Potato question...

[lesa]

I love planting and growing potatoes. Each year we dedicate a good portion of the garden to them.... Well, Dh went to the feed store today- and came back with a 50 pound bag of seed potatoes!! Thus my question... if I plant potatoes out in the back 40- unfenced, will the deer and critters eat them? Is it worth trying? I am not going to plant only potatoes in my fenced in garden, so I am hoping this alternative might work.

 

[Jared77]

With THAT many in the ground I'd be impressed if they ate them all. To give them an alternative I'd put out some pumpkins or something easier for them to get at. I know a few gardeners who do that plant something FOR the deer to eat so they leave their main garden alone. Deer here will stomp a hole and eat the insides of the pumpkins if your not careful.

 

[journey11]

The deer have never touched my potatoes. Being in the nightshade family, I would think that the leaves would give them a bellyache.

 

[Jared77]

Being in the nightshade family,

Cool I just learned something today!

 

[journey11]

Yep...potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant and some other stuff are all Solanaceae. It's good to know the latin names of plants since they use that to classify them.

ETA: It is just my guess that it is why they don't eat them. I think some of those are more toxic than others. Like belladonna...

 

[lesa]

I thought I remembered someone saying the deer didn't bother their potatoes... thanks guys! In the end I guess it wasn't a very important consideration- since I don't happen to have another spot to accommodate 50 pounds of potatoes!!

 

[Jared77]

Im bad with remembering latin names. That's one thing I really fall down with.

 

[thistlebloom]

Well your question has already been answered Lesa, but I will just add that the deer left my potatoes alone, ate the sunflower leaves, and sampled the rhubarb.

You're going to have lots of spuds! I'm putting in 48 pounds this year, I hope to finally harvest enough to take us through 'till the next harvest.

 

[lesa]

I already had 5 pounds of fingerlings waiting for the ground to warm up... they seem like a joke compared to the giant bag of potatoes! What do they say? Ten pounds to every pound? Please tell me that is wrong! I may have to start up a french fry stand in the front yard!

 

[thistlebloom]

You can always gift them!

Actually, I take some of my prettiest tubers, wash them well, and give about 5 pounds to some select customers. I always give them an assortment, and tell them the variety names. They seem to be impressed and tell me how delicious they were.

I think it's the novelty of a homegrown potato, and the fact that they aren't just common russets that leaves such an impression.