How are the potatoes?

[digitS']

I may have to move. Honestly, I'm no potato expert and actually garden hundreds and hundreds of miles from the Snake River Plain and its basalt soil. In fact, the soil in my gardens is glacial till, granite and such (lots of granite and such ). I'm continually grabbing what I think is a spud and coming up with a rock .

There was something like 25 years when I never grew a potato. They were too cheap in the stores. It has been only the last few years that I've developed an interest in growing them again.

Here is what I understand to be the case: if you want small potatoes - plant a small potato and let it grow; if you want large potatoes - plant just 1 eye.

If you allow all the potato eyes to grow, the result will be many spuds but small size. My potatoes this year could have been larger if I'd only planted 6 pounds of seed, as I'd planned, instead of 10 pounds.

Yield may be about the same depending on soil fertility and available moisture. Oh and, some varieties like Kennebec and Yukon Gold are known for large potatoes. Fingerlings are at the other end of the spectrum.

Steve

 

[EdisonCheug]

Thanks, chris09, for the pic. I am waiting for mine to start dying back and it helps to see what your foliage looks like. I'm VERY ANXIOUS because the greens look SO HEALTHY!! I have 14 plants. They are in a well-drained, never pooling water location.
Question: Can I wait too long and have my potatoes rot in the ground?

I all was leave mine in the ground till the tops die back..
If you get too anxious you can dig one up and see how there doing and have some "New" potatoes.

Chris

maybe youre right, i should leave them for some time.
by the way, your photoes looks growing very well.

 

[digitS']

I finished the potato harvest today. I'd worked down the bed into the Yukon Gold this week. They were at the very end of their season.

Nearly, 37 pounds of Gold!

So, along with the
Adora 10lb
Russet Norkotah 23lb
Red Norland 24lb

That's 93 pounds of potatoes out of the 100 square feet! Of course (because of GrowsLotsaPeppers ), I had to include every tiny spud!

Maybe ordering seed potatoes online will be the way to go in 2011. Relying on the local garden center has almost meant that I grow a different selection each year! The only consistency has been with the Yukon Gold.

I don't mind trying a few things new each year but one develops favorites, don't you know? As with any plants (and foods) they become like "old friends" - to be celebrated when they reappear, each year. I don't like some things slipping thru my fingers :/.

All that Glitters is not Gold, even in the spud patch.

Steve

 

[cwhit590]

Man Steve, you have your spuds down to a science!

I harvested all my potatoes this weekend...they're all some red variety. I garden at the house of a couple in my church, and they let me plant whatever I want from their leftover seed potatoes...the potatoes are red but I dunno what kind they are...? We had some new potatoes a while ago and man, they're good! They taste like they're already buttered.

Lets see...I had four 8-10ft rows, and I got about 2.5 5-gallon buckets' worth of spuds...I think....haven't weighed them out or anything. But it's plenty for our family!

The plants grew great this year...and for some reason the Colorado potato beetles hardly bothered them at all! They seemed more interested in my 1 eggplant.

 

[schmije]

Does anybody else grow potatoes in old tires? We don't have a very big plot - only 12 tires, but I like how easy it is to flip the tire and have the potatoes fall out. Our plants have died back, so I need to harvest mine. Maybe tomorrow.

 

[digitS']

. . .

Lets see...I had four 8-10ft rows, and I got about 2.5 5-gallon buckets' worth of spuds...I think....

2.5 5-gallon buckets out of less than 40 foot of rows? I'd say that is a good haul!

Yes, I like red potatoes. I used to grow Pontiac, which is a very common grown variety. It was great tasting and very useful! Some of the difference, one variety to another, may be mostly just appearance.

I may grow the Adora again. It is a nice little spud. I certainly didn't give it a very good chance by planting it where it got so much shade.

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

SSSOOOOO HHHAAAAPPPPYYY !!!!!!!
Harvested 5/14 plants yesterday, when it was super dry. MY FIRST ATTEMPT, and I got 5-6 potatoes per plant!!! Most of them were big, about 5 were HUGE, with a few little ones, and I found 3 that went bad in the ground...so I left them there. I planted 15 Yukon Gold seed potatoes in the Spring, and got 14 plants. The tops were dried out and dead looking--I waited, like everybody suggested. :bun row
I figured that I harvested about $5.00 worth of potatoes yesterday. NEXT year, I'll take care of them better, so I can get a bigger crop.