Potatoes Under Straw/Leaves #3

For the record, I enjoyed seeing and hearing about the chickens.

Stephanie - "Oak leaves are supposed to be the best for potatoes." Oak leaves, huh? I got lots of them in my yard right now. My Oak trees have dropped a lot of their leaves as they do this time of year.

The only thing is that I have them in grow-bags and am wondering if the heat here in FL might get too hot for just oak leaves instead of soil? Mine are doing great in the soil. I have been using mushroom compost I bought. Mixed with some pine fines and peat. I did fertilize them recently with some organic fertilizer and the leaves have really taken off now. I didn't use a whole lot of fertilizer, just some on the surface and watered it in. I think the potatoes really like the rain water. I think that may be what spurred their growth.

I also read that the potatoes form along the stems and not the roots. Mine sent out horizontal roots within a week after planting them! I was amazed. I just hope they make potatoes and not just leaves! LOL! I've heard that can happen.

Here's a photo of mine now. I just added more soil to them a week ago and might have to do it again next week.They grow up and the stems seems like they get taller. I wonder if they will grow and produce potatoes quicker here in FL since the temps are already getting pretty warm. We had 81 on Friday. I bought these potatoes because I read they grow well in the southern, warmer states. Am hoping they do produce some potatoes eventually. I sooooo wanna peek! LOL!

Carminator - Love the baby chicks! :-)

This message was edited Mar 28, 2010 12:26 AM

My goodness Becky! They look like they're on steroids!

Now on another note. If ya'll think I would harm those adorable baby chicks, well, then ya'll have been spending too much time playing with potatoes! Bring on the discussion. Just throw a potato in ev'ry now and then!

Hugs.

Oh Beckyyyyyyyyyy!

Wow Becky! Your taters are looking great! If you'll read back on the previous threads, you'll find the posts about the leaves.

I agree with Linda. Feel free to discuss chickens or whatever else, just throw in a post about taters every now and again. We don't learn if we don't ask questions and share our experiences. Just don't let the whole thread get completely off topic.

Here are some of my taters as of last night. Time to start hilling some of these babies! (I did read the Ronninger's catalog, btw! LOL)

Stephanie - Your tators are looking great too! Must be the warm weather?

I'll try to find the post about the leaves. If you find it, could you post the link to the posts. I think we are on thread number 3? LOL!

Weather is nice today, but rain tonight and tomorrow ... so I'm off to the garden! Lots and lots to do!

I'm sure it's the warmer weather during the day and the cooler temps at night. We've had several rainy days, but they've been spread out so that things aren't getting drowned. I need to find my 5-gal buckets and clean them out so I can whip up some molasses water for the tater plants. Believe it or not, I've still got sprouts coming up in some of my containers! Sweet!

I just remember someone saying oak leaves and me thinking, "Cool! I have LOTS of oak tree leaves in the front yard, the side yard, and the back yard!"

I am curious since I have mine growing in grow-bags if the micro-organisms don't respond as well? The bag gets pretty warm at times and the micro-organisms might not thrive in those conditions. I haven't added any molasses water to mine yet. I've been debating about that. I did use just a little organic fertilizer, but that's it. What do you think about molasses water added to container potatoes?

This message was edited Mar 28, 2010 10:36 AM

I don't think it can hurt them at all. Molasses is a great addition to soil no matter where it is. I use it to fertilize my daylilies and I mix it into the soil in my garden prior to planting.

I was wondering where my potatoes were - I had ordered French fingerlings from Pinetree. Checked the catalogue and it said that they would be sending those sorts of items from March 15th to May 30th. I do hope they get here soon although it may be a bit early to plant them in Zone 7.

OK, I'm slightly less jealous of you southerners with your already huge potato plants, I just got an email from Ronnigers saying my potatoes are shipping tomorrow! Now I just have to hope the veggie garden is dry enough to prep the potato bed in the next 2 weeks so I can get them in the ground. My first try at potato growing last year was such a success that I'm doubling my planting area (which is still really tiny though).

Carminator, what a cute picture of your new potato plant bug removers!!

