Found an idea on line about how to grow potatoes in only leaves in a round container. I had some old 2X4 welded wire fencing and formed containers 36" deep by 32" around. Planted the potatoes in about 6" of soil and waited till they leaved out a nice amount and then began to cover all but a few leaves with brown leaves and I continued to do this as the plants grew and I had the whole 36" container full of leaves. Well I just went out there and knocked over the deal thinking that I would have 100 lbs of potatoes like was said you would have by this method....I had three potatoes attached to a 36" long stem leading to the leaves of the plants and thats IT! EPIC FAIL! No potato's...I would like to hear success and failure stories with details of what you did. Oh and potatoes were planted first week of february.
Potato's above ground = Epic fail.
- Thread starter flyboy718
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momofdrew
Deeply Rooted
How disappointing.... I am trying the Ruth Stout method which is using straw instead of soil...lets hope it works DH will be very upset if we dont get potatoes as that is the only crop he plants...the rest of the work is on me...
lesa
Garden Master
Darn! The idea works if you use dirt, instead of leaves... but, it doesn't begin to equal planting in the ground. I have tried all kinds of things in containers- the yield is always better in the ground. Try, try again...
digitS'
Garden Master
I suppose that some of us should step in and say that we aren't sure that this is gonna work, when people start talking about growing potatoes under heavy mulch. We can only relate our experiences and for me, that was nearly 40 years ago.
I had access to lots of rain-spoiled alfalfa hay so I tilled an area 50' long and it might have been that wide. After measuring carefully, I laid out seed potatoes on the ground and set flakes of hay between them. They grew right up between the flakes and looked great! I began to suspect that I had a problem after a couple of months . . .
When the plants began to die back at the end of the season, I pulled off the hay. One tuber - 1 crummy spud - was all there was under that hay that had not been chewed on by mice!!
I told this story once before and was asked, "Well Steve, what did you do with that potato?" It is a long time ago so I don't remember . . . I probably threw it into the trees! The disappointment is still in the memory banks, tho'.
Compost is what I use for hilling the potatoes in recent years but it doesn't go on until the plants have made quite a bit of growth. I do not start off by planting under the compost. I start off with a shovel and the seed potatoes go into the soil to a good depth - at least 6".
Steve
I had access to lots of rain-spoiled alfalfa hay so I tilled an area 50' long and it might have been that wide. After measuring carefully, I laid out seed potatoes on the ground and set flakes of hay between them. They grew right up between the flakes and looked great! I began to suspect that I had a problem after a couple of months . . .
When the plants began to die back at the end of the season, I pulled off the hay. One tuber - 1 crummy spud - was all there was under that hay that had not been chewed on by mice!!
I told this story once before and was asked, "Well Steve, what did you do with that potato?" It is a long time ago so I don't remember . . . I probably threw it into the trees! The disappointment is still in the memory banks, tho'.
Compost is what I use for hilling the potatoes in recent years but it doesn't go on until the plants have made quite a bit of growth. I do not start off by planting under the compost. I start off with a shovel and the seed potatoes go into the soil to a good depth - at least 6".
Steve
vfem
Garden Addicted
I tried this before, and someone else here tried it last year. For some reason that stuff online keeps coming up to try it, but it just doesn't work. Potatoes are too greedy for nutrients I think for this to work out like they explain it. 
So sorry!
So sorry!
thistlebloom
Garden Master
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What a disappointment!
But you have to figure if you really could get 100 lbs. of yield from a few potatoes the commercial growers would be all over it.
But you have to figure if you really could get 100 lbs. of yield from a few potatoes the commercial growers would be all over it.
SuperChemicalGirl
Attractive To Bees
I had what I consider to be decent luck two years ago in trash bags. I didn't have a ton of potatoes, but I had a good amount considering I planted 5 potatoes in each bag. The biggest problem with the trash bag method was the fact that the bag was black and it got so hot. If I didn't soak it daily when it was hot I had deaths. I also had some difficulty keeping the trash bag rolled appropriately but managed with clips. My parents tried it in Virginia and had a few big potatoes and a ton of small ones. They also had a ton of deaths from it being too hot. They have been growing them in the ground since. I don't have that luxury... I have to do most of my garden in planters.
Last year BF built me a potato condo. Add a 2x6 level every time it grows and keep adding dirt to mound it. I had a bunch of potatoes on the top and bottom last year, and few in the middle. Trying it again this year because it didn't get a lot of sun where it was last year. I might give up on it after this year if I continue to have low yields.
Since I love to have pictures on my posts...
Last year:
2010 trashbag yield:
Last year BF built me a potato condo. Add a 2x6 level every time it grows and keep adding dirt to mound it. I had a bunch of potatoes on the top and bottom last year, and few in the middle. Trying it again this year because it didn't get a lot of sun where it was last year. I might give up on it after this year if I continue to have low yields.
Since I love to have pictures on my posts...
Last year:
2010 trashbag yield:
digitS'
Garden Master
I think it might work. I think V has it right: potatoes are greedy for nutrients.
I think that growing things in containers can be just as successful as growing in the ground - as long as your name isn't Steve, anyway. If it is Steve, then you will have a dickens of a time keeping things watered and the plants will just eke out an existence.
My problem was with rodents. . . Also, watering. I remember that I running the sprinkler on the potato patch took twice as long as what I first tried to get away with. It probably was that I didn't have to water as often. The alfalfa hay should have been really high in nutrients. It made dandy compost.
Covering very many of the potato leaves seems real problematic to me.
Steve
I think that growing things in containers can be just as successful as growing in the ground - as long as your name isn't Steve, anyway. If it is Steve, then you will have a dickens of a time keeping things watered and the plants will just eke out an existence.
My problem was with rodents. . . Also, watering. I remember that I running the sprinkler on the potato patch took twice as long as what I first tried to get away with. It probably was that I didn't have to water as often. The alfalfa hay should have been really high in nutrients. It made dandy compost.
Covering very many of the potato leaves seems real problematic to me.
Steve
SuperChemicalGirl
Attractive To Bees
I do better with a lot of things in containers versus the ground here, because the ground is so cold for so long but the container soil warms up nicely. Both peppers and tomatoes do better in containers for me versus the ground. My yield might not be as good as someone in say North Carolina growing in the ground, but it's Maine and I keep on trying. I'm still trying to grow melons here...digitS' said:
Also I recall the past 2 years I was putting chicken poop into the potato bags or condos... just doing dirt this year. Maybe that will change my yield, too. I thought potatoes weren't nutrient hogs, that if they had too much nitrogen they got scab (which is edible just not sightly).
Collector
Garden Master
I did the 2x4 wire cages last year also, I did 4 cages with 5 potato plants in each. I had only billed twice when they all the sudden flopped over dead. The biggest one was about the size of a tennis ball, and the rest were tiny it was an epic failure. This year they are in the garden and doing great.
