what to cover my potatoes with?

[bornthrifty]

hi new here,

I have some potatoes now growing in cedar boxes I built from left over fencing
I set them in a nice mix of soil and peat, and cow, but now I need to find something cheap to build up around them as the plants grow

I have a lot of leaves but I dont think water would get through them
anyone know if I could shredd them with our leaf blower shredder, and then use them as mulch

will acidity be a problem ( dont mind experimenting myself, just wondering if anyone has tried leaves and has a strong opinion either way on them...)

I also have some compost I have been making...but not enough


I also have lasts years soil that I grew them in...but I understand that may attract pests


If I have to buy something would straw be my best bet

I know this has been discussed here before, but now that I need the answer I am ready to pay attention, lol

thanks so much

 

[Smiles Jr.]

Hi thrifty and welcome to the forums.

I have tried many things over the years and all have their pluses and minuses.

When I was young (a million years ago) my Aunt and Uncle had a big strawberry farm. My Uncle poured a 40 ft. long concrete section of their driveway. Their drive was 1/4 mile long and all gravel. This concrete section had a small curb around it. Every vehicle that entered and exited their farm had to drive through this shallow box formed by concrete. About 6 times a year they would fill this shallow box with fresh straw about 6 to 8 inches deep. The action of the tires would pulverize the straw and break it up into 2 or 3 inch long pieces. This process of pulverizing the straw has a name but I don't remember what it is. They used this straw as mulch in the strawberry field.

I have tried this in our gravel driveway and it works very well but in the gravel it's hard to gather when done.

This is the best stuff to hill your potatoes with that I have found anywhere. Long stems in the regular straw will not pack down well enough to form a good material for potatoes.

I sure wish I could remember what this is called. Maybe someone will jump in here with the name.

 

[bornthrifty]

I think the farmer is gonna look at me funny if I ask for pulverized straw, lol
(just kidding, I know what youre saying about it being sort of broken down... not sure how I would approach that here, but I will think about that more thanks)


I don't know what I'm gonna do

my friend has cows...but when I asked about manure he pointed to the fresh stuff in the pen...can I use fresh? I thought it needed to be composted

will it grow in just cowmanure (maybe next year)

maybe this year I could use some of my dwindling compost mixed with leaves and straw?
I don't have soil really that's why I am in boxes in the first place...

any ideas thanks

 

[patandchickens]

Last year I used well-composted tree chippings on most of my potatoes, and it worked just great. For some I used LONG-composted horse manure and that worked fine too.

You can't use fresh cow manure. Composted, yes, but your cattle farmer friend may not have any of that (he may store it in a tank). If he has a hay barn, perhaps he would let you sweep the floor of it and use the hay sweepings for your potatoes?

Dried leaves or lots of dried long-stem grass should work, it's just a matter of gettig enough of it.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Ridgerunner]

I remember reading that cow manure (probably fresh cow manure, not well composted) can cause potato scab. I'm not sure if that is what Pat was talking about when she mentioned not to use cow manure unless it is composted.

I can't tell you what to use for hilling your potatoes. All I've ever used is dirt, except for that one year I had some wheat straw mixed in with the dirt from mulching. That worked well.

 

[thistlebloom]

Hi Bornthrifty! You asked about leaves, and yes they would work fine, shredded would be even better. (You didn't mention what kind of leaves...there could be a concern depending on the tree species.) Potatoes actually prefer an acidic soil, something like 5.5 - 6.5 I think.

You could go to a feed store and ask to clean up around the hay loading dock, there's always a lot of broken down straw and hay there at virtually every feed store I've been too.
Sounds like you have a shredder, so you can also run straw through that.
You're right about not using the soil you grew them in last year, potatoes are prone to fungal diseases, and they can lurk in the soil for a year or two.

Fresh manure of any kind can cause scab in potatoes.

And welcome to TEG!

 

[Collector]

Welcome to TEG. I read online that you can use saw dust, and compost mix around potatoes.

 

[bornthrifty]

thanks you guys are a big help!

leaves it is
and layers of saw dust, wood chips from projects
maybe some straw from my farmer friend (love the sweeping the barn idea)

best part free

 

[BetterHensandGardens]

You can certainly use straw, or a mix of things like leaves. I think this describes what you are trying to do, and it works just fine: http://www.betterhensandgardens.com/2010/05/02/planting-potatoes-lazy-bed-method/

 

[thistlebloom]

thanks you guys are a big help!

leaves it is
and layers of saw dust, wood chips from projects
maybe some straw from my farmer friend (love the sweeping the barn idea)

best part free

I think I would pass on the sawdust, the particles are so fine that they may mat and repel water.