Tips on growing potatoes??

[PunkRotten]

Hello,

So I have never grown potatoes. Now I have space for it but also several or those half barrels that people usually grow them in. I don't want to try growing them in the ground because they got gophers here. Anyway, if I were to grow them in these half barrels what kind of potting soil should I buy or prepare? I am going to try a sweet potato variety hopefully. I wanna grow Yacon too but now is not the season to start them. Any other general caring tips would be appreciated. Thanks

[jal_ut]

You might want to look up your local Sand and Gravel company, or Ready Mix Concrete. These companies are all the time moving soil. Perhaps they can direct you to where you can get all you want at a good price? Top soil, that miraculous thin covering of the earth where plants roots reside, varies a lot over the globe. Much of it is heavy in clay and can profit from the addition of sand and peat moss. The stuff you might buy in a bag is most likely not soil, but a mix of sand, sawdust and peat.

[sweetiepie]

Also look for soil that is loamy but not heavily fertilized or they will put on a lot of top growth and not much below.

[theforgottenone1013]

If you didn't already know, potatoes and sweet potatoes are not the same thing. The former is related to tomatoes, while the latter is related to morning glories. They are started differently, planted differently and at different times, and they have different growth habits as well as different after-harvest curing requirements.

Pro-Mix is my go-to potting mix. Sometimes I add up to about 25% compost depending on what I'm growing.

-Rodney

[jal_ut]

Potatoes are usually grown from tuber cuttings. Tubers are selected that are free from disease and pests and cut with one or two eyes per piece. Sometimes the cuttings are treated with something, but I never bothered, just plant them. Note: each eye on the potato grows to form a plant. If you plant the whole tuber your plants are way too close together. That is the reason for the cutting.

After the potato plants get up well it is the custom to hill them up some. (Add some soil around the plant). This we do so that the new developing tubers will not see the sunlight. If they are exposed to sun they go green and get a strong undesirable flavor.

[Raine]

I grow several varieties every year, Yukon Gold, Kennebec and Red Pontiac are my best producers. I've been growing them in raised beds the past few years and we just filled them with soil we got from the local landscape place. We mix it with compost and then mulch heavily with grass clippings throughout the season. Good luck with your adventures in potato growing, I find them one of the easiest crops for me to grow.

Raine