potatoes make me impatient :):):)
I feel like a crazy person bc it is all a mystery until they die... and I run out of patience bc they're not dying hahahaha!!! They just keep looking better and better and keep on growing... and I feel like they should just die already so I can dig. bahaha! I planted them in May, a bit late, so I'm sure that is most of the problem But then again, the waiting part for the digging part is most of the fun
- gixxerific
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Jal this has me thinking. I have done that before but never thought about if picking a few here and there would force the plant to produce more. Like trimming most plants has more energy for what is left.jal_ut wrote:Ok, so break the suspense and just go out and poke in a finger here and there until you hit a nice fat tuber, then lift it out with your finger. You can find enough for dinner without digging the plant. Let it grow to make more tubers.
Am I making sense?
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- rainbowgardener
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So I harvested my container full of potatoes awhile back (they were planted mid March). Now that container has a nice healthy looking new potato plant that popped up all on its own. Presumably I accidentally left a potato or part of one behind.
Does that mean I could plant fall potatoes? There's not time for it to mature before frost. Any possibility it would over winter?
Does that mean I could plant fall potatoes? There's not time for it to mature before frost. Any possibility it would over winter?
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If you plant them deeply and mulch them in well, they should overwinter live like mine do in Albany (OH).rainbowgardener wrote:Does that mean I could plant fall potatoes? There's not time for it to mature before frost. Any possibility it would over winter?
I might wait a few weeks if you are after summer '13 spuds.
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A potato will overwinter as long as it doesn't freeze. It is rare here for a potato to overwinter as the ground usually freezes and they then get frozen and spoil. Sometimes if we get a heavy and early snow that stays on the ground all winter, the snow insulates the ground and it doesn't freeze and the potatoes that get left behind, will then overwinter and grow in the spring.Any possibility it would over winter?
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sheeshshe, I was in the same boat as you! I had never grew potatoes before, so I had no clue what to expect. I planted mine on May 1, and about 3 weeks ago or so the plants started to die back and my bf's dad was over (who was very poor when he was a child and all they had was whatever was growing in the garden, so he knows a thing or two), and he was looking at my garden, and I said to him, the potato plants are starting to die back, does that mean the potatoes are starting to grow? And he said, oh you should have some now and he reached his hand in there and pulled out a huge potato! I was completely shocked! I had been just like you, afraid to dig, cuz I was afraid I wouldn't find any! Then he went to another plant and pulled out another one! I couldn't believe it! And I've been pulling out some here and there ever since to have for dinner! Not all so big, so the smaller ones I cut up and roast. Wow they are gooooooooooood!!! At this rate, I won't have any to store!
OK, so 2 of the plants kicked the bucket. totally dead. So me and my 2 year old dug them up. One plant had 2 potatoes. TWO!!! what a disappointment!!!!! They must have put all their energy into flowering and making seeds etc They were beautiful plants, lots of foliage. the other one had maybe 5 small ones. what a bummer!
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