Potato questions

[WayneB]

Wayne, we just laid the potatoes on the top of very loose soil and pressed them just below the surface before covering them with the hay. Some of the hay was beginning to decompose and had dirt in it.

That takes a little digging to get to the potatoes, but most of them are on top of the ground or just sticking out of the soil like turnips.

I think it's pretty funny that our plants are starting to die off and we are harvesting at the same time you are just planting.

Jim, it is so difficult for me the grasp that you guys are actually digging potatoes so early.

Our goal is to always try and have salt potatoes and peas for the 4th of July! But keep in mind that yesterday morning it was 39 degrees here! It was 49 this morning, but it is going to warm up (soon)! Actually, we have had many really warm days, but a lot of rain so the ground is pretty wet. Nothing like the rains you have had in Texas!


Several years ago I tried the covering of potatoes with hay and no one told me that the hay would all go to seed and I ended up with one **** of a battle with weeds in that area. And it is not easy to find straw around here that one can afford. About $5.00 a bail.

I use my Troybilt to dig a trench then place the potato seed in and slightly cover them and once the tops pop up I start hilling them. I do not dig them up until late September although we will sneak in and take a few out during the summer. Never tell my wife how many pounds of seed potato I buy, but this year I put in 30 pounds so I am hoping I get at least that much out! **** of a farmer, Right?

 

[DUMBDOG]

Thirty pounds of seed potatoes should get you three hundred pounds of potatoes at the end of the season.

 

[WayneB]

Well I am hoping for 300 pounds, but will be happy with what we get.

 

[jinman]

Well I am hoping for 300 pounds, but will be happy with what we get.

Wayne, do you plant the whole potato or do you quarter it? ...or what? I am guilty of trying to cut every sprouting eye off a potato, such that I may have 6, 8, or more pieces from a single potato. I planted 5 lb of seed potatoes in the four 16' rows below. My guess is that I will have more than a 10:1 ratio for harvest. I'll know later today, but I've already harvested about 15 lb of new potatoes from these rows.

BTW: This picture was taken on April 17th. That's why my harvest is so early.

 

[Egon]

Just potatoe skins with the eyes will also work.

 

[WayneB]

Wayne, do you plant the whole potato or do you quarter it? ...or what? I am guilty of trying to cut every sprouting eye off a potato, such that I may have 6, 8, or more pieces from a single potato. I planted 5 lb of seed potatoes in the four 16' rows below. My guess is that I will have more than a 10:1 ratio for harvest. I'll know later today, but I've already harvested about 15 lb of new potatoes from these rows.

BTW: This picture was taken on April 17th. That's why my harvest is so early.

Jim I normally cut them in half or thirds, depending upon the time of day and how tired I am. My rows are about fifty feet long and I have four rows this year.

Growing up I always said I would never grow potatos. Grow up in a potato area of upstate New York and there is nothing fun about harvesting acres of potatos. Back then we got 10 cents a bushel for picking taters.

 

[SPIKER]

them tater rows look preyty good, I also see an electric fence in the back ground which reminds me I have to get mine around the garden SOON, peas are up nice corn & beans are 2" taters are growing only planted a week ago.

we only planted about 15 lbs worth, this year is new I added 20+ ton of sand to the garden area to break up some of the clay. hilled up ~3 or 4 " them planted in rows then re-hill a few times in growing season. not sure if we are going about it right but with the clay we need to keep the stuff on top light, not a lot of straw but lots of weeds been added to the garden! lol


mark M

 

[jinman]

Mark, we put up the electric fence last year after the squirrels and coons got into our melons, but we have not yet powered it up. I think the critters were just so thirsty/hungry last year that our melons got attacked at the end of the season. This year, we have had no critter damage and the fence is just there to be used if the need arises.

Here is a link to a picture of how the potatoes grow in the hay. Notice that there is one very large potato and the rest are much smaller. I'm not sure why that happens, but I've noticed it a lot more in the hay than the ones growing in the ground.

Hay-tators

 

[redhawknc1]

jinman, I have a problem with critters. Plant corn and the squirrels go right behind me and dig up EVERY kernel that I have planted. Planted 3 times last year. Didn't even try this year! And the deer mow down my beans as soon as they form leaves. I have 200' of wide row beans that look like I mowed them with my lawn mower. Any suggestions that are workable other than standing guard with a rifle!
Wayne

 

[Chuck52]

Redhawk,

I kept deer out of my corn last year with a three strand electric fence. It wasn't near high enough to keep them from jumping it, but they didn't, and I have lots of deer. I baited the fence with peanut butter on aluminum foil and they probably hit that and got scared off. Unfortunately, the coon weren't discouraged by the fence and as soon as the corn started to get ripe the coons mowed it down. That was after I had trapped 15 coons. I probably ought to get into the coon and deer raising business.

Chuck