I wanted to try the colored gourmet potatoes last year but every place I found them,the postage was as high or higher than the potatoes themselves. Last week I received Jung's catalog,they have the potatoes,prices are good and shipping is very reasonable.
Jung doesn't appear in Gardenwatch Dog so I need anyone's input that's may have done business w/ Jung before I order.
P
Jung catalog
I religiously get their catalogue but have never ordered. Wonder why?
Bigred,
I just tried Garden Watchdog and there is a listing for "Jung Seed" they are the company that owns "Totally Tomatoes" and others. From what I've heard (but no personal experiance) they are OK for seed but iffy about plants.
Try this link http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/106/
Have heard good things about these folks, but don't know their shipping charges. http://www.milkranch.com/
Well,how'd I miss that. Thanks oldklingon. Doesn't seem they have to bad of a rap and how wrong could they go on seed potatoes?
pod,
two many purdy catalogs so little time and/or funds?
P
oldklingon,
up to$35.00---$5.00
35.01---$50.00--$6.50
50.01--$70.00---$7.50
$70.01--$100.00--$8.50
over $100.00--$9.50
Bigred,
How are you going to grow them. Was looking at potatoes a bit myself, but don't have much space. Have heard of growing them in stacks of tires or in barrels or in bins of straw. Would like to follow someone who tries one of these ways, just to see if it works.
I have 3 raised beds(12" tallx3ft.x12-15ft.) that need to be re-ammended. Thought I'd take out most of the old soil ,leave about 4" ,plant taters in this 4" and fill it up as taters sprout with shifted homemade compost and garden soil until it's at the top of bed again.
Or then again,I may try the Paul James method of laying the taters on the 4" of soil then cover taters w/chopped leaves...got plenty of those. When taters are harvested I'll already have a good start on compost in the bed for lausanga(sp)planting.
P
Jung had problems several years ago and service was hit or miss....usually miss... They are trying very hard to turn things around (I think the Watchdog had an influence there) The seed part of the company is pretty decent now, so I've heard. I'm not sure about the plant or tuber part though. If the prices are attractive enough, it would be interesting to see how they stack up.
Red have ordered seed and bulbs for three years now and got good seed no hitches and georgous bulbs. 500 glads last year and they were clear and firm and bloomed true to color. Ordered several tomatoe seed a couple of weeks ago they came in about 4 days and were 40 seed to the package. Ok in my book. Ernie
oldklingon,
disreguard those shipping prices.I thought you were talking about Jung.
I'm making my order. Small one just to give them a trail. Two kinds of colored taters,strawberry plants and maybe some glads or lilies.
P
Before I was a member of DG and knew about the Garden Watchdog, I ordered trees and seeds and bulbs from Jung and had excellent results. I have had good luck with Totally Tomatoes as well. That was in the last two or three years. Perhaps I should add that to Garden Watchdog.
5 years ago and back were Jung's worst years...they've been striving to better themselves since then...in the last 2 or 3 years, I've heard no bad stories on them....I may even do a test run myself and order something.
oldklingon, you don't need a lot of space for potatoes if you grow them vertically (trellis the vines). That's what we do with our raised garden bed. We dug down about 6-8 inches and planted the seed potatoes in the trench. We would add more compost/soil as the plants grew up, always leaving a top leaves showing. We add more soil as the plant grows. Once the soil is even with the rest of the garden bed, we trellis the potato vines. This method eliminates the need to form mounds and doesn't take as much space. Potato barrels also work well. I've attached a photo of last summer's potato trench in process after a couple of weeks growth.
I just got my Jung catalog today and had checked them out on Watchdog before reading this post. I am skeptical about ordering from them but I saw some Navajo Princess Daylilies and Morning Glories I would love to get, but I'll have to talk myself into it cuz of Watchdog. I did try a small test order of 20.00 with Totally Tomatoes last week, so maybe I'll wait and see how that goes before I plunge in with these folks again. I haven't figured out who I am going to order my potatoes from yet, but there is still time. It will be my first time with potatoes.
I'm the world's worst at buying potatoes (goldens, baking or red) and then not using all of them before they sprout. Once they start getting soft I toss them in the compost pile, which I do not turn. They always sprout and produce a good crop.
Do you all do this? If not why? Just curious!
Judy
Hi all; I have ordered from J W Jung, Vermont Bean and seed, R H Shumway's, I had excellent service from them all. I order all my seeds off the web pages, From Wisconsin it only takes 2 or 3 days to get my order to Iowa. I'll use them again. On the subject of growing potatoes, I planted two potato sets, in a five gallon bucket. I drilled some 1/4 inch holes about 1 1/2 inches up from the bottom of the bucket, filled in about 1 inch of small rock , to help keep the bucket from blowing over in a strong wind. I put about 3 inches of compost, leaves, mixed up, laid my potato eyes on top, covered them with leaves. Add water to get them set, after they started growing I add more leaves, Don't cover them, leave the top 3 or 4 inches of the potato plant uncovered so they get light and water and stay green. As they grow higher the next time I added compost, the next time I added shredded leaves. I had blossoms the same time my, in the garden potatoes did, and when it was time to dig up my in the garden potatoes it was time to dump out the bucket, Boy it was a lot easier to dump, than to dig. I am going to do it again this year, because I have so little space for a garden, I can outline my garden, in buckets, helps keep the little bunny rabbits out of my lettuce.
