POTATOES UNDER STRAW/LEAVES #4

Could it be damage from pillbugs? I noticed after I started watering my leaves that there were a lot of roly poly-ies in my bin, and I believe I caught one munching...

I have pillbugs out the wazootie and they seem to only feed on the dead/decaying stuff. I get them in compost that is unfinished too and sometimes I use that in my bed. I have never seen them eat the green living plants, but I guess if they are hungry enough they might - lol.

Nope. Caught the ants red handed doing the deed to destroy the tater plant.

I thought ants just ate bugs and seeds and aphid spit. I'm intrigued with your ants, so I read the ants wikipedia page, and then the one on fire ants. (Very interesting, both of them.) The fire ants page says this: "Occasionally they feed on vegetable plants in home gardens. The worst damage usually occurs during hot, dry weather when they invade flowerbeds while seeking warmth and moisture."

I wonder if they meant shade or a cool area instead of warmth.

I hope they don't keep spreading North. What a nuisance!

Fire ants are EVIL! They destroy anything and everything.

Agreed Stephanie. They killed two tater plants. The third lived. :( I caught them before they did too much damage in the other container.

I don't have fire ants - good thing. Mine are just regular old annoying ants;o)

Fire ants have absolutely zero redeeming qualities.

Amen, John!

Whatever's going on in that SmPot, the vines are still coming off at the leaf line. I'd say the whole container will be done by next week. I sure hope there's something down in the dirt...

I know mee too, without any flowers on my vines I really can't tell whether I have anything there or not, I guess all I can do is really wait and see.

Is this a flower in the making??

That is a flower bud! Congratulations!

Woot! It's the ONLY one out there, so I was wondering. Thanks for the confirmation, Kelly!

Newbie question: So what happens after it flowers?

Did ya'll know that those flowers will make seeds? There's a lot of research going on to develop good varieties that can be raised from true potato seed (TPS). It would eliminate the worry of diseases spread by seed potatoes and would be far easier to store and distribute to impoverished and remote farmers such as in parts of Africa. You might want to try growing some from your own seeds. From what I can tell, they start them early just like we do with peppers.

I think it signals that they're making taters.

Makes sense ;-) I have been watching this thread after locakelly told me about it. I have a large lasagna bed garden and started some red potatoes for the first time this year. I started mine a little later than you all did but I have leaves poking up on every single one. Will share pics tomorrow.. Yay!

Twiggy, someone on another garden site is growing TPS this year. It's been an interesting thing to watch.

Once they flower that is supposed to be your signal that the new potatoes are ready. The yummy small ones you eat fresh and don't store. When the vines die back is supposed to tell us the biguns are ready;o)

How long usually until they flower?

I think it depends on the variety and growing conditions. Also, they don't always flower;o)

I have nice tall stalks on my French fingerlings, which I'm growing appropriately enough in half a wine barrel. I've already put one layer of leaves over them and it looks like they're due for another layer! So far I haven't seen any potato bugs; hopefully since the set up is next to my chicken yard my hens will take care of any that appear. My barrel is also elevated; I have it sitting on top of my concrete compost bin.

Well,
I examined my bins yesterday evening, and looks like most ALL of my potato vines are in varying stages of some sort of distress. Rather than chance anything spreading to the tomato plants sitting right next to the two SmPts, I'm gonna dump at least one of the SmPts tomorrow, and we'll ALL get to see what's going on down under...

There will be pictures...

Linda

Can't wait to see, Linda!!!

I think I have my 1st flowers on my tallest plant! I 'll check later today.

Linda how exciting! I really sure hope you get loads of taters.

