This years harvest of the potato box. Intro music is "Cat Tails" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
I'm right there with you I've had epic fails at container potatoes for the last three year but every year I try something different and try to learn where my mistakes may be and how I can change them for the following year.. Hands on learning with gardening that's for sure!!! TFS!! Jenn also in Ma ..western Ma :)
What works for me: Compost into a 10" x 18" hole blended well with existing soil. Plat sets shallow (like 4 inches) let sets grow to be about a foot tall or more, then add more soil on, nice composted soil.. Looks like you have tons of leaves in the yard, take those and add them to that soil for the year after next turn it 3-or 4 times a year and dont let it dry out completely.. Nice fluffy soil is key, add peat moss and some clean sand if you have to.. Sun is never a bad thing either, but from the looks of the foliage you had at least one good plant in there. I would probably give that much room to one plant personally. They like a little room.. Keep trying, dont be discouraged, there is nothing better than garden fresh food!! Enjoy your potatoes!!
You may have already heard this - Yukon Golds are an early potato, which don't generally grow past the first bottom layers. Mid to late season varieties are better for growing up a tower. Also, how quickly you cover new growth makes a difference. I see a lot of people saying they wait until there's 8-10 inches of leaves before they add more soil/straw, but I've read that once the stalk is exposed to that much sun it hardens, and then when you cover it up it still won't produce those side shoots to form new potatoes in the upper layers. So it would seem that a successful tower requires more frequent adding to the layers, keeping all but the top few leaves covered asap until you reach the height you are looking for. Good luck this year!
I'm glad I got to see your annual potato box harvest. I think you did pretty good. I had problems with my dirt compacting when I planted potatoes in a container. I used perlite but maybe not enough. You might want to try adding a good amount of it to your dirt next time. Fun watching as always.
Experimenting is always a learning experiance. I highly recommend you plant your potatoes in rows, two inches deep, approximately 30 inches between plants and three feet between rows for easy rototilling weed control. Hill your rows when the plants are 6 inches tall. I guarantee you will harvest loads and loads of spuds.
I'm sorry to see you didn't get the harvest you wanted. I would like to suggest another strategy: Keep adding soil as the plant grows. Just like gardeners do with taters planted in full soil. Plant your potatoes in about 10-15 inch of soil and when they've grown a nice amount, add some soil to cover up about half the plant. You can repeat that a few times, but don't go to high. The box you had now is just about max height. The plant needs time to fully grow its leaves which are needed to provide the energy to grow the taters. Also don't plant too many in one spot because the plants will only compete for light. A small harvest is still a harvest! ;) Good luck on your next projects.
You did better than mine. Next year it will be raised beds, grow bags and or buckets. Dan from the Allotmentdiary channel, in the UK, told me he doesn't go above 3 feet. He mainly uses pots...I can't find someone showing a potato harvest from a 55 gallon barrel so I'm backing away from that plan Here's one of Dan's reveals Harvesting the first Sarpo Mira Blight Resistant Potatoes : Huge crop of spuds
Ok, after watching this and your previous attempts, ill offer some advise from Idaho (where most people buy their potatoes)... Firstly your soil consistency needs updating. I would recommend a 25% sand, 25% sawdust (pine works, the smaller the pieces the better), and 50% compost dirt. As for the compost, lets start by using the MASSIVE amounts of leaves you have laying around in the yard back there. You should be raking them up and spreading them all over your garden to sit through the winter. At the end of winter, rake up whats left and pile it up with some fresh grass clippings from your first mow, and that will cook off super fast. Those leaves are the #1 ingredient for successful compost, and they are free nutrients that will start working even through the winter, to add to the rest of your garden. Now that we have the soil consistency situation setup, we need to amend it. First we need to look at the PH, you want 6.5-6, so slightly acidic. If your sitting around 7 (neutral) try amending it with some sulfur powder straight on the cut sides of your seed potatoes or just mixed in, if your sitting near 5 add some lime. Next amend the potato soil with Phosphorous to stimulate root growth (since its a root veggie) and a little bit of potassium which does aid in root growth but mostly overall intake of nutrients and circulatory health to the plant. The soil will have enough nitrogen, so do you best to NOT add any to it (manure based fertilizer), hence why you never grow potatoes where you grew peas the year before (peas add TONS of nitrogen from the air into its roots, thus leaving it in the soil). at planting i would recommend a 5-10-10 or anything lower in nitrogen (the 5 number) and higher in the P-K area. If you can, try adding a little extra phosphorus in the form of bonemeal or superphosphate (0-20-0). Nitrogen will burn a seed and roots, so you CAN add too much of that, but as for the P and K, no such thing as too much, as a plant will only use what it needs (and potatoes need A LOT of P and K), and it will not hurt it at all. As for burying layers... we don't do that so much in Idaho, but if your growing potatoes, to me, trying to chase the plant with soil only forces the plant to continue to grow UP and not down, which is what you want it to do in the first place... grow roots not leaves, and telling a plant to grow up only wastes the energy to do that... I would do a raised bed, one layer, with the soil and amendments i told you. The soil consistency will be SOOOO easy to just pull them up, and allow little resistance for the potatoes (and roots) to grow. And don't bury the plants... let those leaves flourish on them to so they can focus on adding nutrients to the bottoms. Also don't over water... let those roots chase the water down. Giving too much water trains the roots to stay put because they don't have to seek water elsewhere. With the soil mix i told you, it will allow for good water drainage, lower root rot, and allow the roots to move freely chasing the water down. Try it out and tell me how that all works for you. Also check out my channel for more tips. I just started making videos, so ill be adding more, only have a few right now. PS, you should be getting 10 pounds of potatoes for every 1 pound of seed potato planted... The methods i shared with you will help with that.
