growing potatoes in tires

I have heard of this method and plan to use in the children's area of the gardens at the museum. But I've never grown potatoes before. I need a few seed potatoes of Yukon Gold, as I am looking for the most nutritious kinds. I have a lot of compost and other black soil from some raised beds that I am tearing down and moving. Do they need other types of fertilizer?
Any advice on growing them in tires would be appreciated. I image it can get very hot in the tires so I expect a lot of watering would be in order????

I've seen flowers grown in tires up in Georgia when I lived there. I think it was more a matter of trying to make use of free materials at hand. I have heard of growing potatoes in tires but I wouldn't recommend it. I suggest you read http://www.ehhi.org/reports/turf/health_effects.shtml. Here's their summary:

SUMMARY OF TOXIC ACTIONS

In summary, the toxic actions of concern from the materials that were released from recycled crumb rubber include:

Severe irritation of the respiratory system
Severe irritation of the eyes, skin and mucous membranes
Systemic effects on the liver and kidneys
Neurotoxic responses
Allergic reactions
Cancers
Developmental effects

If you do use tires anyway (some of the newer ones might not be so high in toxins) I would recommend you cut holes in the sidewalls of the tires to allow excess water to drain.

As far as the nutritional value of the potatoes, I would personally go with a fingerling variety. Since most of the mineral nutrients in potatoes are located just under the skin, the smaller the potato the higher the potential nutrient levels. If you can't get any at a local nursery, you can often find them at "gourmet" grocery stores. There is a French Fingerling type I grow that has golden flesh like the Yukon' does, but also a lot more surface area per pound of potatoes. Of course that only matters if you eat the peels...

-Rich

HOwdy, wood spirit. Long time no see.

I grew spuds in tires years ago. You've probably been reading how you can get them going in one tire then lay another tire on top of the first, repeating, in an effort to get a higher plant and more spuds. It is workable but you can do the same with simple lumber squares easily nailed together.

Yes, the tires get hot during the summer months so be sure to get off to an early start. To get any height and extra spuds you'll need to use a long-maturing variety. Yukon Gold is an early maturing variety so that will keep the kids interested by giving you an earlier harvest but won't give the quantity you could get from other types.

As for fertilizer, go with one higher in Phosphorus than Nitrogen. That'll get the spuds producing.

Rich, good info on the tire issue. I can't access your link but notice your cut and paste was referring to "crumb rubber"; I assume that is something with small particulates (like mulch) and so they state there is "Severe irritation of the respiratory system, Severe irritation of the eyes, skin and mucous membranes"...most likely from breathing in the dust from it. A whole tire won't give those possibilities BUT I'm right there with you on many tires/rubber products being carcinogenic. If there's a doubt, woodspirit, you might want to heed the caution, especially with children, eh?

Have fun, woodspirit!
Shoe

I'm sorry you couldn't access the link. While the title and focus of the article was on crumb rubber, mostly because the release rate is so much higher, most crumb rubber is made from recycled tires.

Maybe this link will work for you:

http://5400squarefeet.blogspot.com/2009/02/tires-in-garden-cadmium-zinc-toxicity.html

He quotes some of the same research, but focuses on the heavy metal content of some tires.

If you still can't link to it, just do a Google search using the keywords "tires cadmium". That will bring up these and many other articles.

Shoe, I earned my masters degree in horticulture studying element uptake in vegetables. Bottom line for me is that, unless you KNOW the chemical composition of the tires, I would never risk growing food in them, ESPECIALLY root crops like potatoes that absorb and hold the minerals from the soil around them. That's what roots in general do with elements the plant can't use - they absorb and sequester them. Cadmium is incredibly nasty stuff, and not the only nasty stuff than can be found in tires.

-Rich

P.S.: Actually the previous link does work if you remove the trailing period:

http://www.ehhi.org/reports/turf/health_effects.shtml

-Rich

Got it! Thanks. I kept looking at that link wondering what shouldn't be in there!

And yes, you're pretty much preaching to the choir here. I shy away from rubber mulch, crumbs, tires, any impurities as such but am always glad to see the topic come to the forefront.

