Compost Pile Taties!

GoDawgs · January 10, 2019

The old and very sprouted, egg-sized potatoes that were tossed into one of the compost bins a month ago are sprouting. I think I'll keep hilling them with leaves and start using the adjacent compost bin. If it gets real frosty I'll toss an old sheet over them.

It's nice to see something actively growing!

jtjmartin · January 10, 2019

I love when LIFE unexpectedly happens!

Jeff

January 10, 2019

Looks pretty happy!

taboule · January 11, 2019

Nice bonus, unexpected and free ;>)

salix · January 11, 2019

Such a pretty sight when I am looking at a lot of snow!

GoDawgs · January 11, 2019

Well, just keep that image going. This morning it got down to 28 and the plants are sort of blasted. We'll see how or if they come back. I didn't cover them on purpose just to see if they will or won't. An experiment that didn't cost me anything.

Nan_PA_6b · January 12, 2019

We all buy the best potting medium, mix up our own special blends of ingredients for potting mix, and all they really need is compost?

brownrexx · January 12, 2019

I have had potato plants mostly killed by frost and they came back.

GoDawgs · January 12, 2019

I also wonder if there are any sweet potatoes in that pile. All summer that bin was covered with sweet potato vines up until frost. All will be revealed when I fork the bin contents into it's next door neighbor in March.

bower · January 12, 2019

I tried to grow potatoes when I first moved here, and they just turned black and perished, I gave up trying to grow them in the soil as it seemed infested with some dreaded potato disease. But many times I have had potatoes volunteer in my lazy compost piles, and got some very clean and lovely potatoes from them!

Treat yourself to a shrimp ring, and toss the tails in your compost to prevent potato scab.

One year I also planted potatoes deliberately in an old compost pile... they grew well but my harvest was not as good - marauding pests maybe slugs? got at them before they were dug. I don't know if that is because it was an older compost pile, but was not a problem when they volunteered from the peelings I had tossed out.

Also if there is any heat left in the pile just now, then they may have a better chance against that bit of frost. Lucky you with potatoes growing in January!!

taboule · January 12, 2019

Bower, I've had similar positive experiences growing straight in a compost pile. For experimentation a few years ago, I had many tomato seedlings left and zero space to plant them (I always start many more than I can plant and give away.) So I had 2 choices, either terminate them, or grow them in the compost pile. And it was a batch that wasn't ready -else I would have used it/spread it in the rest of the garden.

Well I grew 4 or 5 plants, in a tight 5x5 box, and they all grew and produced. Zero watering (except from rain), zero maintenance, and they still survived diseases better than the ones I baby'd.

bower · January 22, 2019

Taboule, I planted some leggy Peacevine seedlings in a compost pile one year.

"Hippie style" we called it. Laid the long stems down and covered with earth let them come what may. It was a good summer and they roamed happily around there and ripened a nice lot of cherries in September.

And the spring after that my Mom asked for a Peacevine and I said sorry, I didn't start any. Then I went out and lo behold a little seedling in the compost pile!! I potted it up and gave to her. What mother wants....mother nature provides.

It was true to seed, too.

taboule · January 22, 2019

Bower, wonderful story. The magic of low expectations, coupled with good luck

January 10, 2019	#1
GoDawgs Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2018 Location: Augusta area, Georgia, 8a/7b Posts: 1,685	Compost Pile Taties! The old and very sprouted, egg-sized potatoes that were tossed into one of the compost bins a month ago are sprouting. I think I'll keep hilling them with leaves and start using the adjacent compost bin. If it gets real frosty I'll toss an old sheet over them. It's nice to see something actively growing!

January 11, 2019	#5
salix Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: north central B.C. Posts: 2,310	Such a pretty sight when I am looking at a lot of snow! __________________ "He who has a library and a garden wants for nothing." -Cicero

January 10, 2019	#2
jtjmartin Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2016 Location: Williamsburg VA Zone 7b Posts: 1,110	I love when LIFE unexpectedly happens! Jeff

January 10, 2019	#3
PlainJane Guest Posts: n/a	Looks pretty happy!

January 11, 2019	#4
taboule Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: MA Posts: 903	Nice bonus, unexpected and free ;>)

January 12, 2019	#7
Nan_PA_6b Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2016 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 3,194	We all buy the best potting medium, mix up our own special blends of ingredients for potting mix, and all they really need is compost?

January 12, 2019	#8
brownrexx Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Southeastern PA Posts: 1,420	I have had potato plants mostly killed by frost and they came back.

January 12, 2019	#10
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	I tried to grow potatoes when I first moved here, and they just turned black and perished, I gave up trying to grow them in the soil as it seemed infested with some dreaded potato disease. But many times I have had potatoes volunteer in my lazy compost piles, and got some very clean and lovely potatoes from them! Treat yourself to a shrimp ring, and toss the tails in your compost to prevent potato scab. One year I also planted potatoes deliberately in an old compost pile... they grew well but my harvest was not as good - marauding pests maybe slugs? got at them before they were dug. I don't know if that is because it was an older compost pile, but was not a problem when they volunteered from the peelings I had tossed out. Also if there is any heat left in the pile just now, then they may have a better chance against that bit of frost. Lucky you with potatoes growing in January!!

January 22, 2019	#12
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	Taboule, I planted some leggy Peacevine seedlings in a compost pile one year. "Hippie style" we called it. Laid the long stems down and covered with earth let them come what may. It was a good summer and they roamed happily around there and ripened a nice lot of cherries in September. And the spring after that my Mom asked for a Peacevine and I said sorry, I didn't start any. Then I went out and lo behold a little seedling in the compost pile!! I potted it up and gave to her. What mother wants....mother nature provides. It was true to seed, too.