Three Potato Four

Are you burying the potato plants, Steve? I am so paranoid about blight... Those potatoes look wonderful! Northernrose, I think that is an excellent (and very attractive) harvest of potatoes- from a barrel! You should be very pleased!
 
Yes,

they are down 8" to 10" underground

and, I rotate the spuds around to different beds each year.

Steve
 
Ok- I am going to try it... By the time I dig my potatoes -officially- there isn't too much green left!
 
Wow! Northerrose..those are very impressive potatoes! I think I will try a couple of 5 gallon buckets next year for my preschoolers to see where potatoes come from. This way they will know they don't come from Mcdonalds. :D Now, I just have to find a spot where I can put them!

Mary
 
That is an impressive haul there Northern Rose. They look really good.

I know the feeling I'm chomping at the bit to see how my potatoes turned out. I've got a 50' row of a redskin type and a 50' row of a russet and about 6ft of Adirondack blues. Both my red and russets have already bloomed and are just growing away. The Blues seem to be a about 2 weeks behind the other two despite of being planted at the same time. The plants look really good but I'm not messing with them till its time to harvest them all. This is my first time with spuds so Id rather play it safe than give into temptation and start digging.
 
From the best potato authority I could possibly know (PhD in horticulture, spud scientist for state of Idaho), digging around in the plants to get the new potatoes just shocks the plant into not growing any more. It stops. So, one may as well pull the plant and use those new potatoes. Of course, the garden isn't all that bad a place to store your new potatoes . . . so, we noodled out a few new potatoes about 10 days ago to use with the creamed peas & new potatoes just like anybody else ;)!

I really like spuds fresh from the garden! I've gotten into this early variety thing and don't want to get outta it :rolleyes:. Yukon Golds are a good example of an early variety that just quits this time of year. The vines had turned yellow and begun to just lay right down on the ground and die. They were done and you may as well stick a fork in them :cool:. I cut off the Yukon Gold vines about a week ago and will dig those tubers next week.

Out of the 5 varieties this year, I gave 1 nod towards long-term storage with the Goldrush russets. Unfortunately, those leaves are just beginning to yellow also. I think I'm just gonna leave them alone for another 6 or 8 weeks, however. Maybe next year I can cast about a little farther for a truly late variety. When I grew a purple fingerling one year, it obviously wanted to wait until frost killed the vines. That trait in a russet should really lead to some heavy yields as well as keep me from carrying spuds down to a "cold storage" basement room that is all of 61F, as I did yesterday.

Still, with 50 feet of potato beds and the need to pull up no more than 10 feet each week, Imma gonna take this spud harvest up fairly close to 1st frost. At that rate, I'm afraid I can only sow one-half the spud patch to fall greens without running out of time. Well, transplanting out of the 1st part into the 2nd part worked fairly well last year so I can do that also. Can't tell, may need forkful of potatoes and bok choy this winter . . .

I've got quite a few late cabbage coming on, too. Anyone else enjoy Bubbles & Squeak :P?

Steve
 
I don't know why, but I never dig any new potatoes. I must be more patient than I thought. :lol:
 
So...when is a new potato officially an "old potato"? Haha, no seriously...after the plant dies off? Or after they've been stored or...hardened off? Errrr...whadya call that?? Do you do that with potatoes?? I have a lot to learn about vegetables that grow under the ground...i've got onions and potatoes for the first time this year, and planning on planting garlic this fall. Exciting!!

Oh, just realized i have another potato question. I've been reading about blight, and i have my potatoes growing in nylon oat bags. Seems to be working great, but i'm wondering if it would be a bad idea to reuse them next year. I see you're supposed to rotate and not plant tomatoes or potatoes in the same spot for 3 or 4 years, so...even if i sanitized the bags mayve i shouldnt use them for potatoes??
 
All things come to those who wait, Journey. It isn't like they are going anywhere . . . one hopes ;).

I think of a new potato as one from a plant that hasn't stopped growing, Heather. "Freshly dug" potatoes aren't much different in taste & texture from new potatoes. Ones out of storage are something else, again.

There are other potato diseases than blight. Those that are susceptible of my potatoes often have common scab. I think that is mostly a result of a higher than ideal soil pH. Scurf, scab, blight, etc. . . . probably better not to dwell on them . . .

The potato tuber is just a part of the plant that grows new leaves and that part of the plant dies each year, just as the leaves will, in their turn. It must be best to keep them as free of disease organisms as possible.

Steve
 
I'm so pleased with my potato patch this year I could just kiss 'em!
I'll be weighing them to see what kind of yield they give me.
I have a few things I was wondering about... some of my Yukons are beginning to yellow on the lower leaves, but they haven't bloomed yet, sooo... could it be a (shudder ) disease? or maybe they are getting ready to die down? or possibly just a water issue?

A week ago or so I noticed one was wilted and yellowing, I pulled it out, and the base of the stem was slimy, my heart skipped a beat, I so don't want any disease problems. I was careful not to touch any other plants and threw the foliage in the trash. So far I only had one other do that, so it doesn't seem to be spreading. But the patch as a whole seems remarkably healthy, and after messing up the soil in my main garden so that I had to create a new patch for these guys, I'm thrilled that they are thriving.

Bubbles and squeak Steve? Please elaborate! :)
 
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