I noticed the reports mentioned (several times) "long term" and such. I hope no food garden ever uses rubber/tires for long term use whether it secretes poisons or not...I'd much prefer to recommend feeding the soil life, not rubber. :>) The time I grew potatoes in tires was in the late 70's/early 80's...even Rodale knew no better then. (Heck, at that time they were still of the mind that railroad crossties, "if 20 years old or more" were safe to use. Five years later they bit their tongue.)

Woodspirit, in the best interest of the kids, and the parents, I bet you could mimic the "tire growing" just as well using square boxes of lumber (untreated, of course), or rounds of fence wire.

Shoe

Or straw. Or spoiled hay bales... wasn't that Ruth Stout's method? Actually I think straw might be better, as it isn't likely to heat as it decomposes, though it may carry more seeds (depending on what sort of straw, how it was grown, etc.). Then the growing medium IS the container. A similar technique that's been around for a while is to use coarse-mesh wire fencing to form cages and gradually fill them with straw and hay as the plants grow. Then you just dig back down through the straw to harvest the potatoes. There are SO many ways to grow veggies that don't involve old tires...

The problem with cadmium is that (like many heavy metals) it accumulates in the body (in cadmium's case, the kidneys), so every bit you consume adds to the total you carry. It is gradually leached from the body if the quantities are small enough, but it takes time. And zinc, while it is an essential nutrient, can be just as bad in excess. For children, the hazard is far worse than it is for adults.

-Rich

Well, this was just one idea for a new project to do with the 4-H kids. It will be a one-time thing. However, since you all feel so strongly about this, I will look for more wood. The museum is small and under-funded so I will be looking for some 4x4s. Dare I paint them? If so what kind of paint do you recommend?

You might come out cheaper using 2 X 8's or 2 x 10 (or 12's). A 12 foot length can be cut into 3' sections and there is your four pieces for the base. Do the same for another 12 ft section and set it on top.

I also think since this is an under-funded museum project I'm sure if you put the word out people would happily donate the lumber (or cage wire if you want to go that route). Or as Rich mentioned a few bales of straw as a thick mulch would also work if you wanted to plant directly in the ground.

I had a Ruth Stout type "no work" garden for about ten years. It was an area I fenced off (about 30 x 30 ft) and kept it in mulch, leaves, straw, whatever I had on hand. It grew many veggies before I ended up turning it into a raised boxed bed area years later. That, too, is an option. I know you don't want to do a big garden but just to give you an idea how easy it is:

And a close up look at some of the collards:

In other words, straw goes a long way to making a nice garden area.

As for the lumber, you won't need to paint it since this is a one-time project. The lumber, untreated, will last several years just fine.

Shoe

Your garden looks lovely. I have put out the word for the 4x4s but may do as you say and get some 2x8s or2x10s. We'll see how it goes. My first quest for seed has failed so far. I wanted bush acorn squash but only found it in bulk. We are trying to get bush squash so that we don't use up too much space. I expect to find bush yellow squash easily, I hope.

Remind when it gets close to planting time, more'n likely I have plenty of seed for ya.

I wonder, since this is for the kids, if they'd be more inclined to eat cucumbers more than squash. I'm sure I have some bush cuke seeds you're welcome to. Or, of course, you can stick a couple stakes in the ground and grow a vining cuke; it wouldn't take up any more space but will give more productivity and the kids could watch how a plant climbs, eh?

Shoe

We made a teepee from bamboo last year and had scarlet runners grow on that. This year we are thinking about doing corn, beansclimbing on them and tomoates planted around the bottom based on a practice by the Indians.
Maybe we will add the cucumbers to the teepee. How much shade can cucumbers manage?

Cucumbers can get by on partial shade, about five hours of sun per day. However, I wouldn't stress your corn plants by growing both beans and cukes on them.

What you're referring to with beans growing up corn and surrounded by tomatoes is closely similar to a 3 Sisters garden but the Native Americans used squash or pumpkins, not tomatoes. People need to keep in mind, too, that the corn the NA's grew was a large dent corn, not the typical sweet corn we grow today...sweet corn seldom has the strength to support bean vines. Just keep that in mind when choosing which corn to grow.

Shoe

Yes, 3 sisters is what I meant and you are right about the corn.