Houston -Potato- Progress

[duajones]

Originally Posted by tomakers

5. If you are going to harvest your potatoes completely, knock down their tops about a week to 10 days before you plan to pick them.

So, could you just cut down the tops instead of using roundup?

[FlipTX]

I trimmed my shoots. I planted whole egg-sized potatoes and got 5 or 6 branches, and cut back to three. This was in smallish containers and I ended up getting 6 to 8 potatoes of useable size per plant this way. Still not entirely economical from a cost-benefit standpoint, in a very small garden, but I think I could have gotten even more if I'd planted earlier/harvested later. There were a lot of little pea-sized potato babies along with those egg size and up.

[Gimme3]

Lets have a Photo call...when its Dig Up Time. Lord knows...takin pics an gettin em into Available view, aint one of my strengths...an....if i didnt Care...i'd jus as soon leave it a lone...but i want yall to see...True Yield...on a potato grown Rite...)))

My Uncle...my Sweet Uncle,,,,lol....told me Today, he said...i Talk to my Onions, i tell em...all the Time...to Get Busy...)))

Theys a lotta things...growers do...that are kept in Heart...an...when somebody opens up an tries to offer...a tip.... Think about it...)))

[Suze]

Originally Posted by duajones

So, could you just cut down the tops instead of using roundup?

I'm no strictly organic gardener by any means (nor am I totally opposed to the use of roundup), but NO WAY would I personally use it to knock down the tops in my own garden. Plants absorb roundup all the way to their roots (as far as I know potatoes would be no exception - potato folks, correct me if I'm mistaken ), and while it does neutralize in the soil over a fairly short time and won't translocate to untreated plants, I don't want to eat a potato that's actually had the foliage treated with it.

JMO.

[feldon30]

It was so nice to dig up these potatoes, let them sit on the counter until I was ready, gently rinse them off, dice them, and cook them, knowing there were no chemicals, pesticides, insecticides, or anything on them.

I am not the "organic" police by any stretch of the imagination. I just thought it was cool. The only things I used were Daconil and B.T. on the leaves, neither of which are systemic.

The potatoes I got from 4 sq ft of garden were enough for a whole mess of rosemary roasted potatoes yesterday for 2 people and garlic mashed potatoes for 2 tonight.

[tomakers]

I certainly was not advocating using Round Up to knock down the tops on your potatoes, all you need is a rake or your feet and hands. Knocking them down causes the energy in the tops to go to the tubers as would happen if they are killed by frost. You do not want to cut them off.
Happy Gardening
Tom

[Suze]

Originally Posted by tomakers

I certainly was not advocating using Round Up to knock down the tops on your potatoes, all you need is a rake or your feet and hands. Knocking them down causes the energy in the tops to go to the tubers as would happen if they are killed by frost. You do not want to cut them off.

Right; you were obviously just mentioning what some commercial growers do. Knowing how roundup works, I have to say I'm not too keen on ever buying potatoes again, though. I can't help but think it's gonna be absorbed by the potato itself. I'm not much of a potato/starch/carb eater anyway (for health reasons), so no biggie. Can't even recall the last time I ate a potato/potato product.

All the more reason to possibly consider growing my own for those infrequent times I might want one.

[feldon30]

I've dug up about 25% of my potatoes and gotten 8 servings. I'm getting approximately 1 serving (2-4 medium potatoes) per square foot.

[Worth1]

We always let the tops die then we dug the potatoes up.
Round up on potatoes!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a drag.

Nice potatoes Feldon, but as Suze said I too have cut way back on potatoes and other starchy foods.
I'm way too short to carry any weight.

Worth

[duajones]

nice potatoes there Morgan. I sure hope I can get seed potatoes for a fall planting, sure am looking forward to it.

[feldon30]

I dug up the rest.


Potatoes -- the last hurrah

The soil is so rich where the potatoes were planted. Every handful of soil was teeming with earthworms. I guess I'm doing something right.

I'm kind of divided. The potatoes were good, but not "blow me away" better than store varieties. I did mostly roasted and garlic mashed potatoes. I'd almost rather dedicate that space to unique things like golden beets. Maybe if I get some unusual seed potatoes I'll give them a shot. October is a tough time to find seed potatoes.

[FlipTX]

Any of my fellow SE Texas gardeners growing any potatoes for the fall?

I've got three containers going. It started out as more but many of the seed pieces rotted in the heat.

Feldon--if you're looking for seed potatoes now, I highly recommend milkranch.com. But I'd suggest calling them rather than using the website. I had problems last year with the site. It may have been resolved since then, but I'd still go with the phone just in case.

EDIT: Milk Ranch is now Potato Garden, with a new site. I think I'll order potatoes now for my January/February planting and just store them.

[feldon30]

I've got a seed potato request in.

[FlipTX]

What did you end up ordering?

In their mail order catalog they single out some varities as "heat tolerant" which I think would be good for my spring planting.

[FlipTX]

The potatoes I planted a few weeks ago are growing slowly but surely. Even with the decreasing sunlight, I think I'll be harvesting some new potatoes in another, oh, six weeks or so.