When to cover potatoes?

[bills]

I shovel a little loose dirt over the spud greens every few days, almost covering all the exposed leaves. They just shoot up again, and again..

I use the trench method...FYI

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

patandchickens - Thanks, that gives me a general guide to go by
Chickie'sMomaInNH - That is a nice little factoid. I had no idea about the rocks adding warmth.
stano40 - yes, close to us indeed. Good luck with your spuds!
bills - The trench method is what I am going for although my husband was thinking I was crazy for having him dig a trench.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

if i had the time i'd run my tiller over there and help you get the depth you could use! i live just over the border in Rochester! but with all the rain i am rushing around now to get everything else in my garden and get more areas tilled!

 

[897tgigvib]

I'm growing taters this year too. Have to wait another week first, or so

 

[nachoqtpie]

We're growing them too. My son wanted to experiment with the eyes on some store bought potatoes. Wouldn't you know it that kid got THREE of them to grow! LOL One of them is growing REALLY well... the other 2, not as well. I'm going to use the bag method. I just have to use 2 different bags because the one is SO much taller than the other 2, and I would hate for it to keep growing and the other 2 not be able to keep up.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

I was happy with last years crop but I am going to play around a bit this year. An old timer that we know says he never hills his potatoes and then I watched a movie on youtube; Return to Eden, I think was the name. The gentleman in the movie doesn't hill either. So I am going to purhaps do some experimenting and see what happens.

Here's to you all and this years potato crop!!

 

[gardentoad]

We planted in dirt in our containers then when they started to grow we covered them with leaves and straw, the container is about 2 ft.
Deep already..I think we have about another 2 ft to go.
We did tires last year with loam, just didn't grow way we had hoped.

Indyanna welcome to TEG


Don

 

[digitS']

I no longer make compost in a "conventional" pile. Most of the compostables go into a bed that has been shoveled out to nearly a foot in depth, then recovered. I also make compost in a similar way, mostly below ground with soil piled on top, and then dig that compost out during the growing season and use it as a mulch.

Since my potato growing space doubled from 100ft to 200ft last year, the potatoes took a lot of that compost mulch but, I was okay with that. Altho' not completely decomposed by the time I need it, the compost is probably pretty good stuff but I first put down a little organic fertilizer . It really helps to put the mulch down before the plants have grown so large that they are difficult to work around - they are in 2 rows and about 24" to 30" apart, in 4' wide beds.

Harvesting them right thru August (and rounding the fractions ), I got 198# of spuds. I can't quite count that as 43,560 pounds/acre because of the paths between the beds but . . . it was a good yield. It is about what I have been getting per square foot since I started raising potatoes again after about 25 years of not growing them. (And, there are no potato farms around here within 100+ miles so this isn't Potato Heaven despite the location of political borders.)

The early potato varieties have real appeal to me but the information on them is that their yield is lower than late varieties that can grow through a 5 or 6 month season. I have trouble with storage during the weeks of summer and fall before my basement room cools to a better storage temperature. I'm tempted to grow Russet Burbank this year since they have a longer growing cycle but that's putting me right back where I was 35 years ago, growing a variety that is available in every soopermarket . . .

A fingerling would be another choice since I recall that the ones I grew several years ago required a long season. But, what might happen to my yield stats . . ?

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

I was happy with last years crop but I am going to play around a bit this year. An old timer that we know says he never hills his potatoes and then I watched a movie on youtube; Return to Eden, I think was the name. The gentleman in the movie doesn't hill either. So I am going to purhaps do some experimenting and see what happens.

Here's to you all and this years potato crop!!

I'll probably be around this forum later when you dig them. It will really be interesting if your experiment includes hilling some and not others. I'm not going to make any predictions on productivity. I think you may find it is easier to dig them if they are hilled.

In any case, good luck and enjoy.

 

[momofdrew]

this year I want to try the straw method...just putting the eyes on the ground and cover with straw and as they grow...