Growing taters

[David LaPell]

The wife and I want to grow some potatoes in our garden this year and we were wondering where a good place to seed potatoes from the first time. Few people garden up here and I am not too sure about using some from the store.

 

[blujax01]

Buy a bag of potatoes from the grocery store. Cut into pieces about the size of of an ice cube - each piece must include at least one "eye".

Bury them in the ground in full sun to a depth of about 4", eyes facing up.

Easy-Peasy.

 

[tops]

Around here old people say to plant taters the dark nights of March. Not actually in the dark but during the time of dark nights. Planting time may be different in your part of the country. Larry

 

[fat tom]

My grandmama used to tell us boys:"Be sure and wash behind your ears. You could plant taters back there." Hadn't thought about that for years.
f.t.

 

[Damn Yankee]

After you cut the potato in pieces let them set in the sun for a few days so the cut will dry up and they won't rot in the ground. Get some Reds I think their the best.

A little 10-10-10 will help them grow.

 

[Mike7.62]

I like the Yukon Golds as well as the Pontiac Reds, and have planted both this year. I'll be adding Beauregard Sweet Potatoes this week.

The key to planting them is to ensure an acidic soil to avoid scab, and to either hill the individual plants once they get about 8-12" tall, or use some type of mulch. The object is to keep the tuber from breaching, and becoming exposed to sunlight, as they can become slightly toxic if allowed to do so. Once the blooms emerge and the plant dies, allow the tubers to remain in the soil for up to two weeks so that the skins will harden up. They will continue to grow somewhat after that, and will be perfectly fine unless you get alot of rain. Should that occur, harvest them or they will rot, especially if you have a clay soil. Sweet potatoes will continue to grow until first frost takes the vine, but I usually harvest mine in late August, or four months after planting. Your area may be different in frost cycles.

Once harvested, clean them off and allow them to dry, then store them in a container that allows air to circulate in a temp between 50* and 70*. We use a wicker basket with clean straw for the container, and our garage/basement remains at 68* year round, so it works out.

Good luck with your endeavors, as fresh home grown vegetables beat the store bought stuff every time.

 

[Rule3]

Most taters in the store have been treated with anti sprouting agents and fungicide, they are not good for growing your own. If you have a organic market or farmers market try some from there,
In the old days yes you could cut the eyes and plant.

http://www.gardeningchannel.com/growing-potatoes-from-store-bought-potatoes/

 

[Kinman]

My granddad used to grow his taters in tires, he always planted his seed taters on St. Paddys and would barely cover the seed with dirt in the center of a tire layed out with good southern exposure, then fill the tire with rotted sawdust, when that start got up about where he could stack another tire on he would then again fill the void with rotted sawdust. Some years he would have four to five tires stacked on top of each other. When he wanted some taters he'd just roll them tires over and pick his taters out, they were always beautiful and hardly needed washing, one of his favorite meals was new taters and baby peas in cream sauce with fried chicken and biscuits. He used to say the tater plant don't know how deep its buried and just keeps a puttin off tubers, til the first frost. I always thought it looked funny seeing them plants way up on top of that stack of tires. He used to get a 55 gallon drum half full of fairly fresh cow manure, get it home from his brothers farm and set it near the garden, fill it up with fresh branch water and let it sit in the sun first thing in the early spring, every other day or so he would get a big stick and stir that brew. That was all he used for fertilizer on anything that didn't put off a tuber, after the plants got to growing he would ladle a little of that juice around the base about once a week, it was dynamite for maters, cukes, cabbage, everything that was harvested above ground.

 

[Comrad]

Make sure you have soft fluffy soil, lots of peat moss and mound up where you plant. Soil too hard makes it hard for the taters to grow. Been growing them for years here in the Garden state. Nothing like home grown potatoes, nice thin skins. Just have to keep the dog out of the patch, kind a hard to enjoy root crops when you know the dog's been watering them all season. lol