2 crops of potatoes?

rainbowgardener · Sat Jul 05, 2014 9:47 am

It looks like my potato plants will be done soon. What would happen if I planted more potatoes now in July? would they withstand the hot weather? would they have time to make before winter shut them down? It seems like they wouldn't be done until November ish and my first frost is due Oct 15. But potatoes are planted early in spring, before the last frost, so maybe that would be OK?

tomc · Sat Jul 05, 2014 10:19 am

I don't *think* you'll have quite enough time to get'r done by seed (TPS). I think if you have the get-up-and grow a-n-d potatoes sprouting, that its a gamble worth taking.

The first frost should only kill the tops, once those're black you need to take the tubers, no matter what they're size is.

Lindsaylew82 · Sat Jul 05, 2014 10:21 am

I would imagine that you could get a nice crop of new potatoes, maybe even some larger ones closer to frost!

I think they'll need more water in the heat. I wonder if cooler weather during their tuber growth phase would make for sweeter tubers? Or crisper tubers?

Eta:
I wonder if you'll have trouble finding seed potatoes right now?

rainbowgardener · Sat Jul 05, 2014 12:27 pm

I never grow potatoes from true seed. And I just use sprouted grocery store potatoes. "Seed potatoes" are ridiculously expensive and grocery store potatoes work fine for me.

I probably will try it, just to see what happens.

tomc · Sat Jul 05, 2014 3:21 pm

If your spuds don't have sprouts already, leave some out on the counter to start (sprouting).

Lindsaylew82 · Sat Jul 05, 2014 4:22 pm

At the very least you'll get seed potatoes for next year!

I think you'll get a small crop, though!

digitS' · Sun Jul 06, 2014 9:48 am

I usually grow the "earlies," Rainbow'.

I don't think that this is quite what you are talking about but I thought about harvesting and re-planting. On another forum, a gardener in Virginia said he'd seen that done. I went so far as to ask a local potato farmer. Well, his farm is about 100 miles away. He said, "I don't think it's gonna work, Steve."

I think I used Sangre, a nice early one and when the plants went down in mid-July, I took a few of the smaller tubers and re-planted them in another location. Nine months later, they came up .... Shoot. I didn't even get as good a crop out of those as others I planted that spring. Guess I should have just been happy they didn't die over winter.

I've since missed tubers and had them resprout within a few weeks in the same bed. I'm a careful digger of spuds so it isn't common for me to miss any but these were purple ... they didn't really have anything under them after fall frost killed the tops.

I think Tom is right, make sure the tubers are already sprouted. And, maybe, this re-planting from the spring crop can work in Virginia ... but it didn't work on the border of ID/WA!

Steve

jal_ut · Sun Jul 06, 2014 11:49 am

If you have some spuds that are sprouting now it may work, however I don't think those spuds you just harvested will sprout in time to get another crop this season.

Hey, I have some spuds that are about to sprout from last years crop. I should plant a row just to see what will happen? Won't cost me nothin but a lil time. I just took out a row of garlic, that gives me a spot . I have about 65 days left before frost. Hmmmm, that is pushing it.

I just went out and checked my planting of May 5 and the new potatoes are large walnut sized.

jal_ut · Sun Jul 06, 2014 11:59 am

Seed potatoes? I like to buy certified seed potatoes. They are certified to be disease free. Since getting my seed and first crop on this new plot of ground, I have just kept some over each year and planted my own potatoes. No diseases have cropped up and I don't expect they will.

Now plant a grocery potato and it happens to be diseased, it is now in your ground and you never get rid of it. I would not plant grocery potatoes on a bet.

rainbowgardener · Sun Jul 06, 2014 2:03 pm

Yeah I was planning on planting a new grocery store potato which is sprouting on my counter as we speak. Re planting the ones just harvested would be too slow. It's just an experiment, since I just grow potatoes in large containers, I don't have much to lose. I have not had any disease issues with the grocery store potatoes (I've been doing this several years now), but if I did it would be kind of limited in the containers. Like the spinach seed in the other thread, I just like to experiment and see what happens. If nothing else, if it fails, at least I can come back and say "don't try this at home, kiddies."

tomc · Sun Jul 06, 2014 3:04 pm

If last year was any indication frost is going to put down any possible blight. Grow your own startin' with the counter.

digitS' · Sun Jul 06, 2014 3:23 pm

jal_ut wrote:. . .

Hey, I have some spuds that are about to sprout from last years crop. I should plant a row just to see what will happen?

Won't cost me nothin but a lil time. I just took out a row of garlic, that gives me a spot . I have about 65 days left before frost. . .

Whoa. Potatoes from 2013 ... at home? You sure have better storage conditions than I do, James. Of course, I don't make it easy by growing the earlies and starting to dig about the first of August. Where am I gonna put a spud in August?

Even my basement is warm so I carry them downstairs in the summer and then, back upstairs and to the garage in the fall. Then! Back downstairs to the basement again for the winter ... they won't make it past January.

One hundred pounds is more than enuf. I'm spoiled by the nice quality of what I've got but that just means I don't buy many spuds during the off-season.

Steve
who doesn't want to think about how many days before frost