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I have planted some Russian Fingerlings into pulp pots (those cheap mache looking things from Home Depot) toward the bottom and they're growing well, I've added more soil as they grew. Now the growth has leaves along the stem as well as the top. Should I snip those leaves off before I add more soil? or just leave them be and add the soil.
Amy of MB
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Amy,
I found with potatoes, that I had a reduced yield when I kept mulching
up higher and higher on the plant. I think my plants spent too much time
trying to grow leaves instead of potatoes.
Deborah
Marvelous Gardens wrote:
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the couple of times i tried it the mulch I added started cooking and
cooked the potatoes long before their time!! Some people manage to do
it, but i wasn't one of them
susan
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the couple of times i tried it the mulch I added started cooking and
cooked the potatoes long before their time!! Some people manage to do
it, but i wasn't one of them
susan
pulp pots (those cheap mache looking things from Home Depot) toward
the bottom and they're growing well, I've added more soil as they
grew. Now the growth has leaves along the stem as well as the top.
Should I snip those leaves off before I add more soil? or just leave
them be and add the soil.
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Some varieties seem to do better with this sort of cultivation than others.
But when I've grown them in containers I've topped up with compost, not
mulch so I was feeding the plants for the extra potatoes and giving them
something really good to grow into - I know potatoes have two different
root systems, feeder roots and the potato producing ones they make from the
stems - but this is what has worked in the past for me. If they are in the
ground I just mulch like mad and pick them nice and clean from the mulch,
but in pots I earth up with compost. Go figger.
kathryn
> ps three small tubers of Foremost planted August 13 produced about five
> pounds of new potatoes on Christmas Day
kathryn
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Wow!, I'll have to try that, too. Thanks All. I guess one just tops up w/o pulling off the leaves. I read when the stems and leaves get to 6" to add for inches of.. whatever, and that's what I've been doing. we'll see. I don't really have a place to plant them but in the pulp pots at the comm. gardens because it's a clay bowl there. At home the granddaughters and I did 1 pulp pot and we put some organically grown red potatoes which had grown sprouts into the ground. the soil isn't good here, but we'll see--- On Tue 06/14, Kathryn Marsh < kmarsh@IOL.IE > wrote:From: Kathryn Marsh [mailto: kmarsh@IOL.IE]To: OGL@LSV.UKY.EDUDate: Tue, 14 Jun 2005 21:06:19 +0100Subject: Re: Potatoes in containers>ps three small tubers of Foremost planted August 13 produced about five>pounds of new potatoes on Christmas Daykathryn
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| Wow!, I'll have to try that, too. Thanks All. I guess one just tops up w/o pulling off the leaves. I read when the stems and leaves get to 6" to add for inches of.. whatever, and that's what I've been doing. we'll see. I don't really have a place to plant them but in the pulp pots at the comm. gardens because it's a clay bowl there. At home the granddaughters and I did 1 pulp pot and we put some organically grown red potatoes which had grown sprouts into the ground. the soil isn't good here, but we'll see --- On Tue 06/14, Kathryn Marsh < kmarsh@IOL.IE > wrote: From: Kathryn Marsh [mailto: kmarsh@IOL.IE] |
Kathryn Marsh wrote:
Though I only once tried growing potatoes this way (with little success)
all I have heard about this method suggests that one needs compost
rather then mulch for the filling.
Like Kathryn I do mulch potatoes planted in the ground rather than
earthing them, but (to avoid "cooking" them I guess) I always use a
mostly carbon material (in my case pea straw) which breaks down only
slowly and definitely not heatedly).
Having said all that though I often get potatoes growing and producing
right in my compost heap from the scraps I receive from the cafe (they
quite commonly throw away any spud which is even slightly damaged). I
think I should try it more often as I have had some spectacular yields
from time to time even from plants fighting their way up from right near
the bottom of the heap. Interestingly though these do not seem to
produce tubers anywhere but round the base.
And Amy, regarding your original query, nobody I have heard of bothers
to snip off the leaves before topping up. I certainly never have.
Moira
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Tony & Moira Ryan,
Wainuiomata, North Island, NZ. Pictures of our garden at:-
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cherie1/Garden/TonyandMoira/index.htm
NEW PICTURES AND DIAGRAMS ADDED 20/Feb/2005
It is easy enough in a poly tunnel here Moira. In fact in a "warm" autumn it
is often seen that as yet un-harvested potatoes start sprouting outside.
These usually catch frost then so that they amount to nothing.
john
Kathryn Marsh wrote:
> ps three small tubers of Foremost planted August 13 produced about five
> pounds of new potatoes on Christmas Day
> kathryn
Very impressive Kathryn.
I am fascinated by the idea of having new potatoes as a Christmas
delicacy in Ireland. It is a well established tradition here to serve
new potatoes and fresh green peas for Christmas dinner, but a good deal
easier to achieve close to the summer rather than the winter solstice!
Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan,
Wainuiomata, North Island, NZ. Pictures of our garden at:-
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/cherie1/Garden/TonyandMoira/index.htm
NEW PICTURES AND DIAGRAMS ADDED 20/Feb/2005
Your polytunnel is warmer than mine John - we get frost in the tunnel from
November onwards
kathryn
> Your polytunnel is warmer than mine John - we get frost in the tunnel from
> November onwards
> kathryn
Maybe our overal temperatures come at slightly different times, micro-
climate is a harsh reality here. We had Tropaiolum magnus growing and
flowering outside until March. Then when nature tought that it was safe to
start growing everything got frost blasted including the potatoes in the
tunnel. We lost most of our collection of bamboes because of this cold snap.
But maybe our tunnel is a bit warmer because we use the old Victorian trick
of having a bit of a hot compost pile in situ in winter + water barriers.
john
