Growing potatoes under black plastic

[svalli]

I dug up one more variety yesterday. The leaves had a bit green on them, but the potatoes were already so large, that they do not need to grow anymore. Week ago I dug up couple varieties from he field, where we have no mulch and the potatoes were much smaller than the ones grown with plastic mulch.
The plastic mulch definitely helps retaining moisture and made a big difference in a dry summer like we had. I do not look forward to wet summers, but it will be a good test to see how this method works in our typical rainy summer.

Picture below shows what I got from 29 seed potatoes of Mozart. When all were picked up we got two full 45 liter vegetable crates. Biggest spud weighed almost 700 g (1½ lb) and there are quite many which are over a pound. This variety is excellent yellow flesh baking potato. Mozart on the field was planted couple of weeks later than these and are still growing, so it will interesting to compare the size of those to these. Now we are getting the typical autumn rains and hopefully the potatoes will keep growing until the first frost.

Sari

[bower]

That spud is huge! Your father-in-law should be impressed with that one, enough to feed a family!

[xellos99]

Works very well with strawberry plants also, so much so that commercial operations use it on a very large scale

[GoDawgs]

Wonderful, Svalli! How hot does it get in the summer where you are? I might have to try just three or four potatoes under plastic next year and plant next to the traditionally planted and hilled ones.

[clkeiper]

OH MY! that is awesome. I don't know how I missed this last year, but I did. this is fantastic to see. I don't grow potatoes as they are are too much work and yield too little for the space I am giving up but this makes it looks too easy. and I do have a spot I can try this method on and fingerlings left over from last year to do it with. I bought them at a farmers market and "lost" them and when I finally found them (hanging behind the door in the pantry... it was too late to eat them as they had sprouts all over them....

[svalli]

Originally Posted by GoDawgs

Wonderful, Svalli! How hot does it get in the summer where you are? I might have to try just three or four potatoes under plastic next year and plant next to the traditionally planted and hilled ones.

We do not get really hot weather even last summer was record hot. Average higs are usually in the lower 80's in Fahrenheit. Using black plastic seemed to help a lot to warm the soil early and keep moisture in the ground.
I am planning to use this method again this year.

[svalli]

My plastic covered potato patch was planted last week. Since it was so successful last year, this time I added one 20 meter row. Hubby still wants to plant some Yukon Golds with the tractor pulled planter on another field, but I try to convince him that we do it manually with plastic mulch. Planting manually to the holes in the plastic is more work, but no weeding is needed.

[MrsJustice]

Beautiful Farmland

[korney19]

Originally Posted by svalli

The plastic, which I use is similar to the one used in the thick large trash bags. The one sold here is UV-protected and is sold for planting strawberries. I have used same plastic for many years for garlic and onions and with care at harvest time it can last multiple seasons.

I think that the potatoes do not really have to be grown in hills, if the soil is good and there is some kind of mulch to prevent weeds and sunburn on the growing tubers. We have grown potatoes many years, but it seems that there is still lot to learn about the methods and how the weather affects the size and quality of the harvest.

Usually we throw the green potatoes away at harvest time, but since the Phureja crosses are hard to find, I'm planning to save all green ones as seed potatoes.

Sari

What low temps did you have when you planted them & throughout the season? I thought I read (or Tom told me) nights needed to be below 60F or something like that... I forgot the degree needed to form fruits...

[svalli]

Originally Posted by korney19

What low temps did you have when you planted them & throughout the season? I thought I read (or Tom told me) nights needed to be below 60F or something like that... I forgot the degree needed to form fruits...

Lows here when planting potatoes, can go below freezing, but hopefully not anymore after there is top growth. This year we had a frost even in July, which killed top leaves of some of my potato plants in the field, which is in a open area. Luckily my first planted patch was not affected.

If the lows have to be below 60°F, this area is the good for growing potatoes, since the average low does not get above that. Last summer there were some warmer nights, but also the colder ones too.

Sari

[svalli]

Last week was rainy, but Saturday sun was shining, so I went to harvest potatoes. One advantage of the plastic is that the soil underneath does not get soggy, even it has been raining. Potatoes in this patch had grown well despite the summer was dry and I did not water them at all. I did not get such monster size spuds like year ago, but still there were quite large ones.

We have still three similar rows in an other field. Those were planted later and are a bit behind in growth, so I am hoping that the killing frost does not come in end of this week like predicted. Anyway we got enough potatoes harvested already, so it is not a problem, if the later ones, do not produce so well.

Sari

[GoDawgs]

Wow! What a super harvest! Why mess with success?

I think I'm going to try a couple of hills of fall planted potatoes and hopefully remember to try your black plastic trick on them.

[bower]

Excellent harvest!

[MrBig46]

Svalli, you inspired me. I canceled currants and raspberries on a bed 2 x 8 meters. I will plant early potatoes there in the early spring. After the harvest in September, I will sow the lawn there. I have been using woven black foil repeatedly more than for five years. I grow in them everything from strawberries through tomatoes to salads.
Vladimír

[Black Krim]

S, what potato varieties are you planing this year for 2020?