O.K, I almost had a fight with a lady today when I was raking the leaves at the park. The park is a coast guard park and I guess she rented the whole park not just the gacebo for her party, when I showed up with my kids and was just getting to rake some of the leaves, she came down screaming like a mad woman telling me to get out, that I was not allowed there at all, when I asked her why she just told me that the park was reserved, so anyways I begged her to just let me stay for 5 min and so I was able to collect just 3 small baggies of leaves, I guess enough to fill my potato bags.

I guess I was not aware of the rules, but still the lady at the coast guard gate did tell me that the woman was just plain mean and that even sometimes if someone makes a reservation that some people just don't care if you just let your kids play in the play area since it is far from the Gazebo area where people eat.

Carmen that's a shame. I bet that woman's husband prays every night for deployment to the Artic just to escape her rotten disposition. Maybe you could rake in peace on a week day. Glad you were able to snatch up a few anyway.

I was thinking that the leaves would be good in your chicken pen and under the roost when you get it built.

Actually I think they might have been retired, but not 100% sure. Yes she was just plain mean. I was just going to be there 20 min tops and she would even not allow me that. Anyways, I'll be back during the week and rake up some more, I think just like you said this leaves will be also great for the chicken coop and also my composter, I always have troubles finding brown items to throw at it.

Since my kids were just crying when we left I took them to a really nice park, I think they had al lot more fun in this other park since they had kids.

Maybe she needed to change her hormone patch! LOL

Steph how're you gonna contain your leaves in your potato beds? Make a wire cage?

That's the plan for now, Linda.

I think I am running into the same problem here as well my plants are just getting too tall and i've already had to unroll the potato grow bag, they are almost to the top, very soon I'll have to do something different.

I got a long way to catch up to ya'll but was jumping up and down when I saw about 17 sprouts in my smart pots, when I saw them, I used my potato fertilizer from Gurneys and watered in and am now waiting to see what else happens. My pics.
joy

A question: I've been pulling all the leaves and debris that fall into the smart pots out, should I leave them instead? I did put in compost when I first planted them mixed in with garden soil, some 13-13-13 and now have now switched to potting mix after adding the potato fertilizer from Gurney's. Another pic.

Joy,
How moist are you keeping your potting mix? I read that it needs to stay consistently moist.

I haven't added any fertilizer to my SmartPots. Probably have some compost mixed in there by now though, 'cause I've been filling in the SmPts with all the old potting mix from my winter containers. Most had been halfway filled with dried leaves that have since broken down into leaf mold. It's all getting chucked into the potato bins until I fill em up to the tops completely. If using the reclaimed leaf mold proves beneficial, you can believe I'll be filling ALL the planters with it this fall!

Then (probably this Friday!!!), I'll need to cage them and begin filling in with wet oak leaves. I'll need to start soaking those leaves to get em good and wet before adding them cause I don't want my system to dry out down below! Also, as far as fertilizer, I might research adding some Bonemeal. Just an idea in the back of my mind until I get further confirmation on fertilizing spuds...

Are those 20-gallon SmPts?

My bag is only half full, but at the rate they are growing I do see a problem too with the size of the bag. I also couldn't find the post about the potatoe plants producing leaves instead of potatoes. Can the leaves and stem/trunk be trimmed back to prevent further height on the plants. Would that redirect it to put all it's energy into producing potatoes instead of stalk and leaves?

Ironically, I had some ornamental I. batatas growing in pots last year. Half of them produced small potatoes in the containers they were in. The other half either had rotting potatoes or none formed at all. I think the rotting potatoes were caused by the cold winter freezes we had here in FL this winter. So ... It does appear that I CAN grow potatoes here, but it is iffy whether they will or won't produce spuds on the plant. I did prune the vines/plants back last year periodically on all of them. None had flowers either. Are we supposed to get flowers from these seed potatoes?

Gymgirl - You mentioned,"Then (probably this Friday!!!), I'll need to cage them and begin filling in with wet oak leaves."

I would be afraid to use a cage full of wet leaves as it gets really hot here in Florida! They would dry out in a few hours probably in the summer. Mine must stay in dirt, but I was thinking of putting them inside another container with soil packed around them to keep them cooler and help retain moisture longer. I think even my grow-bags will dry out this summer because the plastic is thin and the heat is intense.

I also need to check to see when my potatoes should be ripe. The ones in pots last year were only there for about 4-5 months. And it was during the hottest months.