My potatoes are up, just in time for a frost warning coming Sun. night. I'll just cover them with straw and compost. If it looks bad enough I can tarp all my containers as the plants are nowhere near the tops of the drums. The worst is carrying all the tender annuals in at night, with the up sizing they're becoming a handful. Ric

I started my potatoes later than all of you did. I think it was around the 24th of March. I am doing them in ground this year after several years of containers. I have five varieties and thought the red pontiacs were not going to come up but they are up and doing well now. Just a late bloomer (grower). I plan to go with the straw this year since I found out that pine straw works. I bought two fences from Gardener's supply and we put one up last week. (I have help one day a week.) It covered all but about three feet of the garden so I have the other one to use someplace else. Mine are growing nicely and with the 4 foot high fence I should be able to let them grow their little hearts out. Over the years, I have had plants that bloomed a lot and some that did not bloom at all. I still got potatoes - it seems some kinds are not inclined to bloom. It is fun to see all the different colors that the different kinds of potatoes produce. I have had purple, yellow, and white. Of course I was not smart enough to write down which did what color and which did not bloom at all. I am hoping that your problems with the "disease" turns out that it is just time to pull them up. I wanted to plant more for a winter crop but could not find any potatoes (starts) to buy. Does anyone plant a winter crop? Where do you get them or do you raise your own? Mechelle, read back over all the old posts and you will gain a wealth of knowledge. Beware of printing it out - I did one thread and had 80 pages - from one thread! Think I will just takes notes from now on. This site is fantastic for information. I've been sitting here two hours just catching up so make sure you have the time to sit! Good luck to all of you. Marilyn

Marilyn ~ DG has an excellent journaling system and I cut and paste thread links and quotes from threads containing valuable info. I also save links and articles from other sources in the DG journal. The great thing is I can access it from any computer and if mine should crater, I haven't lost info or photos. Just a thought...

I grow a fall/winter crop. For some reason, though, none of the usual local sources for seed potatoes sells in the fall. So I've been using eyes from my spring crop and random stuff from the grocery store. I'm hopeful that might change this year - this spring there was a great expansion of seed potato availability into pretty much all the garden centers, not just feed and seeds.

I wonder if you could order them online. Most of them ship in the spring, of course, but maybe someone is trying to fill the need for those of you who can grow them in the fall.

I have stated on another thread that I planted my taters (red, and golden) Feb 13th or so. I have been dirting w/ leaves, grass clippings, and compost. The plant tops are still green, although some of the reds have started to fall somewhat. Today I dug down the side of a couple of plants, and pulled out a golden tater (4" long, and 3" dia.), and 4 red taters (3" dia). The taters really looked healthy, and I plan to eat them tonight. What do I do now? I thought I was to wait until the plants fell over before I harvested. I have a good feeling I have a pretty substantial crop. How do I store the taters in the Texas heat??........Should I leave them in the ground. I could use some help here....please!!. Thanks in advance. I am posting a few picts. The first picture is taken over a month ago, and the last picture is taken a few days ago. The bug you see is a Lady Bug.........they are everywhere..........because I have some aphids......I sprayed the leaves w/ sevin.......

This message was edited May 10, 2010 1:15 PM

This is the second picture.......

My onions are about ready to fall also........I have over 150 onions almost ready to harvest

And some red onions........

I'm coming to your house for dinner tonight! Things are really looking good for you right now.

I have a question, though, for anyone who knows. On the plants that the ants decimated, should I go ahead and dig down through the leaves and pull out whatever is attached to it, including the original seed potato?

I'm too chicken to try, Stephanie. I guess it's that I don't want to disturb any potatoes that are developing nearby.

Hornstrider- Looking good. Also, I hope someone has an answer RE: the storage of potatoes in a hot climate. I'm in Z9a, though, so I have lots of humidity to contend with. I doubt I can just leave them in the ground now that I think about it but we'll see.

Hornstrider ~ nice looking crop you have there. If it were mine I would leave them intact and harvest as desired for dinner. I suspect in this climate that will be the best means of storage.

Now your onions can be harvested when the tops die down. Let them air dry and then bag them in mesh bags and hang in a cool dark closet or pantry.

Where are the pictures, Linda??

My potatoes have outgrown the wine-barrel half that I planted them in, and I'm wondering if that's not enough space anyway; it's fairly deep.