I wish I could put my pictures on, but don't know how yet.. later..
On potatoes, I have never been successful growing them in anything but the soil. I dig a trench, put the potatoes in, and gradually fill it in. As they grow I add whatever I can find on the plants to hill them, mostly compost. This works well for me.
I have never had any luck in a barrel or my compost pile which is confined in a wire cage. The plants grow okay, but they never get big enough to produce potatoes larger than marble size. I do best with red potatoes in the soil -- Red Norland and such. Where I live, early and medium season length potatoes do best. I wish I were better at it.
The red potato I am looking at is All Red, aka Cranberry Red. It is red through to the flesh:
http://www.milkranch.com/Potato/GardenData.aspx?Var=AE
http://tinyurl.com/ynd2l8
I'm trying to find an early variety to plant. We don't really like 'white' potatoes.
What kind of yield do ya'll get from your potato plants? And how about sweet potatoes?
My potato growing success the last 3 or 4 time I tried didn't do well but last year I got a nice little bunch of red potatoes from peels and potatoes gone bad tossed into the compost pile which was started in one of the raised beds so I'm trying them again....sans the kitchen scraps. I'll use leaves shredded w/ my mower and I have a wind-row of compost right next to the raised beds so it's easy to shift some into the raised bed as the potatoes grow.
P
I have not done well with potatoes since I quit gardening at the community garden. They did very well there. The soils are quite different. At the community garden it was heavy clay, at my house it is lighter stuff. I add lots of compost, but I don't know what the problem is. My garden is laid out in long rows and has a slope to it so I may not be getting enough water to the plants. I added a drip irrigation system last year. Maybe I will be able to do better with potatoes with a better watering system. It sure helped my tomatoes and squash this year. Hopefully it will do the same for potatoes.
My little back yard garden usually does better than our two bigger ones because water is easier to get to. We watered one of the bigger ones with a rainbird but it didn't reach far enough to catch the corn so corn did poorly. Purple hulls where closest so they did great. Cukes ok,squash was a poor showing. Later the cantalopes started out good but hub's fell off watering as it got hot so the last of the cantalopes rotted in the heat. Squash in garden across the road did good but corn and pumpkins not so good.
P
Betty, have you thought of filling your potato trench with just straight compost? They need more water when they start forming the tubers. I have one of those two prong soil meters that measure pH, moisture and light and test for moisture whenever I am in the garden. I've noticed that once the potato plants start to bloom, they are sucking in the water and need a lot. I thought I read somewhere that the blooms signal the greater amount of tuber formation activity. Every other part of the garden bed would have adequate moisture but the potato drench would put the meter towards the "dry" range. If your garden is on an automatic drip system, you'll probably need to give supplemental watering to the taters.
Red I grow gobs of potatoes in sandy loam without leaves or compost. I plant in a trench and as the growth comes on fill the trench when the trench is full I start draging the dirt up and burying the plant leaving 8 inches stick up. This automaticly weeds them at the same time. I usually drag dirt about three times or untill they start to flower. Potatoes like loose soil and if grown in hard ground never attain big size like they do iin sand or peat soil. I put cow power on in the fall and till it in but thats all for fert I just count on fertile soil.
Have you ever considered T Tape for watering it is very efficent and easy to use and is very handy for far away watering . It uses less water than a sprinkler and it waters very deep and at the point it is needed at restricting the water in the row centers making it harder for the weeds to grow. Cheaper than hoses and quick to hook up once you catch on to it. Ernie
I've grown in sawdust/barrels and in straw with fair results. The straw experiment was caused by a very wet year. I just laid the taters out in rows just like normal and covered them with straw. When the wind blew it all off I put up chicken wire along the plot and it held the straw down long enough to let it settle in. If I remember right I put about 4" on directly over the taters and added 4"more about every 2 weeks untill it was about 16" deep. The yeild was better than the conventional plantins I made and it was'nt a lot of work.
The sawdust experiment was just that, no real reason to do it other than I had been told that it would'nt work. It didn't seem worth it to me for the amount of work it took. The sawdust was from a sawmill so it was coarse.
Thanks all of you for your hints. I think the water has to be it. I do use compost when I plant potatoes but have never filled all of the trenches with compost. Probably that is worth trying and yes, I plan to be a lot more vigilant on the water for potatoes. I think I also may plant a little too late. They really need to go in around March 15 here and I haven't managed that for the last few years.
