I think I've been planting my rows of potatoes too close to each other. I am not a beginner vegetable gardener but apparently had not learned this. Now if I can just remember to cover my newly planted potatoes so that the crows don't dig them up, I'll be happy. Judi R. February 24 at am. Thank you for this article. I see where my past mistakes have been and look forward to this new crop. Do you cut up your seed potatoes before you plant them? We have always done this but it looks like in the pictures the potatoes are whole.
Thank you! Hi Judi, Great question! That depends on how many "eyes" each seed potato has. If a seed potato has 5 eyes, for example, you can cut it in two pieces so that each piece has eyes. You can cut them up the night before planting and let the cut edges dry overnight to prevent rotting. February 22 at am. Sabra Lee. February 19 at pm. I'd like a recommendation for good potato varieties for the Berkshires. We are on a hill in the country, nights tend to be cool and days can be quite hot at times.
I've never grown potatoes before. Thanks so much - sabra. Leave a comment. Security — wikifarmer. Analytics — wikifarmer. We use these cookies to track our sites and plugins performances across the globe. Analytics may either be first or third party cookies. Advertising — these third party advertising cookies are placed by advertising platforms or networks to show you relevant advertising both on and off wikifarmer. Third party companies, such as analytics or advertising companies, typically use cookies to collect user information anonymously.
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Potato Plant Info and Uses The potato plant Solanum tuberosum is a herbaceous perennial which produces edible tuberous crops formed underground. Next Article How to grow Potatoes. We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website. I made a 'planter box' out of sod I cut up from my new-home-lawn and planted my 'tatoes inside, down about 6 inches. I covered the wee plants with 8" of compost when they emerged and have been adding straw on top of that.
My question is, is the straw enough to stimulate tubers to develop, or do I need to sprinkle in some more soil? I think you are fine. I have seen them grow that tall - in the North of Russia, where the light conditions are different but potatoes actually grow better there. Here and now, in the very bright and full sun of my community garden plot, the same variety is much shorter. So no, I guess it is not crazy tall.
Hilling them up is good but you needn't perfection or 15 inches of soil around them. As long as the growing tubers are well covered with soil, you are good. Any of mine that fail to get good coverage and green up rendering them not edible , I use for planting next year.
My Kennebecs are about 2 feet tall and are starting to bloom too. I hilled a couple of times about 8 inches worth of raised dirt. The object of hilling is mainly to have a raised ridge for the potatoes to form in.
If the dirt isn't deep enough, too many potatoes will be exposed and turn green on top. Don't bury things just because someone said so somewhere.
By the time the plants start blooming, you don't want to disturb the roots. Are china cabinets totally yesterday now? Totally confused!! Please help :. That's why when I get them up and ripping I often mulch very heavily with straw or hay. The tubers will often grow above the soil in the darkness of the mulch. Another trick, instead of hilling with dirt is to trench out the rows you'll be growing potatoes in.
Then lay them in the trench and lightly cover them as they grow. As they grow taller rake or hoe in the soil mounded up on either side from the trenching. By the time the soil is even across the rows, the potatoes have already been hilled up a few inches. The thing with spuds is like tomatoes they root along the stems if underground.
More roots, more drought resistant and more potential roots, more opportunities for potato tubers to form. Do you have them growing in full sun? I remember years ago, my mother attempted to grow potatoes and the plants got really tall. She had them in partial shade and I guess the plants were searching for the light!
She ended up with a harvest that could fit into a shoe box. They are heavy feeders, so would appreciate an application of fertilizer or two.
Bellamama--Maybe if you understood just why you hill potatoes you will understand just how to hill them. The practice is done for just 2 reasons. As long as you accomplish these 2 things you will have hilled enough. My 80 year old husband has been growing potatoes all his life. First on his parents farm and for the 40 years we have lived in this house.
He hills them twice during the growing season, usually well before they flower. Donna, this is our first year with a real garden. Late last summer our neighbor removed a big old tree that shaded the right side of our yard, and we got so excited we went crazy with the garden this spring without really knowing just how much sun we'd end up having.
I know now that we're juuust a smidge short on both quality and quantity getting about 5 hours, from ish to ish, although things still look like they're growing well. They sure do look impressive! But I am sweating and fussing over those beds every stinking day, hoping that they're getting enough strong sun Calliope, I did exactly what you said with the trenching, but I think I didn't go deep enough at the start. Any more soil that I add will have to come from somewhere else.
If this happens you could face root rot and the plants dying off completely. Soil Nutrient Levels — If your soil is low in nutrients you may see stunted growth, yellowing of plants too early in the season, and new growth emerging yellow. Gardeners can create a problem by feeding plants with fertilizers high in nitrogen at a time when the tubers should start bulking.
At this stage to encourage tuber growth and not foliage growth try and use fertilizers with an N-P-K ratio of Watering — You want even and deep watering aiming for 1 to 2 inches of water a week.
Watering before or after a mild to moderate rainfall to get a deeper watering. A rain gauge will give you an accurate rainfall in you garden and if you use sprinklers how much water they give off in certain time frames. Pests — The most common pest to your potatoes is the Colorado potato beetle. These will not cause your plants to fall over but can completely defoliate them. If you find your potato plant completely severed at the base and lying flat on the ground the culprit is most likely cutworms.
Cutworms are also a common nuisance and most easily neutralized with collars around the base of your plants.
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