Not a fail in my eyes either....you grew some...plenty for mashed potato at Thanks Giving. Good job. I think they need as much sun as possible...and maybe a bunch of worms to keep the soil from compacting. Keep at it!
Looked like you could use some perlite in that mix. Helps to keep from getting really dense in the middle like that. Another thing that helped mine out a lot was the straw on the layers that I put in. Those shoots like nice easy soil to meander through, and will take the outside path to least resistance if the middle is too dense. Also, determinate vs indeterminate makes a big impact. I used kennebecs in mine, which are an indeterminate. (same premise as tomatoes) You should try some nice compost in it next year. If you don't have any, start throwing everything in a pile now!!
Dude, I was hoping you we're going to score this year, keep trying. I would also suggest laying down the tower, go wider and shorter. Try 4' x 4' x 2' tall and layer straw every 6". It's worked for me in the past, also don't reuse the soil, you can't grow potatoes in the same soil, which I'm sure your aware of. You can even rake up your leaves put them in your compost bin and use them as fluff next year. Good luck next year.
I would recommend you plant 2 seed potatoes at the bottom and as you slowly add more soil add 2 more seed potatoes each time, don't cut them either as it will make them more prone to disease, just don't give up, this can be successful.
You gave it a good shot and at least, you didn't get skunked. I've never even tried to grow potatoes. I have such a short growing season here, but I should give them try; maybe it's the one thing that would grow here?
Indeterminate potato varieties, which flower continuously throughout the growing season, are better for bin growing......German Butterball, Red Pontiac , Canela Russet , Bintje , and Katahdin...
You'd be better off making 2 mounds with the soil you used for the tower and you will get more potatos without burying them as they grow. Just put about 4 inches of straw mulch over them after they come up. Plant about 6 plants total in the mounds and you will do better. At least you keep trying. I have used the straw method and here is a good example of the results of someones potato harvest in straw. Potatoes in hay .
did you use garden lime? i use a heavy potting soil mix with compost and leaves and straw , also sweat potatoes do better this way i have seen and do you buy seed potatoes, the store bought potatoes never grow good
Aren't you supposed to harvest only from the bottom board and replace the soil and board? And when you want more potatoes you reach for the second and on and on?
Rock Phosphate and wood ashes as amendments to your soil. Keep the nitrogen low. Build more boxes so the potatoes are not competing for the nutrients! If at first...
AWE man another loss....sorry man i was REALLY pulling for you on the intro to 2013 video...are you doing one this year? I am (just found out about this tower potato thing) and i am VERY greatful to you and your family for loading these as i was going to go for the wood box idea at first and now i think a wire mesh system.
Stop trying to do it that way or try it two different ways. Try the ground, you will not waste your time. Also, where are you getting your seed potatoes? I live in zone 6 and I use the ground,it only takes one row.Good luck.
Well it wasnt a complete fail just not what you wanted for your yeild. But like you said it's better than last years attempt. So keep up that keep trying attitude. Keep the info and updates growing our way :-{}
What kind of summer do you have where you live? The date that you upload your videos makes me think you are growing them through the summer. I've read potatoes do not set tubers well in hot weather. Maybe planting a bit earlier?
Might work better for sweet potatoes. Regular white potatoes like cooler soil. I think maybe the soil got too warm. Sweet potatoes like warmer soil. Don't give up, adjust.
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I'm right there with you I've had epic fails at container potatoes for the last three year but every year I try something different and try to learn where my mistakes may be and how I can change them for the following year.. Hands on learning with gardening that's for sure!!!
TFS!!
