Potatoes- mail order or local?

[Equilibrium]

No problem Dappy. Say... here's a potato I dug out of the ground. Compete with that!!! Not my photo.... my tater was so big I had to get a neighbor to take the photo..... just kidding.

[liquidambar]

Equil I will gladly tell you how it goes. I will tell you right at this moment though - it is very heavy and very sturdy. I am wondering how it will do if there is a bit of a breeze.


That is really big. I hope you did not go to bed that night and hear something moaning for it's big toe. I myself am pretty sure that I accidently dug up a gnome's head one year.

[soundsgood]

Posting so I can easily follow this thread and to say, "Good one!"

Parking Lot Garden 2.0 has one 5-gallon container of Idaho potatoes that had sprouted at just the right time. They are going gangbusters!

So gangbusters in fact that I'm a little worried about how much dirt I can add per day without killing 'em off.

In case it's not clear, I filled the 5-gallon half way with dirt for sprouting, and have been adding more dirt (about 1/2" / day) up the stems as they grow as some (all here so far) recommend to increase yield.

Thing is, I need to be on the road sooner than the 1/2" / day will get me to the top of the container. 2" / day will get 'em covered on time for scheduled departure.

Thoughts?

[liquidambar]

They recommend in planting potatoes to dig a hole to China and put them in.
I however am one lone female and after doing that one year said never again. Besides it was a wet year and being that deep made them not do well.

So I barely put them in the ground and as they come up - I hill them -- that is I till between them, and then go down the rolls raking large amounts of dirt up on top of the potatoes.

I cover then about all up - leaves and all - leaving maybe three or four leaves sticking out. I do this with sweet potatoes too. They seen to love it.

Does that help "Sounds Good"

But won't they need watering in the that pot while you are gone?

[soundsgood]

Thanks, Liquid! Yes, helpful. Gonna bury 'em to the top tomorrow. One less garden thing to worry about. Sigh of relief.

The containers have a reservoir that will hold them for 3 or 4 dry days since I plan to water thoroughly from the top departure morning. It's my hope that it will also rain while I'm gone that week. Failing that, I will call my neighbor to fill in on water duty.

Already delayed the trip by 3-4 days because some of the seeds I thought I killed came up (took a month!), and I'm taking that time to harden them a little before I go so I can put them outside and pray for rain.

The date-push also allows me to craft more stuff to bring: horseradish, sauerkraut, crackers, and that home made mozzarella I'm really psyched to make for the first time. Mmmm.

One end of the horseradish root had some green, so plan to plant that on my return.

[dapjwy]

Originally Posted by Equilibrium

No problem Dappy. Say... here's a potato I dug out of the ground. Compete with that!!! Not my photo.... my tater was so big I had to get a neighbor to take the photo..... just kidding.

Hmmm...I could have a photo of me and a giant potato too--maybe I'll Photoshop one come harvest time.

Originally Posted by liquidambar

I myself am pretty sure that I accidently dug up a gnome's head one year.

Great gnome's head--and I see *yours* is your own photo!

[Equilibrium]

--
sounds> "Gonna bury 'em to the top tomorrow. One less garden thing to worry about. Sigh of relief." It snowed last week and then it warmed up into the 50's. Today it's supposed to be almost 70 but.... they said the jet stream was changing and that all the cold weather out west might come our way and we might get snow again!!! I can't even plant my tater slips outside yet!!! Usually we can't do that until later anyway so it's not a big deal.
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Ok.... I tried growing potatoes in a 2’ x 2’ x 3’ above ground slatted and wired tower. I did so so but not as well as I did in the ground. The planting mix was the same. I think that potatoes are a lot like peanuts and other root crops that require mounding… they need space to fully develop. In thinking back to my taters….they developed in about a 14” radius from the base of the plant and I dug them up from at least 10” beneath the plants. It looks to me like you’re doing everything right…. you’re using your home made compost…. you’ve got a white bucket so your plant won’t overheat as easily and you’re even mounding. I’m thinking a 5 gallon bucket just flat out might not be enough space for taters. I know there’s a 6 gallon white bucket out there….. is there a 10 gallon white bucket? Maybe try doubling the grow space and stick with a light colored container. I wish you lived by me because I’ve got 1 jumbo pot that’s gray that I could have given to you to experiment with that’s made out of some sort of heavy duty styrofoam that’s got to be at least 10 gallons…. more like 15 that I think would be perfect to “experiment” with increasing container grown tater yields.
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I'm going to be using the broiled eggshell concoction. Did you use it on your taters ever? How did it go if you did? Did you end up with lots of nice leafy greens and not too great of taters or did it seem like it helped with tater production? Just curious. I know I'm using the concoction on my tomatoes and peppers.... I've got to decide whether to use it on my potatoes and sweet potatoes though. I'm really excited about using the concoction as a foliar spray!!! I can hardly wait to go out there spritzing away!!!