Can I use just brown leaves for planting potatoes and no soil? I just read up on a past thread that talked about making wire potatoe cages and some people only use hay/straw. I have a ton of leaves that I picked up in my neighborhood and could use those.
Potatoe Question
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The Mama Chicken
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I think you need soil at the bottom of the cages, but to cover them I think leaves would work. I may be wrong though, as I've never tried it. Maybe someone who has done it will chime in.
the1honeycomb
Deeply Rooted
YEs!! you need soil for the begining, but then you can use leave, hay, straw and keep piling them up and soon you'll have your own potatoes!!!!!
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Oh, and it's been since I was a kid that we planted taters...how big do I need to cut the seed taters? Also, has anyone had good results with growing regular 'ol wal-mart in a bag taters that you buy to eat?
catjac1975
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Grocery potatoes will grow but they have been treated to retard growth. I never cut my potatoes. I do not treat them with chemicals to prevent rot. I had a poor growth rate for cut potatoes especially if we had a cold wet spring.I have been planting them whole for years now with 100% success. You can also grow last years leftovers.flyboy718 said:
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So, if I understand correctly...the seed taters I am going to go pick up at the garden center today, DON'T cut them? Just leave 'em whole and cover them up?catjac1975 said:
Back to the grocery potatoes...will they perform as good as seed taters from the garden center?
AllyRodrigues
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Ironically, I just bought seed potatoes from the Walmart garden section yesterday and the price was almost the same for the "eating" potatoes.
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Ridgerunner
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This is an interesting article on seed potatoes from Maine. They are mainly talking to commercial growers, but I steal knowledge where I can. I thought the bit on physiological age of the seed potatoes was interesting.
http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/pdfpubs/2412.pdf
Some potatoes from the grocery will produce potatoes OK, but some of those are treated to prevent sprouting. People have been successful doing it, but there are no guarantees. The article does tell you how to test for the physiological age, so that might help.
Most seed potatoes you buy have been treated with pretty strong chemicals to break their dormancy. I do not eat seed potatoes because of that.
My garden store had seed potatoes for $0.59 per pound last year. I generally pick out the smaller ones when I get mine. If they are a certain size I cut them, making sure I get at least two eyes on each piece. I can't tell you physical size or weight when it comes to cutting them. It's one of those things I've been doing it so long I just go by my feelings.
http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/pdfpubs/2412.pdf
Some potatoes from the grocery will produce potatoes OK, but some of those are treated to prevent sprouting. People have been successful doing it, but there are no guarantees. The article does tell you how to test for the physiological age, so that might help.
Most seed potatoes you buy have been treated with pretty strong chemicals to break their dormancy. I do not eat seed potatoes because of that.
My garden store had seed potatoes for $0.59 per pound last year. I generally pick out the smaller ones when I get mine. If they are a certain size I cut them, making sure I get at least two eyes on each piece. I can't tell you physical size or weight when it comes to cutting them. It's one of those things I've been doing it so long I just go by my feelings.
