I'm looking through my ronniger catalogue and have picked out the potatoes I would like to attempt growing this year!!(Yukon Gold, Caribe, Red Gold, and Red Companion) I need to let them know when to ship them. Here's the dilemma!! Our last frost date is usually right around Memorial day. Any ideas on when they should be planted? Also any info on how to plant ie: plant whole seed potato or cut it up? I've heard if you cut it up to place it in a paper bag for a few days to let the cut piece 'heal' before planting. Ok I've asked enough questions!! Thanks, Sue
starting Potatoes in zone 5/6
My first and best advise is to contact your County Extension agent. He or she will know the best dates for potato planting in your area. I am in zone 5a and have ordered mine for March 15. I don't know if this is good or not, but I seem to get better yields when I plant early. Then I pre-sprout the potatoes ( see p. 28 of this year's Ronniger's catalog). I usually do that for 2 weeks. Then I plant. My ave. last freeze date is also May 15. I plant more like April 1 if I am not occupied elsewhere. But your county extension agent is the person who really knows.
I bought The Victory Garden, The Essential Companion by Wilson, Wirth, Thompson, a few years back. He says that if the seed piece is the size of a hen's egg he doesn't cut it. If it is larger, he cuts them. What I learned is that you should cut the potatoes so they have 2 eyes per piece. The larger the pieces, the bigger your potatoes will become. I always wonder if I am doing it right, but they always seem to grow. I find potatoes quite forgiving.
Maybe that means cutting the seed in 2 or 3 pieces. I put them on cookie sheets indoors in a somewhat sunny spot. No paper bag. They start to green up and to put out sprouts. He plants them out April 1 and that is what I try to do. He is in the Boston area and I think the zone is similar to my own. If you can get this book, it is helpful on lots and lots of crops and has wonderful pictures. Considering the pictures, I found it a bargain at $29.95. I don't know if it is still available but it helped me a lot.
Best of luck to you.
Sue, I believe the Ronniger catalogue says somewhere in it that 1 # of seed potatoes is equals about 10 pieces. So if they send 7 potatoes then 3 are large enough to cut in half to make the 10. They also recommend letting them sprout before planting. I unpack mine immediately and place them in pie tins covered with newspaper, then plant them out when they have a nice set of sprouts. If you are planting potatoes for the first time be careful not to plant so early that you get caught by a frost which can kill off the new shoots. That happened to me one year so I have tended to plant a little later rather than earlier. We are a Zone 6A (but can act like a 5) with a normal last frost day May 15 but always a danger until May 20-30 so I plant the last week of April or the first week of May. It takes a couple of weeks for the sprouts to get high enough so they are exposed after the frost danger is past. While no expert at this, it seems to work! Good luck. Fresh dug potatoes are fabulous!
I just checked my Ronniger order and see I asked that mine be delivered after April 16 which gives a good time for sprouting and planting. Last year they accidentally sent them March 15 and the sprouts got so big by the end of April that it was difficult to plant without breaking some of them off.
Now, see, I thought that you were required by law to plant 'em (and the peas) on St. Paddy's Day. That's the way I always heard it. :)
I buy my certified disease-free seed potatoes locally. Far, far cheaper than Ronnigers. However, I don't get the varietal choices that Ronniger offers either. Since i usually only plant Kennebec, Yukon Gold, and a red spud, I'm better off buying locally. Our last frost free date here is around May 15. I try to plant my seed spuds about April 8. Some years they get nipped by a frost after emerging, but most of the time they are fine. I cut them into 2-eye chunks right at the time I plant them. I never bother to pre-sprout them, and always have a good crop.
Sue,
I started mine last year on the 19th of March here in zone 6, which proved to be a little too early. We had some really cold weather after that and they didn't sprout good. Here's a link to my diary, maybe this will help. Good luck!
http://davesgarden.com/journal/d/t/Big_Red/2511/
Red
I, too, had heard that peas and potatoes were supposed to be in by St. Patrick's day. Potatoes will tolerate some freezing. Strangely, I never have.
The Victory Garden, The Essential Companion, hardcover, gently used, can be purchased through Amazon for $13.50 with $3.49 postage. I get all my books through since Amazon and generally save over half.
I'm doing potatoes ths year for the first time, too. I ordered mine through Gurney's. I hope they will do ok. (I had a $25 off coupon to take advantage of.) I can hardly wait to get started!
This "supposed to" plant by certain dates can be taken with as much salt as you please.....after all, who's garden is it anyway? LOL
If peas can be planted on March 17...that can good. Still, if there is a foot of snow and the soil is still frozen or wet...don't sweat.
I find that April 20th planting of potatoes here is about right.
Dead on Indy. Maybe a handful of salt. In eastern Virginia, St Patricks day was the target. In Western Virginia, it was Good Friday. Down here it is Valentines day. They are good markers for their respective locations, but nothing magic. There is no uniform planting day for all climates.
Thanks everyone! No matter what the catalogues say I would rather have advice from home gardeners who have planted in less than favorable conditions! Now that I have the planting date in mind I have to decide where to plant! The farm has a large variation of soil type and moisture. Some is sandy with quick draining; other places has nice dark soil but is pretty wet until the middle of June and alot of in between the both!!
Sounds nice to have such a good variety of soils. Mine is all the same - granite! Hence the raised beds and container gardens...
Wow Red!
I enjoyed looking at your diary! Your garden is beautiful! Nice and flat looks like you are stonefree! It's a bit hilly here and lots and lots of stone! Built stone walls everywhere and now we are starting mountainous piles of them! Was great when the kids where younger-made a game out of picking stones out of the garden now they realize it's actually work and they are nowhere to be found! lol
Sequee,
Do you ever split your granite to make your raised beds? Occasionally we come across a nice granite stone and split it into blocks to be used around flowerbeds in the yard. Mostly we have sandstone which does not split nicely.
What's nice about the stone is it has such a nice natural look and doesn't breakdown like lumber.