Growing Potatoes - Zone 4

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

Forking off of Potatoes and focusing more on zone 4 (Minnesota) growing since that one was WAY more south

I've never grown potatoes, but my wife has been mentioning them more in the last two years, so I think this spring I'll try to grow them. I'm open to whatever advice you have I'm all ears.

I garden in both raised beds and in the ground. In-ground being corn & squash - and this year experimenting with some watermelons - while raised beds are peppers and tomatoes and I think I'll build another raised bed or two for this year to plant the taters in and that way I'll have enough beds to rotate the taters through over the years since I have read to let there be two or three years between growing them in the same soil. Our soil is very clay-y, hence the raised beds

Anyways,

1. Where should I source seed taters from?
   • @Lickbranchfarm mentions to look at some local garden centers over online/catalog ordering, so I'll probably stop buy a place or two on my errands in the near future to see if I can find some reds
   • what are some online options in case local doesn't work out? Pine Tree seems to have some
2. What is a "well, wish I didn't do that" lesson you learned?
   • I'm assuming one of those would be learning when/how to harvest so you don't leave them in too long
3. How long between cutting them and planting them? I don't want to get $30 worth of seeders only to waste them but leaving them to dry out or whatever too long
4. Do I drink beer while planting them?
5. How about a cigar?
6. What else?

 

[Alasgun]

Yea, you could do all that, OR you could keep it simple. To show you how simple i’ll use a story told to me by a dear friend. “They lived in Sitka at the time and her mom would go to a near by protected bay and by using the tide book, knew how high the highest tide would be that summer and simply moved up the beach a few feet and pulled back the sea weed that piles up there during storms etc. then she’d drop the potatoes on the ground and drag the sea weed back over them and walk away. Returning in the fall to reverse the process and harvest the potatoes off the beach. No hilling, no fertilizer or additional effort.”

i marvel at local knowledge sometimes.

we’ve been using our own seed for several years growing purple moly and red norlands. We plant them deep (8 inches) and water them. No hilling, no mulch etc. we do keep the vines up tight to the plants which is a mulch of sorts. This is 12 hills worth, 85 lbs.

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

Yea, you could do all that, OR you could keep it simple. To show you how simple i’ll use a story told to me by a dear friend. “They lived in Sitka at the time and her mom would go to a near by protected bay and by using the tide book, knew how high the highest tide would be that summer and simply moved up the beach a few feet and pulled back the sea weed that piles up there during storms etc. then she’d drop the potatoes on the ground and drag the sea weed back over them and walk away. Returning in the fall to reverse the process and harvest the potatoes off the beach. No hilling, no fertilizer or additional effort.”

i marvel at local knowledge sometimes.

we’ve been using our own seed for several years growing purple moly and red norlands. We plant them deep (8 inches) and water them. No hilling, no mulch etc. we do keep the vines up tight to the plants which is a mulch of sorts. This is 12 hills worth, 85 lbs.

We have a room that's cold enough that we think we could store taters for following years

Those look lovely.

So you just grow them in the same soil beds every year then?

 

[Alasgun]

Everything moves over one slot each year. Of the 8 raised beds, 5 are growing root vegetables so its hard to give them a textbook rotation, but we’ve found that unnecessary as we amend heavily for plant nutrition and disease has never been a problem.

 

[digitS']

I didn't grow potatoes for several years and - that was a "well, wish I didn't do that" lesson I learned. However, at the time it made some sense. I didn't know about the unusual varieties out there and so, I'd been growing the same as what I could find at the soopermarket. Big deal. the price is really low for potatoes, they have the advantage of heavy production, ease of shipment, long-term storage ...

After awhile, I realized that there were different varieties than those old standards and there must be gardeners enjoying those. I was jealous! However, there's a problem with potatoes that are not commonly available - they are expensive to ship. So yeah, I very much tend to rely on local supply and that isn't all that remarkably broad. Haunt your local feed stores & garden centers! Or ... go a little nutz and order some.

For me, that has been from Irish Eyes LINK .

My basement storage isn't the best for potatoes - likely, too warm. I have planted from saved seed a couple of times when I have had way more harvested than we could eat and, at least, some could be culled. Using my own for seed hasn't been all that successful. Growing potatoes for seed isn't a casual undertaking for commercial farms. There is a certification process and that involves more than just inspection. Your land-grant university is likely to have some thoughts on that to share - the "why" for buying certified seed potatoes.

