Potatoes

[Durgan]

Usually four rows of potatoes are grown. My objective is to obtain from 100 to 300 pounds of new potatoes. This translates into about 70 plants. I expect four pounds per seed planted. In other words anything over four pounds is acceptable. The Russian Blue are usually just under four pounds. To get maximum from one seed potato is not really a criteria due to the small quantity that is grown. I have found the main variable for growing potatoes is moisture. Anybody can grow potatoes but size, texture, no hollow centres, not knobby,and weight must be considered all together. A quality potato is food of the Gods. I usually roast in a Dutch oven 400F for 50 minutes.

Here are some samples from previous years. I often chit but not always and really see no big difference.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?RUDKB 15 September 2010 Chieftain Potatoes Harvested.
Chieftain is the king of the six types that I grow. The largest tuber was two pounds, and it was not hollow in the center. The tubers are prolific and very large.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?FBQWE 11 September 2010 Russian Blue Potatoes.
Ten plants were grown and the average weight was 3.2 lbs per plant. The smallest yield was 2 lbs and the largest 5 pounds per plant. From previous years three pounds per plant is about normal. I consider anything above 2 lbs per plant to be acceptable for Russian Blue. The potatoes keep well. When boiled or baked the purple color remains. The texture is dense, and after accepting the color, the Russian Blue is a fine table potato. There was some damage from a bug.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?IBXNL 26 April 2011 Chitting Potatoes
Required are about 96 potato plants in the home garden. This year the chosen are All Red, Purple Viking, Green Mountain, and Pacific Russet. I expect about four pounds plus from each plant. The seed potatoes were chitted for about a month, and today were cut to give me around 24 of each type. They will be allowed to grow more in bright light and this also heals the cut surface prior to planting.
Chitting and cutting serves several purposes. Cutting reveals any poor quality potatoes, which may be discarded, and chitting indicates the viability of the tuber, and givers the tuber a good start when planted. The shoots are green when started in bright light, this is quite different from the shoots that form when the potato is kept in darkness. The desire is for the green shoots.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?XMKRU 7 January 2013 Chitting Potatoes
Chitting potatoes is the process of growth under bright light conditions to form shoots from the eyes. This gives the seed stock an early start. This year I wish to experiment as follows: ONE. Grow twelve plants by allowing only one eye to produce stems. TWO. All all the eyes to produce stems. Compare the two growth methods as to weight, size and quality. There will be twelve each of Russian Blue and Alaskan Sweetheart for comparison purposes.From experience it is found that chitting takes about two months to get growth shoots about 1 cm long. The potatoes are placed in a bit of potting soil to maintain some moisture and to keep the set tubers upright.My outdoors planting date is about the 15 of April.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?PHSUL 30 April 2011 Planting Potatoes
Four rows of potatoes were planted, fourteen tubers per row for a total of 56 potatoes. Cultivars are Purple Viking, Green Mountain, All Red, Pacific Russet. These are all seed potatoes from Eagle Creek. The in row spacing is 20 inches, and the depth is about 4 inches. Row spacing is 24 inches. These types are all new to my garden. I expect around four pounds or more per plant average, for a total harvest of around two hundred pounds.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?ATRDM 15 September 2010 Agria Potatoes Harvested
Potatoes were harvest for Winter storage. This depicts the Agria, which is a fine quality potato. There was no damage with any of the potatoes and very few were discarded. They will be kept in a cold room, which is not ideal, but the best space available. About half the planted crop is depicted in the following series of four types, since the other half was utilized as required during the growing season. A total of 70 tubers were planted and 32 plants were left for winter storage.