Planting Taters

[DUMBDOG]

Red Norland, Yukon Gold, Viking, Russet, A dark red, which I can not remember the name and Kenebec are the varities that I sell.

I charge $3.50 per 5#, $6.00 per 10#. On the smaller potatoes, I charge $3.50 per bag and their is 1 1/2, 2 or 3#'s per bag, the smaller potaotes have the least amount in the bag. These are the ones that normally sell first until about Labor Day, after that the small ones really slow down as people are no longer grilling out.

In the fall the 25# bags are $12.00 or $15.00 per bag, the higher priced bags have the larger potatoes and sell out first. The complete opposite of the desired size by the customer compared to earlier in the year.

Potatoes comprised about 40% of my sales for the last year.

I normally grow my seed potatoes, but this year I will need to purchase about 500# each of the Red Norland and the Yukon Gold as I sold to many of each.

 

[WayneB]

So I am doing okay at .80 a pound.

We have this organic growers market and they are getting like $1.20 a pound and up for potatoes, $6.50 a dozen for sweet corn and for raspberries they were selling them for 5.50 a pint. Biggest problem is the annual dues and the table cost plus they regulate what you can sell as the members do not want too many of the same products being offered. (one might call it price fixing?)

We get $4.00 a pint for our berries at the house but during these times not as many people are buying them. Goes to show you the luxury items aren't selling LOL.

It's a battle every year trying to figure out just what to plant. Last year I got onto a kick for cucumbers and tomatoes. We had around 250 tomato plants set out and about a 1/4 acre of cucumbers to pick daily. it was okay to start with, but soon the cucs and tomatoes were way ahead of me and I was hauling bushels out to food bank to feed the poor. No one is making a bunch of pickles or canning tomatoes these days

 

[Stimw]

OK Tater growers, what's the difference between seed and regular tater? I've read that store bought taters might be treated to not sprout, but if I grow a tater and then plant it does that make it a seed tater?
I've bought 50# bags of reds being sold out of the back of a truck for $6-10. a bag at local harvest time.

 

[funny farmer]

I quite growing taters because I have now where to store them where they won't start sproting right away... I was thinking about digging a hole in the side of a hill, but I don't know how deep to go so the taters don't freeze. Sounds like a lot of work just for some taters

 

[dooleysm]

In northern MN I would assume you have basement at your house. We kept ours in cardboard boxes in the basement, covered with an old blanket. They did just fine until we ran out within the past week or so.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

In
I normally grow my seed potatoes, .

Dave,

To do this do you leave them in the ground longer...or store them till they start producing eyes? Please elaborate.

Thanks
David

 

[DUMBDOG]

Dave,

To do this do you leave them in the ground longer...or store them till they start producing eyes? Please elaborate.

Thanks
David

Normally, I harvest enough potatoes each day for the next day, at the end of the season before the freeze, we harvest whatever is left, sell to the end and whatever is left is stored as seed potatoes.

The potatoes are then put in crates which we made out of wood and are either 42x48 or 48x48. The smaller of the two will hold about 1000#, the larger about 1200#. They are stored in the shed. As the potatoes are put in, they are sorted and only the good ones are kept as to prevent spoilage during the winter. There is nothing worse smelling than rotten potatoes, other than a really rotten egg. The shed heat controller is kept at the minimum setting of 40 degrees. The best temperature for keeping potatoes is 38 to 39 degrees. Right now there is 7000# sitting in the shed awaiting their fate next spring.

In the spring, we just run them through the potato cutter if they have sprouts on the eyes or not. As long as the potatoes have an eye they will sprout once in the ground and the proper temperature of the soil has been reached.

The area where the potatoes are stored should be dark, if the area is not naturally dark, they should be covered. The covering should be material that will allow the transfer of humidity of the potatoes, if a covering of material does not allow for the transfer of humidity, the potatoes will start to sprout.

I am not expert on the subject of planting or storing of potatoes, but I try to remember what worked or did not work in the years before and I do a lot of research on the net.

Attached is a picture of some of the potatoes we dumped when we had carried over to many one year. The thing I learned was that quit harvesting them when you get enough.

I dumped them behind the neighbors house and he loved it despite the smell as it drew the deer in.

 

[DUMBDOG]

OK Tater growers, what's the difference between seed and regular tater? I've read that store bought taters might be treated to not sprout, but if I grow a tater and then plant it does that make it a seed tater?
I've bought 50# bags of reds being sold out of the back of a truck for $6-10. a bag at local harvest time.

Any potato can become a seed potato, you are correct that the store ones sold for food are normally treated with something to prevent them from sprouting. This does not mean that they will not work for seed potatoes. It just means that they will not sprout for a while and if you went in and purchased these potatoes and took them out and planted them right away the results would not be the best.

You would be surprised at the amount of chemicals on commercially grown potatoes. Besides the stuff put on so that they will store better, they are treated with some chemical or other on an average of once per week after they are in the field, then they put something on to kill the plants before harvest and then treated to prevent sprouting.

If you have an aversion against chemicals, buy some good home grown potatoes.

 

[PineRidge]

1st time we planted we took the advice of an old neighbor as to when. They all rotted in the ground.

The second batch we let scab over after cutting then planted them after the soil had warmed.

We hilled them using an attachment on the back of a Troy tiller but a spade would have worked just as well.

Ended up with a few potato bugs but they didn't like it when I gave em a bath in the paint thinner and we finally got rid of them. guess their kin heard all the screams.

The potatoes both white and red kennebec were the best tasting we have ever eaten and they keep for months in net potato bags hanging from the ceiling in the basement where its cool and dark. Here it is January and we are still having all kinds of spuds.

Go for it! Spuds are pretty easy to grow.

 

[2manyrocks]

Went to buy seed potatos at the local Farmer's Coop in Middle Tennessee. Said they didn't have any and didn't know where to find any. Bummer....