No, I had never heard of T-Tape. I guess I will have to look that one up. If it gets water deep into the ground, that would be helpful. I realized late in the season last year that the veggies I was planting in the ground rather than in the raised beds weren't getting enough water because they weren't as rich in compost as the raised beds which were made of little other than compost.
It may take me awhile to accumulate that much compost -- but I have definitely noticed an improvement each year as I add more compost to the soil. I, too, am not a spring chicken and hauling all that manure is exhausting. I have great sources, but am a slow poke at unloading it.
Still I am looking forward to a better crop this year.
Ernie,
I'd like to heard a little more about the T-Tape myself. What is it and where do you get it.
Everything I've grown in the raised(lasanga) beds gets HUGE. The okra year before last was mammoth. I received a few seeds of burgundy and spineless as bonus in a trade so I sewed them as ornamentals since I don't eat it and hate the itchies I get from picking for hub's. By late summer,it was so tall I couldn't reach the pods any more.
P
A T-Tape system for raised beds is available from DripWorks in Willits, CA
http://www.dripworksusa.com/ttape1.html
That's a good site to show T-Tape. I really like it & use it a lot.
Try this place. www.jordanseeds.com
They have roll of 8 mil, 1500 ft for $57.60 plus shipping. They have all the fittings you need. You can make up a piece of PVC to connect it to.
Bernie
I brought up their site. Looks like you need to get a catalog to order T-Tape. They will send you one.
This message was edited Dec 28, 2006 10:55 PM
Hi Bigred!
I have ordered from Jungs for years and every year said I wouldn't again, but did. They have kept their prices low by sending small plants. I think that's why I lost a lot of them. I just sent an order in the other day. I too think they are trying harder. I like Totally Tomatoes and sent an order. ALL my vegetable seeds are coming from Vermont Bean.
I plant red and russet potatoes in a trench no deeper than 4 inches. My dirt is slightly sandy. I read that they like it on the acid side, Stops the scab. I don't have a lot of room, but always find a row for them. One year I just planted 3 leftover potatoes right on the compost pile. They did pretty good.
Why don't you just order from one company, they all come out of the same hopper. If you use the HPS catalog or web site, they have all Jung's stuff in one book.
Bernie
I myself like the variety of books I get, tho I admit I didn't think about the hopper. You're right!
I placed an order for potaoes,strawberries and some seed.I don't look for the order to arrive until Feb. our potato and starwberry planting season.
I'll post when I get them and let ya'll know how they look.
P
I have never ordered from Jung but I have gotten their catalog. A friend of mine orders almost every year without complaints. Good Luck.
I placed a large order from Henry Fields about 7 years ago and never did receive anything or a refund! I buy most of my seeds from Rural King or our local feedmill.
What is your best tomatoes for eating?
My favorite tomato...Hmmmm...that's a toughy 'cause I generaly just pick some and eat them. Guess I need to pay more attention so I can give an assessment of varieties.
My early tomatoes didn't do well last year due to an un-seasonable cold spell the week before Mother's Day and they got some form of virus.I knew what it was last year but I've slept since then and it's totaly escaped from my mind. I tried planting a fall crop but Aug was so blame hot and dry,I didn't get much from them. Think I'm just going to do two runs 2-4 weeks apart on my spring/summer tomatoes and forget about the fall crop.
Last year I planted:
Brandywine
Kellog's Breakfast
White Tomsel(got nothing from these due to May cold spell and virus)
Rutgers
Homestead
Pritchard's Scarlet Topper
Porter
Money Maker
Ark. Traveler
Mortage Lifter
Roma(the only one that produced fall crop,and plentiful
I'll do all those again this year plus:
Juliet,grape tomato,excellent small salad type and excellent producer over a long period of time
Better Boy
Bush Celebrity
Bush Early Girl
Jet Setter
Sweet Millon
Yellow Pear,if I can find a seed source
P
I think that Jung's or most other companies are ok for seed orders. After all, most companies get their seeds from a few large growers so it is mainly a matter of variety selections [and pretty photos!]. When it comes to plant orders, then be selective from whom you order from.
I saw a catalog from 1930 something. It had the same pictures as the new catalogs. Don't remember which one, but they all use the same. One that comes to mind is the little boy standing by a Carolina Cross watermelon.
They used to pass things around, now they are all under one roof.
Bluegrassmom, that may have been about the time I called in to get a refund and they told me they just bought H.F. and didn't have the records. They could issue me a small credit to use for re-ordering. I said no thanks and never ordered from them again. I see there is no listing in Garden Watchdog. I almost ordered something to have something to report, but I've spent my quota already. Also, did you notice any simularities between H.F. and Gurneys? I wonder if they are both one, or the other? Again nothing in G. Watchdog about ownership.
Both Gurneys' and Henry Field were bought out several years ago and are now under the umbrella of Gardens' Alive which accounts for the similarity.