Potato questions

[jal_ut]

Vanisle_BC, I think I would plant about May 1 to May 5. By the time they come up you should be pretty much frost free. It does potatoes no good to get the vines frozen down.

[Vanisle_BC]

jal_ut, thanks. I was tending to that conclusion myself - plant later so the emerging plant doesn't face frost. Reminds me of the year I took extreme measures to get my peas off to an early start - and the un-pampered ones, planted a month later, caught up and matured at the same time; or within a couple of days. Things take (their own sweet) time.

Change of subject - did you ever follow through on the idea of growing some true potato seed? I was given some seed and have checked that it's viable; contemplating my next move. I looked at a Tom Wagner video on the subject and I'm doubtful I could come up with the strong sunlight with UV that he says the sprouting seeds demand. Not sure if there's artificial light that would do the job. Isn't there plenty of UV in fluorescents?

[Gary350]

I never have good luck with potatoes part of the problem may be I can not buy seed potatoes until late April and I think they should be planted about first of April. Second week of June we are having 95 and 100 degree weather, I think this is too hot for potatoes. Russets are my favorite but Red Potatoes do better. I plant potatoes like my grandfather showed me but TN soil and weather are both different than IL. Grandpa use to get 200 lbs of potatoes every summer and he replanted his own potatoes for 40 years. Oh well potatoes are cheap at the grocery store.

[imafan26]

Interesting subject. Thanks a lot. I learned quite a bit about growing potatoes.

[sweetiepie]

HaHa, I am usually lucky if the snow is off the garden by May 1 and not still muddy by middle of May. I usually plant them first but not until I can get the garden ready and have always had good luck in my short season. Places are so different, crazy.

[jal_ut]

Vanisle_BC: "Change of subject - did you ever follow through on the idea of growing some true potato seed?"

NO!

[Taiji]

Last year I think I planted my red potatoes around mid February to March 1st, simply because the sprouts were getting so long, I didn't think there would be much of the actual seed potato left if I waited any longer. They came up and made beautiful plants about 8 to 12 inches high, but then got hit with a hard freeze. They did come back pretty well but then got hit again. Finally, they came back and I actually got a good harvest though the plants were riddled with what I think were thrips.
So, as Jal-ut says I don't particularly think the hard freezes do them any good, though they do come back. I don't know if the freezes weakened them. I sprayed with insecticidal soap and neem oil later, but neither one helped. I could see the little devils fly away with the spray, but it didn't seem to phase them, they just came right back. I don't know that they were thrips, local garden center said it was a bad year for them, sounded like that's what I had. My main point is that maybe the hard freezes stressed the plants and took away some of the plants' defenses.
But, having said all that, I have some seed potatoes already and I think I'll plant them pretty quick anyway! My last average frost date is around May 7. I think I'll plant another batch later though too.

[jal_ut]

Here we plant potatoes early May, some time as the corn,squash and beans. The vines are not frost resistant so you want to plant when danger of frost is about past.

[Vanisle_BC]

Opinions differ. I just heard our CBC garden guru Brian Minter on the radio, talking about getting "winter potatoes" - he mentioned Warba - planted now in the B.C. lower mainland.

Incidentally I dislike Warba for eating; very dry when I grew them. But my wife loves them .

[jal_ut]

"Around here it's said potatoes should be planted around St Patrick's day - March 17, and our frost-free date is about May 21. What do others feel about planting 2 months before theoretical last frost?"

I am thinking that planting your potatoes about May 5 would work well. It does potato plants no good to have the vine frozen down.

[Gary350]

When you cut your seed potatoes into pieces with 1 eye how long do you let them dry out before planting them in the garden?

[jal_ut]

"When you cut your seed potatoes into pieces with 1 eye how long do you let them dry out before planting them in the garden?"

I just cut them and go plant them. When cutting potatoes, you know the eyes are pretty close together on the one end of the potato, and then scattered out. It is hard to cut only one eye and have any tater left, so some pieces end up with two or three eyes on them. Doesn't really matter. They all grow. If you plant a whole spud you get probably 7 to ten plants. Each eye produces a plant. Of course these are too crowded and the potatoes you get will be small because of the competition. That is why we want to cut them to spread out the plants so they will make some bigger taters.

[Gary350]

My grandfather use to cut potatoes then let them dry several day but soil and weather in Illinois were much different than TN.

About 8 days ago I planted potatoes in flower pots inside the house and 1 potato outside in a raised bed to try and keep that 1 potato dry it was 72 degrees that day. It rained 5 days, temperature was about 40 and the potato outside rotted already. The potatoes in the pots in the house are doing nothing. I was hoping to get a jump start by starting potatoes inside the house then transplant them outside but so far I'm not have much luck. I would like for the plants to be ready to dig by June 1st before temperature reaches 100 degrees. I bought Kennebec and Russet seed potatoes at the Amish Garden center. Now I am trying something new I have some potatoes in the sun no pots and some in the dark in pots all are inside the house in a sunny window it is 72 degrees in here but over cast no sun. I am hoping to learn what makes the potato eyes sprout and grow. A few years ago I tested the soil with a thermometer 3" deep it was 65 degrees, air temperature 76 and soil in direct sun light 95 degrees. I wonder if the 95 degree heat triggers the potatoes to grow. I learned beans and corn need to be 65 or above to grow. In high school science glass we put wet seeds in 70 degree and 90 degree incubator the 90 degree seed grew roots in 24 hours the 70 degree seeds too 3 days. It seems logical potatoes might like the warm sun too. This morning I checked the potatoes in the pots they all rotted. No more flower pot testing I will put all the potatoes in the window and hope the sun warmed them up and they grow sprouts at each eye. I would like to have an incubator there is a lot of cold air near the window, it is 40 degrees and over cast outside. This is not a very scientific experiment. LOL.

There are other things to consider. Even if I can make potatoes sprout inside the weather outside might be the wrong conditions, chances are very good all the potatoes will die when moved from inside the house to outside. Mother nature knows best. One way of the other I am going to learn something about potatoes.

[jal_ut]

" Mother nature knows best. One way of the other I am going to learn something about potatoes."

When do you plant sweet corn there? Here it works well to plant potatoes the same time as the sweet corn. Plant the sets directly in the garden. No transplanting. Here we look for certified seed potatoes. It is not seed, but tubers certified to be disease free. Also at times there are plugs available that have one eye on them and have been dipped in something. I would not plant spuds from the grocery store. Well, if they have sprouts starting to grow, yes they will grow, but you run the risk of propagating disease too.

[rainbowgardener]

Gary, where in TN are you? I am in very SouthEastern TN in the Chattanooga area. There's only a total of about a six weeks worth of days where it is above 90 in a year. We average exactly ONE day a year when it hits 100 degrees F. I would have thought being in the most South part of TN, it would be as hot here as anywhere in TN.