Some varieties may not be all that suitable for your gardening style. I have had gardens where I really wanted to have succession plantings and early varieties can be good choices for that. Late varieties can go into the garden in early April and sit right there in the same patch of ground until a couple weeks after fall frost. That's okay but it isn't necessary and I did a couple of things to make, what I felt was, better use of the ground. One, I could interplant with an early green. Two, I could harvest early varieties beginning about the first of August and plant greens for late harvest. Of course, that meant that I needed to find suitable storage for the harvested potatoes during several weeks of summer. It isn't terribly tough because the spuds don't really "want" to sprout and start growing immediately after harvest. One thing that I did was haul them down to the cooler-than-outdoors basement, then carry them back up to the chilly garage during September and then back down to the basement before there was any chance of freezing in the garage.

What you are likely to find is that even common potatoes, fresh from the garden, are a flavor surprise. And, I'm not even talking about the little, "new" potatoes that you can harvest and prepare in your kitchen as Creamed Peas and New Potatoes! From an end-of-season harvest, you know, after a few months of storage - potatoes aren't much different than what is at the soopermarket. That is, unless you have some unique varieties. They are a special treat for gardeners!

Steve
Edited to fix the link

 

[digitS']

Hilling is necessary for potatoes or the tubers will react to sunlight and develop toxins.

Seed potatoes provide a fair amount of nutrients to a young plant to make a good start but you want that growth to continue right into the "bulking up" stage of new tuber development.

In one garden where I had the potato patch for years, the soil was quite fertile at the beginning of any season. Potato plants started and grew. Just about the time that I could harvest the first little spuds for those Creamed Peas and New Potatoes, I began moving in the compost!

Yes, you can put down some decent fertilizer and cover that with several inches of soil. However, dedicating your compost to the potato patch can pay off well .

Keep in mind that I like the early varieties. Bulking Up really happened under that compost. Foliage was cut to toughen tuber skins and out they came! In went the Bok Choy or other greens. They were immediately thriving in that compost-rich soil.

Steve

 

[6884]

Well we have a difference of 4 in grow zones so take the way i do it with grain of salt, what works for me will probably still work for you, your dates will be a little different of course.

The way I do it in Grow Zone 7B (Lol)....And I plant Red Norland Potatoes so all of this information is based on A Red Norland seed potato, but there's not much difference with varieties other than maturity dates.

Usually around the middle of February, i will begin to source my seed potatoes. Around here some local mom and pop hardware stores still have seed potatoes on hand by the lb. These usually get scarved up real quick, and their origin is usually not known so you really dont know what your getting sometimes. I have bought certified seed potatoes for the last few years, and have not had any issues with them growing. You pay a little more for them, but i guess your paying for that piece of mind.

So with seed potatoes, I like to sprout mine first. You dont have to do this, but i do so i can maximize the amount of pieces i can get off my seed potatoes. For me it just makes it easier to see the developing eyes, and know where and where not to cut. Once they are cut I usually wait a week to let them suberize. people use lime, ashes, sawdust, many things to help heal the cut side of the potato. I just let them sit in a warm part of the house and let nature take its course. You'll end up with almost like a callus on the cut side.

Once your weather stabilizes, and you start getting a few warm days, go ahead and run your rows. I like to pull up a good size hill, then dig a deep furrow down the middle. I amend the hill with a good dose of a balanced fertilizer ( I use triple 17 ). I use roughly 10 lbs per 100 row ft. at planting. Now you can plant your taters! I plant mine closer than most, @about 1' spacing some do 16" some do 24". I want a row slap full of potatoes when i dig them up.

I plant the seed potatoes about 3-4" deep, but not below the initial hill. Cover them up and wait. Potatoes can germinate in soil as cool as 40 degrees. My main concern at initial planting is moisture. I pay close attention to the soil and make sure it is not too wet at planting or else you risk losing the seed to rot.

Once your potatoes emerge, let them get a little height on them (maybe an inch or so ) then side dress them with another shot of triple 17 (same as before) once you get that down, hill the potatoes till you just about cover the leaves, dont completely cover them, but leave a little green exposed. make sure you start getting plenty of water to them now. they will Jump, you'll have to side dress just like the first 2 times, and hill them again at about the halfway mark, for me thats like 45 days. At around 70 days or so the plants will start to look faded, the deep green will give way to yellowing leaves, and the plant will begin to die back. I have harvested potatoes a couple different ways.....

You can cut the plant off at the ground, leaving the tubers in the ground for another week or so. This is suppose to help thicken the skins, and cure the potato before you dig them.

Or.... you can pull the plants and dig the potatoes all at once. You will still need to cure the potatoes, I put mine in a shaded area of the barn, keep a fan on them for a week. after that the skin should be tough enough to handle and process as needed.

I will be putting together a potato planting video hopefully this coming weekend, if i get it done, i'll post it on Monday for you to look over, you should still have plenty of time if your in Zone 4.