Joy, does the bag say what's in that potato fertilizer? Is it for containers only? Just curious.

Becky,
I've got to start with wet leaves in order to keep them moist in the cages. It'd be much harder to wet down the whoe pile of dry leaves thoroughly if I it put them in dry...once they're adequately wet, I'll start dropping them down in the cage and sprinkle just enough to keep em moist from then on.

Sorry for the confusion.

Everyone's taters are looking excellent! I took a pic of mine before I hilled them but haven't had time to download the pics yet... Becky, mine have to stay mostly in dirt too as the leaves dry out too fast.

Steph - glad to hear you finally read the Ronniger's catalog - lol.

Ya'll made me stop and think about something. I have bags of old leaves from last year that should be nicely broken down enough to serve as some mulch for the spuds in the cages!

I'm moving toward a rotation schedule with all my leaves, too. Bag 'em up and let em sit in varying stages of breakdown for various garden uses! I actually dumped all the old patio containers and found leaf mold (my DH taught me to only fill a container halfway with my potting mix & save $$. He packed dry leaves down tightly into 1/2 to 2/3rd of the container. They broke down over the winter and are now available for me to fill in my potato bins!

Kelly, hurry up and post your pics! I wanna see 'em! Also, anyone have any "hilling" tutorials?

I'll try tonight Steph but no promises. The doggie has school tonight;o) If not I'll do them tomorrow. I just covered them up leaving 2-3" of leaves showing and they are already growing!

If you're only leaving 2-3" exposed, my vines are practically naked! Guess I better hill up some more. Good thing I have bags of leaves available.

From what I understand, the more you hill/cover them, the more they will put out new growth which = more potatoes. I really don't know if you can do this indefinitely or if they are preprogrammed to grow a certain height. They probably grow until they flower which tells you if you dig around you'll find new potatoes;o)

My GF always said after the potatoes bloom their pushing the tater development more than the top growth. That seems to make sense, since they have achieved their goal of producing a flower and are going into storage phase. I'm pretty sure the last time we cultivated and hilled his potatoes was right at blossom time. Those memories are a little rusty, it's been a good 40 years ago, I think! LOL Ric

Does anyone know the timeframe from potatoe seed to harvest? I understand it is after flowering, but is it 4 months? 5 months? 6 months? Or is that dependant on climate and zone, too?

Thanks Ric - that is what I suspected.

My GF was a bona fide tater farmer for a good part of his life, but his mind isn't so good now at 82. He has good days and bad days memory wise, so I'm hoping to catch him on a good day and learn a little more about tater farming...

Becky - depends on those things plus the variety... Some are short season (maybe 60 days), mid season (70-90) and late (100+days). Once the plant flowers you can harvest new (small) potatoes thoug, or wait until the plants die back for full size storage taters.

I am learning so much on this thread. The feedback gives me encouragement. Kelly, thx for the "more is more" info! I'll keep hilling til they blossom. Hopefully a bumper crop. I'm interested in how they produce in leaves vs. potting mix.

I am using smart pots and only putting in 3 - 5 pieces of eyes per bag, they are not that old, the back row is yukon gold, and the front row is red skinned.

The gurney's potato fertilizer is 3-4-3; 2lbs per 100 sq foot, I only bought 1 2lb bag which should do me and yes you can use it in the ground. It says it's derived from alfalfa meal, bone meal, poultry manure, soybean meal and sunflower ash. Hope this helps.

Potatoes need staked? Please expand on this for me? Mine are not big enough to hill are they?

The directions say to make sure they stay moist but not damp, you can rot the tubers otherwise, so they get a little water; but not too much, remember I tend to be overhanded with the overwatering.
joy

Thanks!

Thanks for the info. I will look up what mine are listed for as far as harvesting days. I ordered:

Russet Silverton, Yukon Gold, and Red Poniac.

We've had a some pretty heavy rain days, so hopefully they aren't rotting. I doubt it because the grow-bags have plenty of drainage.

Becky: I started using potting mix with extra perlite added when I got concerned about rotting, this is my first time planting potatoes so I'm excited just to see them sprout. I've got a huge garden this year and it's overwhelming me right now with work. LOL
joy