Jenn also in Ma ..western Ma :)
What works for me: Compost into a 10" x 18" hole blended well with existing soil. Plat sets shallow (like 4 inches) let sets grow to be about a foot tall or more, then add more soil on, nice composted soil.. Looks like you have tons of leaves in the yard, take those and add them to that soil for the year after next turn it 3-or 4 times a year and dont let it dry out completely.. Nice fluffy soil is key, add peat moss and some clean sand if you have to.. Sun is never a bad thing either, but from the looks of the foliage you had at least one good plant in there. I would probably give that much room to one plant personally. They like a little room.. Keep trying, dont be discouraged, there is nothing better than garden fresh food!! Enjoy your potatoes!!
You may have already heard this - Yukon Golds are an early potato, which don't generally grow past the first bottom layers. Mid to late season varieties are better for growing up a tower. Also, how quickly you cover new growth makes a difference. I see a lot of people saying they wait until there's 8-10 inches of leaves before they add more soil/straw, but I've read that once the stalk is exposed to that much sun it hardens, and then when you cover it up it still won't produce those side shoots to form new potatoes in the upper layers. So it would seem that a successful tower requires more frequent adding to the layers, keeping all but the top few leaves covered asap until you reach the height you are looking for. Good luck this year!
I'm glad I got to see your annual potato box harvest. I think you did pretty good. I had problems with my dirt compacting when I planted potatoes in a container. I used perlite but maybe not enough. You might want to try adding a good amount of it to your dirt next time. Fun watching as always.
Thanks for watching
Experimenting is always a learning experiance. I highly recommend you plant your potatoes in rows, two inches deep, approximately 30 inches between plants and three feet between rows for easy rototilling weed control. Hill your rows when the plants are 6 inches tall. I guarantee you will harvest loads and loads of spuds.
I'm sorry to see you didn't get the harvest you wanted. I would like to suggest another strategy: Keep adding soil as the plant grows. Just like gardeners do with taters planted in full soil. Plant your potatoes in about 10-15 inch of soil and when they've grown a nice amount, add some soil to cover up about half the plant. You can repeat that a few times, but don't go to high. The box you had now is just about max height. The plant needs time to fully grow its leaves which are needed to provide the energy to grow the taters. Also don't plant too many in one spot because the plants will only compete for light.
A small harvest is still a harvest! ;)
Good luck on your next projects.
You did better than mine. Next year it will be raised beds, grow bags and or buckets. Dan from the Allotmentdiary channel, in the UK, told me he doesn't go above 3 feet. He mainly uses pots...I can't find someone showing a potato harvest from a 55 gallon barrel so I'm backing away from that plan
Here's one of Dan's reveals
Harvesting the first Sarpo Mira Blight Resistant Potatoes : Huge crop of spuds
I tried keeping it half the height that i did last year and still compacted way more than i thought it would
Ok, after watching this and your previous attempts, ill offer some advise from Idaho (where most people buy their potatoes)... Firstly your soil consistency needs updating. I would recommend a 25% sand, 25% sawdust (pine works, the smaller the pieces the better), and 50% compost dirt. As for the compost, lets start by using the MASSIVE amounts of leaves you have laying around in the yard back there. You should be raking them up and spreading them all over your garden to sit through the winter. At the end of winter, rake up whats left and pile it up with some fresh grass clippings from your first mow, and that will cook off super fast. Those leaves are the #1 ingredient for successful compost, and they are free nutrients that will start working even through the winter, to add to the rest of your garden. Now that we have the soil consistency situation setup, we need to amend it. First we need to look at the PH, you want 6.5-6, so slightly acidic. If your sitting around 7 (neutral) try amending it with some sulfur powder straight on the cut sides of your seed potatoes or just mixed in, if your sitting near 5 add some lime. Next amend the potato soil with Phosphorous to stimulate root growth (since its a root veggie) and a little bit of potassium which does aid in root growth but mostly overall intake of nutrients and circulatory health to the plant. The soil will have enough nitrogen, so do you best to NOT add any to it (manure based fertilizer), hence why you never grow potatoes where you grew peas the year before (peas add TONS of nitrogen from the air into its roots, thus leaving it in the soil). at planting i would recommend a 5-10-10 or anything lower in nitrogen (the 5 number) and higher in the P-K area. If you can, try adding a little extra phosphorus in the form of bonemeal or superphosphate (0-20-0). Nitrogen will burn a seed and roots, so you CAN add too much of that, but as for the P and K, no such thing as too much, as a plant will only use what it needs (and potatoes need A LOT of P and K), and it will not hurt it at all. As for burying layers... we don't do that so much in Idaho, but if your growing potatoes, to me, trying to chase the plant with soil only forces the plant to continue to grow UP and not down, which is what you want it to do in the first place... grow roots not leaves, and telling a plant to grow up only wastes the energy to do that... I would do a raised bed, one layer, with the soil and amendments i told you. The soil consistency will be SOOOO easy to just pull them up, and allow little resistance for the potatoes (and roots) to grow. And don't bury the plants... let those leaves flourish on them to so they can focus on adding nutrients to the bottoms. Also don't over water... let those roots chase the water down. Giving too much water trains the roots to stay put because they don't have to seek water elsewhere. With the soil mix i told you, it will allow for good water drainage, lower root rot, and allow the roots to move freely chasing the water down. Try it out and tell me how that all works for you. Also check out my channel for more tips. I just started making videos, so ill be adding more, only have a few right now. PS, you should be getting 10 pounds of potatoes for every 1 pound of seed potato planted... The methods i shared with you will help with that.