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

Everything moves over one slot each year. Of the 8 raised beds, 5 are growing root vegetables so its hard to give them a textbook rotation, but we’ve found that unnecessary as we amend heavily for plant nutrition and disease has never been a problem.

I compost a ton of chicken and horse manure every year, so I add that to everything. Plus I have 5 kids, so leftovers, coffee grounds and veggie cuttings amount to a 5 gal bucket each week for the compost pile.

Hilling is necessary for potatoes or the tubers will react to sunlight and develop toxins.

Seed potatoes provide a fair amount of nutrients to a young plant to make a good start but you want that growth to continue right into the "bulking up" stage of new tuber development.

In one garden where I had the potato patch for years, the soil was quite fertile at the beginning of any season. Potato plants started and grew. Just about the time that I could harvest the first little spuds for those Creamed Peas and New Potatoes, I began moving in the compost!

Yes, you can put down some decent fertilizer and cover that with several inches of soil. However, dedicating your compost to the potato patch can pay off well .

Keep in mind that I like the early varieties. Bulking Up really happened under that compost. Foliage was cut to toughen tuber skins and out they came! In went the Bok Choy or other greens. They were immediately thriving in that compost-rich soil.

Steve

Love the "bulking up" term. Good suggestion on the mid-season addition of compost. 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.

Well we have a difference of 4 in grow zones so take the way i do it with grain of salt, what works for me will probably still work for you, your dates will be a little different of course.

The way I do it in Grow Zone 7B (Lol)....And I plant Red Norland Potatoes so all of this information is based on A Red Norland seed potato, but there's not much difference with varieties other than maturity dates.

Usually around the middle of February, i will begin to source my seed potatoes. Around here some local mom and pop hardware stores still have seed potatoes on hand by the lb. These usually get scarved up real quick, and their origin is usually not known so you really dont know what your getting sometimes. I have bought certified seed potatoes for the last few years, and have not had any issues with them growing. You pay a little more for them, but i guess your paying for that piece of mind.

So with seed potatoes, I like to sprout mine first. You dont have to do this, but i do so i can maximize the amount of pieces i can get off my seed potatoes. For me it just makes it easier to see the developing eyes, and know where and where not to cut. Once they are cut I usually wait a week to let them suberize. people use lime, ashes, sawdust, many things to help heal the cut side of the potato. I just let them sit in a warm part of the house and let nature take its course. You'll end up with almost like a callus on the cut side.

Once your weather stabilizes, and you start getting a few warm days, go ahead and run your rows. I like to pull up a good size hill, then dig a deep furrow down the middle. I amend the hill with a good dose of a balanced fertilizer ( I use triple 17 ). I use roughly 10 lbs per 100 row ft. at planting. Now you can plant your taters! I plant mine closer than most, @about 1' spacing some do 16" some do 24". I want a row slap full of potatoes when i dig them up.

I plant the seed potatoes about 3-4" deep, but not below the initial hill. Cover them up and wait. Potatoes can germinate in soil as cool as 40 degrees. My main concern at initial planting is moisture. I pay close attention to the soil and make sure it is not too wet at planting or else you risk losing the seed to rot.

Once your potatoes emerge, let them get a little height on them (maybe an inch or so ) then side dress them with another shot of triple 17 (same as before) once you get that down, hill the potatoes till you just about cover the leaves, dont completely cover them, but leave a little green exposed. make sure you start getting plenty of water to them now. they will Jump, you'll have to side dress just like the first 2 times, and hill them again at about the halfway mark, for me thats like 45 days. At around 70 days or so the plants will start to look faded, the deep green will give way to yellowing leaves, and the plant will begin to die back. I have harvested potatoes a couple different ways.....

You can cut the plant off at the ground, leaving the tubers in the ground for another week or so. This is suppose to help thicken the skins, and cure the potato before you dig them.

Or.... you can pull the plants and dig the potatoes all at once. You will still need to cure the potatoes, I put mine in a shaded area of the barn, keep a fan on them for a week. after that the skin should be tough enough to handle and process as needed.

I will be putting together a potato planting video hopefully this coming weekend, if i get it done, i'll post it on Monday for you to look over, you should still have plenty of time if your in Zone 4.

Lots of great info there. I'll keep a watch for those tater videos and go back to that last one you posted as well .

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?

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

local FB group told me to check a particular feed store for seed taters, so I'll start there.

Do taters respond OK to replanting? I.e. if I start them indoors in 1 gal pots do they transplant OK, or are they too fragile for that?

 

[6884]

local FB group told me to check a particular feed store for seed taters, so I'll start there.

Do taters respond OK to replanting? I.e. if I start them indoors in 1 gal pots do they transplant OK, or are they too fragile for that?

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.