Potatoes

[Forky]

We also grow enough spuds for the whole year and enough to share with the kids.
My buddy played a prank on his neighbor's kid last year. The kid was always around trying to help and asked alot of questions, but was a decent kid..... so he told him he was gonna dig potatoes the next day and he could come and help in the afternoon..... my buddy covered a bag of potato chips next to a plant and when they dug that one that one first he said.....you shoulda seen the look on that kids face!

 

[mwemaxxowner]

Great advice, thanks y'all!

My sand drains very well. It's also almost always very dry here in the summer. I've never seen water standing here but I'll keep that in mind! Right now I'm using soaker hoses, once things are more well established I'll run drip line and put emitters only where I need them. It's about time to do that, actually. I was waiting for the stuff in the ground to pop out.

My potatoes actually came from a bag of "mixed" varieties. So, unfortunately, I won't really know what kind the best ones were. I might change that approach next year.

Keeping in mind that I like to mix in a little top soil and compost before I plant, do I still need to be concerned with potato blight?

If so, if I just flip flop my rows yearly will that be sufficient? For example I have one row of all tomatoes, and one row that.has my cabbage, squash, brussels, and maybe my broccoli, can't remember. If I trade the potatoes with one of those rows will that do? I only have about ¼ row that is potatoes. I could easily shift that somewhere. I really think I like the idea of doing it next year in a hay bale!

 

[RalphVa]

In all my volunteer time on the hort helpdesk as a master gardener, never once ran into a case of potato blight.

Potatoes aren't subject to much bad stuff. Maybe if you over water. I never really water mine.

If you're concerned about it, dig a hole and put a potato piece in and fill with mulch. The mulch will be loose enough to dig for "new" potatoes early and will not retain moisture as much. Can just grow in mulch in a basket, too.

 

[mwemaxxowner]

With the loose sand they're planted in I'm not really concerned with that. I don't want to ruin the ground for future crops though, if that part is a concern.

 

[5030]

We keep ours in mesh sacks in the root cellar along with onions and carrots layered in sand plus all the canned goods too. Nice to own an old farm house with a root cellar plus 2 freezers for meat (wild and domestic) as well as shelled corn and stuffed peppers from the garden too.

 

[mwemaxxowner]

I guess I could toss them in the crawl space .

I read that I would need to cure them, then store at 40-50 degrees and 95% humidity if I wanted 6-8 months of storage. I read that if I can't duplicate that I am good for more like 2-3 months.

I think I can probably cure them, and then muster 40-50 degree temps, but I have no way to maintain a set humidity level. Humidity levels stay somewhat high in the house at around 60 percent, even in the winter (yay South Carolina!), So I could keep them somewhat humid but not 95%.

 

[grsthegreat]

my wife just stores them in 5 gallon buckets covered in wood shavings. No lid. unwashed. they last all winter and long into spring. leaves them in garage.

 

[mrblanche]

For us it's about teaching our daughter a little bit about where her food comes from, and how to grow it. I've also always just wanted a garden, makes this ground feel more like mine I guess.

I'm not expecting it to work out in our favor money wise, but so far we're enjoying it. We like good fresh fruits and vegetables, herbs etc, and I think it'll be quite rewarding to step out into the back yard and pick something for dinner. We've been growing some herbs that we use for some time now.

I also know what is, and ISN'T in this food!

Gardening, like hunting, is a way to raise your basic food cost into the lobster and caviar range. But dirty hands ARE fun!

 

[denchen]

Potatoes will store for quite a long time is stored without being washed. They must be in good condition and not been knocked about too much. They can be stored in paper sack or hessian sacks or in an open shed. They must NEVER be allowed to catch a frost and should be kept covered, not too warm and in the dark. The old fashion method used by farmers was to put them in a long heap in the field, this heap was covered in straw about 18 inches thick and the straw was covered with soil with a small opening along the top. The potatoes were kept like this until the price increased in the winter months, When needed the end was removed, the potatoes riddled to remove and soil, put into sacks and sold. We called these `potato graves` but others called them `clamps`. For family use we used to keep the potatoes in 56lb paper sacks, and the old trick was to sprinkle a few grains of Tecnazene crystals in each bag, this stopped them sprouting, but I understand this practice is frowned upon by some. Keep the frost off, keep the light out, keep them dry and they should be all right.

 

[mwemaxxowner]

I joked, but I think I really could store them in the crawl space. It'll be cool and damp, but above freezing and frost would stay off of them. It would already be fairly dark so being in a sack or container and covered would seal the deal I think.