root crops in EBs?

My husband is starting up a high-school project, and is interested in growing either potatoes or beets in DIY EBs. Has anyone had any success with root crops in EBs? I looked on the official EB site, and the only root crop they mention is onions. But if you can grow onions in an EB, why not beets? And maybe even potatoes?

Any thoughts?

I did grow Golden beets and carrots in my EBs and they were delicious. The carrots were not the extra large supermarket type but the delicious finger carrots. You can grow any root crop in an EB. Go for it!

I should've known you'd know, Tplant! :) I think his first preference (for scientific reasons) would be potatoes, which might be a little cramped in an EB, but if he does a homemade version, and goes a little bigger, he could probably get several plants in.

Some winter I'll have to give it a shot myself!

Thanks for your help, and stay cool--I understand it's getting hot there too!

Jill, just plant those taters in a tub. Works great.

Jayne, it's my husband and his grad students that will be doing the work. This is for some sort of outreach class to highschoolers, and he's got something in his head about how he wants to do this. He just wanted to know if you could do these crops in an EB, and I told him I'd find out.

Personally, the only taters I'm having any luck with myself are in the actual dirt... your thumb is considerably greener than my own! :)

i have so much to catch up on. some really cool topics get buried so quickly.

is your hubby pushing through this fall/winter project? (i'm guessing it's too hot now in your zone to plant potatoes). jill, i apologize - - - my concept of usda zones is poor.

annapet

Annapet, it's definitely too hot to start anything other than sweet potatoes right now... we're not quite as hot as you are, but our temps are over 100 every day this week (oh monsoon storms where are you when we need you?!!?)

I'm not sure what's happening with his project, actually--had forgotten about it with some other stuff that came down the pike--thanks for reminding me to ask him!

Wow, monsoon is something we never hear in California. I spent my early childhood in the Philippines, so monsoon is a familiar term.

Jill, often I wonder if I have the correct zone listed with my info (though that's what the USDA Zip Guide gave me). The average maximum temp here is 85F. The usual weather is mild. Within 10 days for example, we'll reach 85F just once.

TPlant and Ray_Der_Phan share my zone though they have tomatoes and I don't!!! Argh.

LOL.

I think the USDA zones are for minimum cold temperatures, not maximums. I read somewhere that another group is promoting a different index based on high temperatures, which would also be very useful. I'm in 8b/9a for cold, but it gets so dang hot (Sunday is supposed to be 112F) that your Zone 10a looks fabulous!

If you go to Sunset magazine website you can find much more accurate climate zones. http://www.sunset.com/garden/climate-zones/

Tplant,

I'm interested in trying the beets and carrots in containers too. Do you think it would work in Smart Pots? What varieties did you use and where did you get your seed? Sorry for all the questions.

Thanks,
Juanita

Juanita: That is a fabulous idea, yeah, I wonder if beets and onions and carrots would work in smart pots? Does anyone know? I'm going to use some smart pots for my potatoes in January as that is when we are to plant potatoes here where I am.

Moonglow: Here in FL the monsoons occur right after the bugs come out from the heat and humidity, and they don't stop until the bugs are bigger than cats and dogs I believe. I'm telling you, if I didn't love tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cukes and melons and okra so much........

joy

I got some seed that was on sale yesterday and I think I will order some smart pots today and give it a try. I'll try anything once! :0)

Juanita

rvnsbrk -- Never grew with smart pots! I use earthboxes only and have grown beets and carrots in them with success. Although never potatoes I would imagine they would do just fine. With EBs, roots don't have to waste energy reaching for fertilizer and water therefore getting the required food to produce whatever and plenty of it.

Thanks everyone. I just ordered some more smartpots. I have EBs with tomatoes and peppers in them, but I'm running out room here in the sun. The smart pots aren't as large and I can get them close together. I'll let you know how it works..if it does.

Juanita

Carol, thanks. I updated my zone!

Jill, thanks for bringing up root crops in EBs. I will be doing that this fall.

Tplant: I'm looking at my planting schedule for this area, and they are saying beets and carrots are in Sept, I think that may be where I messed up with the carrots as I had them going on this past Spring/Summer and they did not do so well. I am going to try beets and carrots again, I have carrot seeds; but was thinking on using beets startings from a local nursery. They do suggest using 20-20-20 for the two, is that correct or is 10-10-10 ok? I do have some 13-13-13 too though. How many beets per EB did you use and how many carrots and if I remember right, carrots you just direct seed plant right?
joy

Yes Joy direct seed and use whatever they suggest although the fertilizer you have is adequate. I spaced carrots on both sides every three inches but these were not the giant size carrots they were of medium size and beets four on each side but you can do more or less.

Growing Season: All Year? Argh!!!

TPlant: Thanks, for the info, I will be planting this stuff pretty soon.
joy

Try growing your potatoes in old washing machine tubs, like I did this past season. The holes make for EXCELLENT drainage. You may want to read up on our Zone 8-9 potato growing experience. There were approximately 8-10 of us in various parts of the zone growing potatoes all at the same time. The experience, education, and commaradarie was PRICELESS.

Here are the links to the entire discussion regarding growing potatoes under straw/leaves, from the beginning:

PART #1 http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/937306/
PART #2 http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1067896/
PART #3 http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1083163/
PART #4 http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1092018/

Hugs.

