Houston -Potato- Progress

[duajones]

cool looking, I am worried about mine as they still havent opened.

[blatanna]

Those potatoes look great, will be interested to see a pic of them when you dig them up. How long since you planted them. I have just put mine in.

[feldon30]

I am not sure exactly when as I did not take great notes, but I believe it was around the 10-12th of February, and they sprouted on March 8th. April 4th for the first blossoms, and I am guessing May 15th or so for first harvest.

[houseodessey]

I'm confused. I've been piling straw on my potatoes as they've grown, leaving a few inches of foliage to soak up the sun. Am I supposed to leave them uncovered until they bloom? They seem to be growing fine this way but any advice is appreciated. Potatoes were an afterthought for me so I'm fairly ignorant about them.

[feldon30]

I think you want to hill them twice. Once when they are 6-12" tall, and then again when they are 18-24" tall. I hilled them a lot the first time, and then just a few more inches of soil the second time.

What you are doing, essentially hilling a 3rd and 4th time, may lead to fungal problems. Although the straw is much safer in this regard than if you were doing more soil.

I am trying potatoes for the first time this year and I am sure I have a LOT to learn, so I have just been going by the pictures I've seen on the web of mature potato plants. Generally they seem to have at least 2 feet of plant and foliage above the ground in order to have lots of leaf surface area to photosynthesize.

This is a fuzzy picture, but you can see that the space between the plant stem from the surface of the soil (which you've mounded up at least twice) down to the top of the seed potato is where roots come from that produce your potatoes. So you want at least several inches of soil between the seed potato and the surface for the potatoes to grow.

[houseodessey]

Thanks. Mine are about 2' now. I'll let them grow for a bit and see what happens. If I get potatoes, great. If not, I'll have more experience in the fall.

[feldon30]

If you have 2' of plant above the ground and you are using both loose, well-drained soil and straw mulch, I think you are in good shape. Potatoes are pretty easy to grow from what I can tell. It's really about timing. Dr. Bob Randall's book about Houston Gardening (the actual name of the book is absurdly long) says it's important that early varieties are selected and started at the right time as you really want to harvest before mid-May when the soil gets very hot and starts to ruin the flavor of the potatoes.

Even though my potatoes went in the ground a few weeks after Dr. Randall's suggested planting date for Houston, I think I am still on track to get some spuds before the heat kicks in. I bet this week of lows in the 40's and highs in the 60's is really good for them. We're finally getting some sun today and will get some sun tomorrow before 2 more drenching days.

C'mon guys (or gals), more flowers!!

[2FrontFeet]

Feldon, how deep are your raised beds? Did you dig your trenches into the soil under the bed? I thought that one would have to dig down at least a foot or so to have enough room for hilling, without having the soil spill out of the beds.
Great pics

[feldon30]

Those beds are 12" high. I dug the trench down to about the original soil level, sprinkled some composted manure (not always recommended because of the risk of scab) and Osmocote 14-14-14, and then arranged the cut, sulfured seed potatoes sprout-side up. With my hilling of dirt in the centers about 6" above the height of the beds, I believe I am providing the potatoes with enough space to produce tubers. I may be wrong. Looking at some other people's pictures, it seems that maybe I should be shooting for more like 2' of covered stem/plant?

I'm sure I have a lot to learn. I know I'd like to place an order with Mr. Wagner in September for some exotic varieties. I figure 2 lbs of seed potatoes will be more than enough for my needs.

[2FrontFeet]

I've been toying with the idea of growing potatoes, but thought my beds were too shallow (8"). I've seen some build another square to place on top of an existing bed to allow for hilling.
I just can't seem to figure out when to stop hilling, and once the foliage starts to die back, how much of that foliage is actually still sticking out of the ground?

Had you considered the tire method?
You'll have to let us know what kind of a harvest you end up with.

[feldon30]

What's the soil like below your 8" beds? If it's unimproved clay that isn't rock-hard, then you can probably count a few inches of it as part of your depth.

I am growing potatoes and beans in my 3' x 16' bed. In order to hill up the potatoes, I had to steal soil from where I intended to plant the beans. So the beans are basically growing in 6" of good soil instead of the usual 12".


(see the bed on the right; I am growing beans in between the two stands of potatoes)

I hilled ONCE and that's it. Ed Smith in his Vegetable Gardener's Bible does not recommend hilling more than once or twice. The hilling is providing a place along the stem for the potatoes to grow out of, and it is to make sure the growing potatoes are covered so they don't turn green from sun exposure. I don't think you really need more than about 1 - 1 1/2 feet of soil above the seed potato, but I could be wrong.


In other news, I wouldn't quite use the word "devastated", but my potato plants have been hit hard by caterpillars. The same caterpillars that were on my brassicas. I went out this morning and drenched everything in a mixture of neem/pyrethrin* and BT liquid at labeled doses (1 tbsp each to 1 gallon water). That should kill the caterpillars now, plus prevent future ones. I will repeat with BT a week from now.


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By themselves, neem oil (from the neem tree), and pyrethrin (from chrysanthemum flowers) have some anti-fungal and on-contact insect control abilities, but combined, they are some of the best controls organic gardeners have. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find them in a single product and in a high enough concentration to be useful. I kept finding either pyrethrin, or synthesized pyrethroids, and then I'd find neem all by itself.

Green Light is a San Antonio based company that produces many organic controls and solutions to pests and disease both in concentrate and pre-mixed spray bottle form. Recently they came out with the perfect mix of neem (70%) and pyrethrin (.25%) in a product called Neem II, which is labeled for roses, but also lists most vegetable crops on the label. Unfortunately it's $10 a bottle and doesn't last long.

I'd noticed that Green Light had a product with an identical formulation (but as a cost-saving concentrate) called Fruit Tree Spray. It's only labeled for fruit trees, but I called them and they told me off-the-record that it is also usable on vegetables. So instead of $10 a bottle for Neem II, I can mix up probably 200 bottles worth for $15.

[houseodessey]

My taters are showing signs of flowering!! I hope there are some spuds under there.

[duajones]

the few blossoms I had dropped off without opening. If you dont have flowers, does that mean you wont have any taters?

[gardenmaniac]

duajones- I posted a pic under the "prettiest little potatoes" thread last night. We never had any flowers this year, but we still get potatoes. We had sub-optimal growing conditions this year and my soil mounding was off. You should have so great potatoes under there. Don't sweat it!

Tiffanie

[feldon30]

I believe flowers are entirely optional for potatoes, at least with some varieties. Some don't flower.

I know Tom Wagner has gotten into growing potatoes from seed (not seed potatoes) which is pretty unusual in the tuber-dominated seed potato business. Most potatoes out there are hybrids and then just cloned from year to year by saving potatoes, mailing them out to gardeners and farmers, and then we plant them. But getting potatoes to come true from seed is very interesting to me as it would be possible to trade potatoes easily by mail.