a bin full of potatoes by adding vertically to the container as the season progresses - those stem-huggers are the ones to plant. My thinking is something of a question mark on this. A suitable type, long growing season, and plentiful fertile growing media may make this worthwhile and fun. Howsomeever ... plant leaves are the primary source of the starches. Leaves age and become less productive, it's true, but stifling the plant's photosynthesis won't grow spuds below ground.

Purdue, in their "intensive" gardening information, says that you can have potato plants spaced at 1 plant/1 square foot. They had better be those stem-huggers if someone wants them that close!

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

Potatoes are pretty easy to grow. Lots of gardeners grow them in almost straight straw. Doesn't matter, but if you soil hardens it will be difficult to harvest them without cutting through some of them.
DON'T pay attention to the 3-4" deep planting directions. Next time I grow (2021) I will be planting them 8 inches deep. Even the experts put sprouting on the counter potatoes into the ground, so consider that. Also, blue potatoes are really neat, BUT they make greyish mashed potatoes, so keep this in mind.
Eating fresh from the ground potatoes are super healthy bc the starches haven't completely formed yet.
As you may already know, the Irish LIVED on potatoes. They are a VERY healthy food, just not so much when fried in unsaturated oil and heavily salted and seasoned.
I would recommend yukon gold bc they are my favorite, but red potatoes tasted great, too, especially the little ones.
Regarding your questions:
Many places sell potatoes. Last year a caught a couple of WM workers moving big sheving units in their garden center bc they were looking for a dead mouse. I pointed out that ALL of their potato packages had become rotten. They said, "...oh..."
If you want a specialty potato, go ahead and buy it. Grocery stores treat potatoes to NOT grow. Their treatments don't work well on potatoes.
Yes, drink a beer when planting! Sometimes I have a sip of vodka before cleaning my stalls and running my non electric wheel barrow.
If smoking a cigar helps you plant, by all MEANS do it! DH has a brand of cigars specifically for his tractor work.
Try not to set your straw on fire.