P.S. My seed potatoes have all sprouted and are raring to jump into some washing machine tubs. Note, I will be planting twice as many seeds per container as last time, and will be planting vertically, as well.

Linda

Before-1

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This message was edited Aug 4, 2010 2:40 PM

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DURING-1

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A modest, but very wonderful harvest! It was an exciting adventure.

HARVEST-2

HARVEST-3

I also grew spuds in two 20-gallon SmartPots. This is my final harvest. It was the Purple Vikings that remained buried for 153 days from planting out seeds on February 14th, 2010. This was the largest potato I harvested, and one of 3 that were just a bit smaller.

Since it was my first time, I was very conservative with the number of seeds per container. Next time, I will plant anywhere from 2x to 3x the number of seeds. I will stagger plant them vertically, as we all harvested potatoes in the exact same depth as where we laid the seed potatoes.

Consequently, I will set the first layer of spuds on 8-10" of potting mix. Once they vines have grown through to about 8", I will fill with another layer of soil and lay more seeds on that layer. Then, I will cover the second layer to within 3" from the tops of the vines from the 1st layer. I will repeat again, adding yet a third layer of seeds, covering to within 3" of the tops of the vines from the 2nd layer. Depending on vertical space, I may add a 4th and final layer.

Once the final layer is added and the washer tubs are full, I will wrap the tubs again with plastic poultry caging wire to keep the vines from flopping over. I may break down and add enough leaves to help stabilize the vines inside the caged part.

From then on, it's just keeping them watered until the vines start to die back.

We'll probably begin a new thread on our Fall/Winter potato garden soon. Look for it on the Vegetable Gardening forum.

Linda ^^_^^

Oops!

HARVEST-3

Just had a chance to tune in and admire your crops. Potatoes taste really delicious when eaten when picked. I know! I used to live close to a potato farm on Long Island, NY and help myself.

Ah, so, Paw-sahn. Grasshopper learn from the Master! Very pleezed to share accomplishment!

Namaste!

Gymgirl: I was really delighted with the outcome of my potato crop from smart pots, I managed to wait until the end of season, when I dumped them out and gathered up about 18 pounds of red skinned and yukon gold's. Only one rotten one in the bunch. I had a lot of little round ones that I'm keeping in the dark so to use them as seed potatoes in November.
joy

Joy how many spud SmPots
did you have?

I had 8 of them and planted 4 with red potatoes and 4 with yukon golds. I will do potatoes again, my grandangel said she didn't need katsup with her fries, as the flavor of the potato was fabulous. LOL The grandbabies scarfed them up really fast. Nothing like a homegrown tater.
joy

Just jumping in here with my recommendation for growing taters in Smart Pots--though they're not self-watering, SPs really are easy. This is my second summer growing potatoes in four 15-gal ones. So far, I've harvested 12 pounds from one pot--the rest are not quite ready. I'm intrigued with Linda's recommendations for planting them on different levels and will try that next time.
What amazed me was the delicious taste and tender juiciness of a really fresh tater--I could see why the French translation is "apples of the earth." And they cooked faster than store-bought, too.

Capecodgardener,
Can you say, "is it time to plant me yet?" These are the seed potatoes for this next crop and the multi-level seeding experiment.

They've got to go in soon! I barely have time to chit them. Luckily, I saved some fireplace ash from last winter to help seal the cuts.

Linda

Cape Cod Gardener: Wow, that is a lot of potatoes, 15 lbs from one smart pot? I used 8 smart pots and was happy with 18 lbs. LOL I did have some really small ones though and have them put back for seed potatoes for later.
joy

Capecodgardner--please share your potato expertise. I had 3 smart pots, and 2 other "above ground" arangements and got 16 lbs total from 2.5 lbs of seed potatoes. I would LOVE to get the yield you are getting. What medium did you use, and what fertilizer (if you don't mind sharing).

I'm also intrigued by Gymgirls thoughts about planting in levels....none of my containers have ever grown potatoes up along the growing greens....everything has pretty much stayed at ground level. Are there only certain types of potatoes that set tubers along the growing stem?

Regardless, the "hilling up" is necessary to prevent sunlight from getting to the growing tubers, so will continue to do that.

Any advice for increasing my yield will be welcome.

Sure, mom2goldens: As I recall I used Agway Professional Potting Mix, which was on sale in a giant bag (why I bought it.) As I filled the Smart Pots, and then added more soil as the taters grew, I remember thinking that the soil felt somewhat heavier than my usual choices of ProMix or Fafard Potting mix, and I worried a bit that it was too much so. It felt "peaty." Later I read on the Smart Pot site that you can use slightly heavier mixes because the fabric sides and bottom mean that the pots retain less moisture than traditional containers. Perhaps that's why I got a good yield.

I used Espoma Quick Solutions Garden Food (10-10-10) this year, mixed into the planting mix at the outset.

But it was also one of the warmest, sunniest Junes and Julys that we've had on the Cape lately, and that might have had a lot to do with my yield, too.

growing potatoes in 5 gallon containers

http://mckarion.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/frugal-gardener-potato-experiment/
http://mckarion.wordpress.com/2010/06/05/frugal-gardner-eliminate-the-big-farm-mentality/