Best way to grow potatoes?

[GardenGnome]

There any links on here for potatoes?
Do you cut them up or can you plant them whole?
Mounds
containers,trash cans or wooden boxes
Do they like the warmth n a green house or the cold.
Can you do a mix or do they grow at diffrent rates.

[applestar]

Have you tried https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/search.php

[GardenGnome]

Lol

[GardenGnome]

Search found 3142 matches come on.....

[DoubleDogFarm]

Use the Force young Jedi.

If you fill in more of the search engine, you will get better results. Use jal_ut as the Author.

Eric

[GardenGnome]

Lol ok ok that's fine ill seek it out.

[GardenGnome]

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33255
I don't mind working for the info. Ill start there thanks.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Growing potatoes is no big deal. The problem is there has been a hundred different things tried and most of those has been published at one time or the other. Lets keep it simple! Have you ever been to a potato farm? Here is how the pros do it and it works. Forget all those other goofy instructions and just do this:

Plant in good fertile soil. Fertile being the key word here.
Plant the sets 4 inches deep 12 to 14 inches apart. One or two eyes per set.
When the plant is 8 inches tall, hill it, one time. Pull up three to 4 inches of soil around the plant. This to keep the tubers from seeing daylight and turning green.
Keep the soil damp.
Control the bugs.
When the plant dies down dig them spuds.

No use making such a simple thing complicated.

Edit to add: Planting time is one week before your average last frost.

jal_ut (James) will give it to you straight. His motto is KISS. Keep it simple, stupid!

Eric

[GardenGnome]

Thanks I'm still going to read the pages just to top it off tho.

[cynthia_h]

Remember, though: people who grow potatoes professionally have a LOT MORE SPACE than many of us do. That's why so many other methods, suitable for smaller spaces, are tried.

I managed to get 15 (I think?) lb of spuds out of a 3'x3' "potato tower" my first attempt. Sadly, it has also been my only attempt thus far; we fell too much in love with the broccoli we grow in the same 3' square frame!

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[Black River]

I do it like my grandpa and dad did it....I cut the seed potatoes up, leaving at least an "eye" or two on each cutting. Some people let them dry a while before planting, that's what I do. I dig a trench about 5 inches deep, and put a little compost or some type fertilizer in the trench, then plant a seed potato about one every 10 inches or so. Cover them with soil and wait......when they have sprouted and are a few inches tall, I start gradually mounding the earth up around the row, basically you just want to make sure the tubers are covered well so sunlight doesn't hit them. Once I feel I have them covered well I stop mounding the dirt up. I plant in early march, and usually can harvest late June (zone 7a)....this method has worked well for me, barring any blight. Last year we had 22 inches of rain at once in the spring and it was so wet we had early blight, I just won't plant there for a few years. That's the only time we ever had blight. Water well as needed! Good luck!

[rainbowgardener]

If you look up applestar's posts on phenological indicators for planting, it says plant potatoes when the forsythia blooms. Where I am that is usually mid to late March.

[GardenRN]

If you look up applestar's posts on phenological indicators for planting, it says plant potatoes when the forsythia blooms. Where I am that is usually mid to late March.

this worked very well for me last year. But this year the weather has been too screwy. Things are blooming left and right. But yes, it was about mid march last year so I'm trying to wait it out for that again.

[cynthia_h]

As the granddaughter of a born Murphy, it's easy to remember "potatoes in by St. Patrick's Day." It may not be specific to the climate zone I live in now, but it works!

Cynthia

[Ruffsta]

cut the seed potatoes up, leaving at least an "eye" or two on each cutting. Some people let them dry a while before planting, that's what I do

that's what I do also... dry the cubes in a paper bag in a dry cool dark place like a cabinet for like 3 - 5 days... now that's a KISS rule if there ever was one... also, I think compost tea (steeped) would go a long way with them.

[greenstubbs]

This is what I'm doing this year, except mine is 2' X 3', just planted them yesterday so I'mahopein. https://ft2garden.powweb.com/sinfonian/?page_id=12

[Avonnow]

Nice web site greenstubs really enjoyed it, nice pictures and blow by blow of your potato experience. I have never had any luck with potaoes, tried them again this year in plastic containers, but I am not expecting much, last year they got what I assumed was some sort of blight, the year before way too much rain and rats. So we will see.

[jal_ut]

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKwl6QnZei4]Planting Potatoes[/url]

Look around a bit on you tube and you can find loads of videos on planting potatoes.

[GardenGnome]

[img]https://i1268.photobucket.com/albums/jj565/ericmgilson/2012-02-17_09-15-35_140.jpg[/img]
I put some in here and will build it up.
I have some in a plastic bin and a 55 gallon trash can.