I did not know it is possible to grow potatoes and never have any plants.
In the fall a few weeks before frost I had some Red potatoes in the pantry that sprouted. I cut off the sprouts and planted them in my garden in 1 row several inches between each sprout. I covered the sprouts with 8" of soil then I covered that with about 6" of pine needles for insulation protection from freezing.
There was never any plant growth. I removed all the pine needles a month ago and I could see several tiny potatoes in the soil. I put some soil over the expost potatoes and left them to grow more. We have had 85 deg weather off and on for a month but no plant growth. It rained just about every day for a month and uncovered more potatoes. I dug up a few and found each sprout had grown about 5 or 6 tiny 1" diameter potatoes. That is a total surprise to me. Nothing is trying to grow so I dug them all up. I have about 100 tiny little potatoes. This is the craziest thing I have ever seen potatoes grew during the winter and there was never any plant growth. It is not a large crop of potatoes but wow it is a crop of potatoes.
We ate the potatoes for dinner, boiled one night, baked other night, fried whole another night, sprinkled with fresh garden parsley, black pepper and salt. They were very good.
[img]https://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e358/gary350/potatoes.jpg[/img]
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Gary350
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 7414
- Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
- Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.
I have potatoes but no plants ever grew.
Last edited by Gary350 on Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:57 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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hit or miss
- Green Thumb
- Posts: 354
- Joined: Sun May 30, 2010 4:57 pm
- Location: central Kansas
One cool thing is you didn't even have to worry about potato bugs either!