My seed potatoes are here--HELP.

[ninjapoodles]

OK, Honestly? I need someone to take me by the hand and walk me through the potato-planting process. I have been overwhelmed by instructions from different sources to the point that I don't know which way is up, so I figured I'd just come to the one place where I'm never let down!

I'm in Arkansas, Zone 7b, on a rocky hillside. I'll be planting in boxes or barrels, and I need to do it this weekend. I'm starting from scratch, and have never planted potatoes before. All I have are Yukon Gold seed potatoes, but I have a lot of them.

 

[rockytopsis]

Well, you know what the eyes of the potatoes are right? Here is what I do. Cut the potatoes into chunks so that there is a eye in each chunk, sometimes there will be more than one eye.

Put them aside so that the cut part can dry out and kind of scab over, I do this to keep the potato from rotting in the ground.

I plant in the ground but I would think you start them the same way. Put the potato seed in the ground and cover with dirt. When they start to sprout, cover them more. I make a pretty good hill around the sprout and just let them grow.

 

[Reinbeau]

On top of the advice rockytopsis gave you, you want to dig a bit of a trench and put the seed potato at the bottom of it. The reason for this is that all of the new potatoes grow above that seed potato, which is why you hill the soil as the stems grow, the longer that stem, the more potatoes you'll get. They're really easy to grow, and it's so much fun to dig around for your harvest. Nothing like fresh, new potatoes, steamed and lightly tossed with butter - yum!

 

[momofdrew]

oh Reinbeau now you've done it I want some freshly dug potatoes RIGHT now!!! with butter and a sprinkling of chive on top...yummy

nija what kind of boxes are you talking about...like a raised bed? what size?
that would be easy as you can half fill the raised bed/box with soil.... plant the seed potato cover with soil and as it sprouts add more dirt on top of the bed...the deeper the box the better I plan on using a raised bed this year for potatoes and I am making a double deep box of 20 inches so I will have plenty of space for growth

 

[vfem]

Hahaha... you guys are killing me... I'm thinking about doing it with the russets I have in the kitchen! LOL

 

[Patch of Heaven Farm]

I am trying the straw method this year. I planted some in the ground too just to make sure I will have some at harvesting time. Has anyone else done the straw method?

 

[Reinbeau]

I've heard of people getting green potatoes using the straw method, others may have had better luck. I stick to soil.

 

[Blue Ridge Hillbilly]

You said in your post that you "have plenty of seed potatoes". That being the case, you may consider planting the entire potato for seed rather than cutting the "eyes" out and planting pieces of the cut potato. If you do cut them you may want to dust them with agricultural sulfer powder and let them cure for a few days before you plant them. I personally would plant the entire seed potato in the ground since it sounds like you are not planting a large quantity of them. I planted 3, 100 feet rows of Kennebec and Pontiac Red on February 12th. I planted the whole potato. Happy Planting.

 

[me&thegals]

, Blue Ridge Hillbilly! Feb 12, I believe we were having sub-zero weather nights around here. Oh, I'm envious but also glad for a little more time before the season kicks in here.

 

[Blue Ridge Hillbilly]

Last week was one of the warmest weeks I can remember here in the Blue Ridge Mountains of NC. It was actually in the upper 60's on the day that I planted potatoes. This week it is cold again but supposed to get into the 50's tomorrow. I have a bundle of blackberry plants that I hope to get into the ground tomorrow mid morning. My afternoon is going to be helping out a friend who does not know how to prune his muscadine vines. Have a good day!