Question about Determinate and Indeterminate Potatos

[2dream]

I know there is a million threads here about potatos but I can't find anything on this subject. I never knew there was an indeterminate potato until earlier today.

I know that with determinate potatos you wait until the plant dies normally to dig your potatos. But how do you know when to dig the indeterminate potato? Since it is indeterminate that should mean it would keep producing, so how do you gather your harvest without killing the plant so it will continue to produce?

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi 2dream,

I found this information for you: I hope it helps.

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cornucop/msg0121542031972.html ***** the info is about half-way down the page

:rose Hattie :rose

 

[2dream]

Thanks so much. I searched for hours and found nothing. I think I now have part of the answer to my disappointing potato crop last year.

 

[digitS']

Well, I can learn something new every day! I'm not sure how critically important this information is but, it had never occurred to me that there is this growth pattern in tomatoes AND potatoes.

Of course we know that sometimes potatoes never flower. And we know, that the potato tuber isn't a fruit. But, the flowering, if it does occur, is a part of the growth cycle . . . "determines" things, at least partly .

I gotta say that I'm not one of the 2 "Steves" on that thread . You might find me signing as digitS' somewhere besides TEG, however.

Farmerdilla gets around real well - he's the guy who once told me that replanting early potatoes after harvesting will allow 2 crops per season. Wrong!! At least, wrong in my part of the world . . .

I even asked a local potato farmer what he thought about the idea of harvesting something like Yukon Gold in late July and replanting some of the tubers to grow for a September harvest. He told me, "I don't think it will work, Steve." . . . so true

The potatoes I replanted in July showed up as plants the following year. They didn't do as well as those planted in April and didn't do as well as they'd done the previous year. But, let me see if I can do something with this new knowledge of "determinate vs. indeterminate" varieties. I see that some that grow well for me, like Sangre & Yukon, are determinate . . . hmmm . . .

digitSteve