Potatoes!

[lupinfarm]

This is my first year growing potatoes, and I was curious.. when the leafy plant shows up do I cover it up with soil? ... Cause thats the impression I got from the seed potato box...

 

[digitS']

The idea of covering a potato vine has always seemed a little odd to me. Yes, I know that tubers will develop along the buried stem. However . . .

The starch in the potato comes from photosynthesis. Photosynthesis takes place in the leaves and stem. If I limit these parts of the plant by covering them with soil or mulch, I will limit the plant's ability to produce the starch in the tuber. A large, leafy plant should produce more or larger potatoes than a plant that has been limited in its exposure to sunlight.

The tubers tend to bulge up out of the ground as they develop. If they are exposed to sunlight, they turn green and become bitter and somewhat toxic. So, we shouldn't let that happen if we want to eat all the potatoes produced by the plants. Keeping the tubers covered with soil is a good idea.

. . . my 2

Steve

 

[lupinfarm]

The idea of covering a potato vine has always seemed a little odd to me. Yes, I know that tubers will develop along the buried stem. However . . .

The starch in the potato comes from photosynthesis. Photosynthesis takes place in the leaves and stem. If I limit these parts of the plant by covering them with soil or mulch, I will limit the plant's ability to produce the starch in the tuber. A large, leafy plant should produce more or larger potatoes than a plant that has been limited in its exposure to sunlight.

The tubers tend to bulge up out of the ground as they develop. If they are exposed to sunlight, they turn green and become bitter and somewhat toxic. So, we shouldn't let that happen if we want to eat all the potatoes produced by the plants. Keeping the tubers covered with soil is a good idea.

. . . my 2

Steve

lol, that does seem odd doesn't it? So basically I should totally cover them up. I left them up for a few days and have since covered them... we'll see!

 

[Ridgerunner]

The new potatoes form above the seed potato. You cover or partially cover the potato plant with soil, mulch, or mixture of both as the plant is growing to give the potatoes somewhere to develop. People do it different ways but I leave 4 to 6 leaves uncovered as I go. I've seen posts on here where people bury the whole thing. Once I get the "hill" high enough, say 12" to 14", I quit covering it, unless a developing potato shows. You do need to keep the potato covered or they will turn green.

Don't worry about sufficient photosynthesis. Oncew you stop covering the plant, it will grow two to three feet high and grow thick enough to smother weed and grass growth. There are plenty of leaves and stalk to develop the starch when the pototoes start forming.

If it makes you feel better, compare it to planting a tomato plant. You can plant the tomato plant with only the original root ball in the soil, or you can bury most of the tomato plant and let the roots develop on the buried stem. Most people feel there are benefits to the second method. With a potato, you are just gradually burying the stem instead of all at once as with a tomato.

You can start them in a trench and fill the trench as you go, but I find it much easier to dig them if I grow them in a hill. And this gives them good loose soil to develop the potatoes in.

I desperately need to cover mine but with 9 straigth days of rain, with 5 more predicted, I can't step foot in my garden. I am concerned about the quality and quantity of this crop.

This applies to regular potatoes only. Sweet potatoes are normally grown differently. However, one poster on here grew his sweet potatoes with this method and was satisfied with his results. We all have different tweaks or methods. If you experiment and compare the harvest and the work that you put into it from preparation through harvest, you can come up a method that best suits you.

 

[Purple Strawberry]

Yep, I have covered mine up. I would say I am leaving about 2 to 3 inches showing. But this is my first year so don't totally listen to me. What I just told you I did lean from this site.

:rainbow-sun

 

[robbobbin]

This is the first time Ive heard that you do not do sweet potato the same way- uh oh.

 

[Ridgerunner]

This is the first time Ive heard that you do not do sweet potato the same way- uh oh.

Don't panic. Check out this thread for discussion. There is a link in this thread to another thread that will interest you. As I said in my other post, some people do plant them this way. It is not the "traditional" way and it is not my way, but that does not make it wrong for you.

http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=25507

 

[vfem]

I started this plant in the bucket under a few inches of soil. I think it was a total 6" at the bottom... when the first leaves opened, I started covering it the plant just to the base of the top most leaves. I didn't cover all the leaves. As you can see I am done covering what I planned on. I would only cover any exposed tubers from here on out.

IF this goes well this year, I will be getting more buckets to do this again next year, one type of potato per bucket. This year is 100% experiment from a store bought russet potato!

 

[warmfuzzies]

Sweet potatoes also will root along the stem. I have not grown them, but from my reading, they can root down anywhere they touch the ground.

So it will not hurt them. But the sweet potatoes are actually swollen roots, not tubers, so they grow under it, not above it. I think. So it probably does not benifit it any.

I have also read you can take cuttings from your sweet potatoes after they get big enough. I will be trying this, but I dont know if the growing season is long enough to get anything from the cuttings.

Has anyone tried growing swee potatoes in a mound system? I am not sure where to put mine when I get them.

 

[vfem]

I don't bother with sweet potatoes.... after they do the harvests up the road in their fields.... we always go through the field and dig up anything they missed getting. Plenty of sweet potatoes for us, and no work or cost!

(I'm a bad bad bad girl :/ )