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Hi doccat5,
Your article inspired at least one more person--me!--to give this a try, and now that my seed taters are on their way, I'm trying to iron out the kinks in what I plan to do. I have an area between my 2 raised beds that's about 3' wide, 3' deep and 3' high (these are BIG beds) that I plan to use. Leaves are in short supply around here, so I'll be using straw, and using some rabbit fence to keep the whole works (sort of) in place. I'm very excited about giving this a shot!
I do have a couple questions that have come up while I made my plan.
First, do the potatoes grow into the ground at all, or does the whole thing stay on top? The area I plan to use is covered with crushed, compressed granite, so there's no immediate access to dirt. I can fix this if I have to, but would rather not since it'll never look quite the same again once I dig it up.
Second, do I mix anything into the straw? Bagged compost, or anything? Or just keep it nice and wet?
Third, is there a way to keep extra seed taters around for a fall crop? I'm thinking I'll have more than I need for spring, and I'm also thinking taters might really prefer to be grown in the fall here anyway, so I'd ideally like to be able to try both.
Thanks for your help--as well as another wonderful article!
The potatoes will stay on the ground, they grow up and send out laterals. That's where you get the extra production. If your going to add compost, put that in first and put your taters on top of that. Tater's do NOT like it wet, so go easy on the water. You just cover the potato shoots with straw and let them grow. As long as you have a cool dry place, I would think you could save some of those seedlings. Or just pick out some of your best you've just grown and plant those. Good luck and please let me know how it goes. I hope everyone has some fun and is successful with this method.
Thanks, doccat5! I appreciate the input. Out here, it's so dry in the summer, EVERYTHING needs a little extra water--otherwise, I'll be growin' baked fries right there in the ground! :) But I will be careful to keep it lightly damp but not wet. And thanks for the advice about saving the extras--I'll probably wrap them and tuck them into the back of the fridge, to give a fall crop a shot.
I'll keep you posted--I'm very excited to give this a try! :)
How long should it take to see signs of life in those seed potatoes? I peeked under the hay they've been under for about 2 weeks now, and they look just the same as they did when I set them out, only a little more shriveled-ier. Is this normal, or should they be starting to grow by now?
Looks like you all are farther south than I (zone 5), so I'm wondering when I should plant mine. I've never done potatoes before, but Jungs did ship mine already, so supposedly it is the proper time for planting. . .
Let me be sure I am understanding this right. I know potatoes are a root vegetable, but I guess I always pictured them kind of like a turnip or radish--you pull the plant up, and there is a potato at the end. I am gathering that is not so. By continuing to bury it deeper, and force it to keep reaching for the light, does it form potatoes all along the length of it?
Somebody please post a picture of a "dug up" plant when you harvest, for all of us inexperienced folks! LOL
OK, did some googling (is that a word?) and came up with a picture of a whole potato plant. Let me see if I understand this right. By continuing to bury the plant, it keeps sending out more of the lateral stems, which form more potatoes?
Drat, can't see where to attach a picture, but here is the link where I found the picture:
Booker, I"m as new at this as anyone, but that sure looks like my understanding of what's going on here! I'm sure doccat will chime in soon and let us know if we're not on the right track here.
Nice picture and yep, I'm a real visual type myself. Where you see the flower and terminal leaf buds, you get taters if using this method. If you are growing under ground you get the flower part and that's about it.
OK, I'm in. I'm going to have to try this, and see how my potatoes turn out! We do have a fair number of garden snakes, so I'll definitely be doing some pile-whacking! LOL
