potatoe seeds

[The Mad Hatter]

I found some seed potatoes last night for. 59 cents a pound. Never having grown a potatoes before what is the spacing and depth guidelines? How deep do these meet to go. My dad told me two to three inches but that didn't seem deep enough.

Thanks.

T.M.H.

[TZ -OH6]

Dig a trench six inches deep and cover the seed piece with 3 inches of soil. When the shoot gets 8 inches high, hill up soil to cover 4-5 inches of the stem. when the plant grows another 8 inches repeat. That will give you enough soil cover so that the developing tubers do not grow out of the dirt and see the sun, which will cause them to produce poison.

Each eye produces a plant, and crowded plants mean smaller tubers due to competition for nutrients and light so seed pieces are generally cut to contain 2-3 eyes and spaced about a foot apart, with rows 3 feet apart. Potato plants get big and fall over so will cover the space between rows. tubers start to grow just about the time flowers show up, and thin skinned 'new' potatoes are big enough to eat a couple of weeks after flowering stops. Plants will die back eventually. Wait at leat two weeks after die back to dig potatoes to give tubers time to toughen up their skin for better storage.

[The Mad Hatter]

Thanks for the advice. I do appreciate it. How many taters can you get out of a hill on average if I put one tater with two eyes on it?

T.M.H.

[DoubleDogFarm]

To many variables to answer with certainty, but 10lbs harvest for every pound planted is pretty good.

Eric

[Zapatay]

We want photos doubledog!

Actually I tried potatos from straw last year. no go.

So I have more taters and am super nervous about planting them because I feel like a failure.

so - I will try this again ... with soil.... A lot of it as it sounds. The soil has to be super loose I imagine .... perhaps add sand?

[wordwiz]

DD,

We use to figure seven pounds per pound of seed potatoes. We always planted about the same depth and width (probably 34" as that is what the cultivator was set to - tobacco farmers!). We only hilled them once, though and used the cultivator for that - but it threw up a nice wide hill of dirt.

The most seed potatoes we ever planted was 350 pounds one year. They produced quite a few pounds of spuds!

Mike

[TZ -OH6]

I have heavy soil and the shape of the hill seems to keep the soil loose...flat soil next to it compacts down with the rain. I made the mistake my first year of digging a deep trench and back filling until it was flat...and then it compacted. Getting the spuds out of the clay was a big problem. Grass clipping mulch over top of the hill also helps prevent compaction and covers any tubers that make it to the surface. I have a three tine claw-hoe thing that I use to scrape the hill up which loosens the soil as well.

[The Mad Hatter]

I have clay here as well. I was thinking of dogging a hole, then putting my seed taters in and covering and making the hills with black dirt then using my clippings as my mulch.

T.M.H.

[jal_ut]

Potatoes seem to be one thing that no one can seem to decide what is the right way to grow them. Everyone you ask will give you a different recipe.
FWIW here is what I do. Cut the taters with two eyes to a piece. Plant 2 to 3 inches deep and 12 inches apart in rows spaced 32 inches. When the tater vines are about 8 to 10 inches tall, hill the potatoes. I use the Troybilt tiller to hill them. One time. Your yield will depend a lot on your soil fertility. 5 to 8 pounds per pound planted.

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/hilling_potatoes.jpg[/img]

[DoubleDogFarm]

We want photos doubledog!

Pictures of what? My potato plants are only a few inches out of the ground.

So a goal of 5 to 10lbs per pound planted. Sounds good to me.

Eric