Potatoes covered in straw

[DeanRIowa]

I planted 20+ Blue Victor potatoes yesterday. I have been told twice in the last week by some old timers that their fathers used to put the potatoes on the ground and just cover them with straw. Hmmm, that sounds easy, so I am up for that.

I covered my potatoes with a little wet dirt though and some straw, that had been covering my garlic. I can't wait to see if this experiment works. It should reduce the weeding and I was told you can reach under the straw, if you some young potatoes and the potato plant keep producing.

Does anyone have any experience with this method?

thanks,
Dean

[Tom Wagner]

If weeding is the one thing you don't ever want to do....by all means try the straw method. In Iowa you could probably use the temperature reducing measure it provides. Here in the PNW....I need all the sun light I can get to warm up the ground, therefore I wouldn't mulch it with straw until later as the plants emerge. We are in the pattern of 40 F nights and 50 F days. with rain rain rain.

I am of the mind to suggest anyone doing the straw method to allow two different plots to help you make up your mind about using straw or not...one with and one without. I prefer alfalfa hay to straw in order to provide a 'green tea' fertilizing but that kind of hay may be expensive unless you have a farmer friend with some old hay sitting around.

Trenching the potato sets and covering with soil first is my pref...followed by the hay/straw alternating with soil and again and again as the season progresses.

Here are some links found by searching for GROWING POTATOES IN STRAW.

http://www.colostate.edu/Dept/CoopEx...t/potatoes.htm
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/...028617.html?11
http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/vege...s-in-straw.htm
http://thegardenersrake.com/straw-ba...ening-potatoes
http://www.chirotoons.com/potatoes.html

[biscgolf]

i till the ground, drop the potatoes on it and cover with about 6 inches of straw... this is my 3rd year operating this way and i will never plant potatoes under soil again... harvest is sooooo easy...

man did i hate digging potatoes as a kid...

[Indyartist]

This sounds tempting to me mostly because I'm on vacation this week and it has been and is supposed to be non-stop rain. I don't know if I'll even get the slightest chance to till up a row for my 17 tubers I have from my 1 lb sampler from you Tom. I have some and could get more bags of compost and pour it out into a row or two rows and set the tubers into it. I also have several (9) bales of hay that a friend of mine provided.
Here would be my concerns, first would I be able to keep track accurately of 17 different varieties of potatoes grown in this manner? I could possible put a bamboo stake as a marker for each.
My other concern would be that this seems less "traditional" then tilling and hilling and I of course want to be successful in at least producing and maintaining these varieties.
So, would the benefits of planting now, on top of compost and under straw two to three weeks before the last frost free date (mid-May in zone 5b, NE Indiana) which I could do in steady never ending rain, be preferable to waiting, having to go back to work at my 56+ hours per week job and finding the next dry enough to till day off for planting?
I know it will be my "coin flip" but I would appreciate feed back.
Here is a video of about what I'll be doing except in pouring rain:
http://youtu.be/q1OShZZUt0k

[Indyartist]

Update to my rainy situation:
The sun shown today the rain went North and South of us and I have two rows tilled. I will first hill until I've used up the dirt available and then perhaps go to the hay that I have. Thank goodness for one dry day after many, many days of straight drowning rain.
P.S. tomorrow and the next and next days call for rain.

[wmontanez]

Rain moved to the East Coast. I am late by a week for potato planting, this weekend it looks dry. I can't wait to put the gems in the dirt.