Thanks, thats a lot of info!
Not a fail in my eyes either....you grew some...plenty for mashed potato at Thanks Giving. Good job. I think they need as much sun as possible...and maybe a bunch of worms to keep the soil from compacting. Keep at it!
Looked like you could use some perlite in that mix. Helps to keep from getting really dense in the middle like that. Another thing that helped mine out a lot was the straw on the layers that I put in. Those shoots like nice easy soil to meander through, and will take the outside path to least resistance if the middle is too dense. Also, determinate vs indeterminate makes a big impact. I used kennebecs in mine, which are an indeterminate. (same premise as tomatoes) You should try some nice compost in it next year. If you don't have any, start throwing everything in a pile now!!
Thanks, i have big plans for the 2014 harvest................... lol
Better than last year. :) i like it. I wish I can do too..
Dude, I was hoping you we're going to score this year, keep trying. I would also suggest laying down the tower, go wider and shorter. Try 4' x 4' x 2' tall and layer straw every 6". It's worked for me in the past, also don't reuse the soil, you can't grow potatoes in the same soil, which I'm sure your aware of. You can even rake up your leaves put them in your compost bin and use them as fluff next year. Good luck next year.
I would recommend you plant 2 seed potatoes at the bottom and as you slowly add more soil add 2 more seed potatoes each time, don't cut them either as it will make them more prone to disease, just don't give up, this can be successful.
It wasn't a fail in my opinion. You got more this year then you did last year.
i definitely got more than last year
Check out this video if your going to do containers. This guy had a bumber crop. The great potato harvest 2013
You gave it a good shot and at least, you didn't get skunked. I've never even tried to grow potatoes. I have such a short growing season here, but I should give them try; maybe it's the one thing that would grow here?
Im thinking im going to try the ground next year
Indeterminate potato varieties, which flower continuously throughout the growing season, are better for bin growing......German Butterball, Red Pontiac , Canela Russet , Bintje , and Katahdin...
Thanks for the info, i dont try this method any more though
You'd be better off making 2 mounds with the soil you used for the tower and you will get more potatos without burying them as they grow. Just put about 4 inches of straw mulch over them after they come up. Plant about 6 plants total in the mounds and you will do better. At least you keep trying.
I have used the straw method and here is a good example of the results of someones potato harvest in straw. Potatoes in hay .
did you use garden lime? i use a heavy potting soil mix with compost and leaves and straw , also sweat potatoes do better this way i have seen and do you buy seed potatoes, the store bought potatoes never grow good
Aren't you supposed to harvest only from the bottom board and replace the soil and board? And when you want more potatoes you reach for the second and on and on?
Rock Phosphate and wood ashes as amendments to your soil. Keep the nitrogen low. Build more boxes so the potatoes are not competing for the nutrients! If at first...
wish i could watch in HD. its only playing 240p or 144p... hard to make stuff out on a 70 inch TV. #firstworldproblems i guess lol
AWE man another loss....sorry man i was REALLY pulling for you on the intro to 2013 video...are you doing one this year? I am (just found out about this tower potato thing) and i am VERY greatful to you and your family for loading these as i was going to go for the wood box idea at first and now i think a wire mesh system.
you have to get your soil temp up, potato's will not grow in cold soil.
have you tested your ph and soil content?
Stop trying to do it that way or try it two different ways. Try the ground, you will not waste your time. Also, where are you getting your seed potatoes? I live in zone 6 and I use the ground,it only takes one row.Good luck.
Well it wasnt a complete fail just not what you wanted for your yeild. But like you said it's better than last years attempt. So keep up that keep trying attitude.
Keep the info and updates growing our way :-{}
Thanks
looks like your red Pontiacs had the best yield
they did do the best but a couple at the top looked diseased
Nice good job
Thanks
dont use the same soil on potatoes year to year.. check the acidity of the soil and water..
What kind of summer do you have where you live? The date that you upload your videos makes me think you are growing them through the summer. I've read potatoes do not set tubers well in hot weather. Maybe planting a bit earlier?
Thanks, ill try that, i am in Massachusettes
Might work better for sweet potatoes. Regular white potatoes like cooler soil. I think maybe the soil got too warm. Sweet potatoes like warmer soil. Don't give up, adjust.
Thanks!