Potato experiment report

[longwinters]

I forgot to mention that I harvested my red potatoes a few weeks ago.  I planted the seed in a wood box 22x22x18.  As the plants grew I added pallet boards so the plants always got sun as they grew.
 
I found out by trying to steal a few taters from the bottom that I was not watering enough, but seemed to suffer no bad effects.
 
Anyway I got 15#s of taters from the 1st box and have not harvested the 2nd box of yellow spuds yet as we are still eating the reds and the tops have'nt died off yet anyway...not that I am waiting for them to.  Will harvest when the reds are gone.
 
Long

[bilmac]

I tried a spud experiment this year too, I planted a few in the duff in the shade of some large trees. They all died, but I think it was because I forgot about them and didn't water often enough. But I saw enough to make me think that spuds will grow in the shade. Next year I will be a little more serious.

[longwinters]

I never would think they would grow in shade.....That's interesting.
 
Long

[BUGEYE]

my FIL raised them in old tires. he'd keep adding tires and a mix of dirt and leaves until the stack was about 4' high.  to harvest, just push the stack over.      oh, they were in the sun.

[reliquary]

This has been talked about in another thread; someone called them "lazy man's 'taters", but it works:
 
I salvage every bale of hay I find on the side of the road; they're mostly round bales that fall off a truck/trailer and break.  Most folks don't bother to come back for them.  I get them when I have a chance, pitchfork at a time in the bed of my truck, pile them in an out-of-the-way place in the yard and let them rot for mulch and compost. 
 
Potatoes will grow in the piles if you keep them watered.  My mom harvests them mostly as "new potatoes", but they will mature if the pile is more than a foot or so deep...and kept watered.
 
This will also work in leaf piles.

[blind ear]

This has been talked about in another thread; someone called them "lazy man's 'taters", but it works:
 
I salvage every bale of hay I find on the side of the road; they're mostly round bales that fall off a truck/trailer and break.  Most folks don't bother to come back for them.  I get them when I have a chance, pitchfork at a time in the bed of my truck, pile them in an out-of-the-way place in the yard and let them rot for mulch and compost. 
 
Potatoes will grow in the piles if you keep them watered.  My mom harvests them mostly as "new potatoes", but they will mature if the pile is more than a foot or so deep...and kept watered.
 
This will also work in leaf piles.

The easiest and most productive gardening possible is good compost covered with 10+ inches of dry hay. Eleminates weeds and saves water. ear

[Cornbelt]

  I'm fixing to plant some in a month or so. A couple flakes of har or straw with a tire to hold it down and mark the spot ought to do it. Worth a try, anyhow.

[srussell]

my FIL raised them in old tires. he'd keep adding tires and a mix of dirt and leaves until the stack was about 4' high.  to harvest, just push the stack over.      oh, they were in the sun.

how do the bottom ones get sun and tops on them

[bilmac]

SR,  I idea is that as the plant grows you add a tire and more growing media. maybe do it three or four times during the growing season.

[BUGEYE]

my FIL raised them in old tires. he'd keep adding tires and a mix of dirt and leaves until the stack was about 4' high.  to harvest, just push the stack over.      oh, they were in the sun.

how do the bottom ones get sun and tops on them

keep adding tires and dirt as the plant grows.  the plant will continue to grow potatoes as it goes up.
you end up with one plant with 4ft of taters under it.
you could do the same without the tires. just keep mounding dirt up around the plant and the plant will keep growing straight up. it'll keep growing new roots and taters.

[srussell]

thinks i was a little slow but i get it 

[Drilling Man]

  I have tried the "potatoes in the tires" before, and i never got it to work as good as just putting them straight in the ground.  I had a little success with growing them in straw/soil, but loose soil in hills just worked best for me.
 
  Anymore i don't grow any potatoes...  There's no way i can mess with them when my distant neighbor grows huge fields of them and sells them from his farm.  He will sell you all the 50 pound sacked of tators you want, in several different varieties, at $5.00 per 50!
 

 
  DM

[BUGEYE]

makes me want to cook up a pot of "tater soup".