Potaters

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Beefy

Beefy

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Did you know you can grow potaters in pine straw? just put some down, lay some eyes in there, and pile more and more pinestraw up on it as the potater vine grows. the potaters will grow up intead of down and when you go to harvest them you dont have a bunch of dirt to wash off.food for thought it some of the rocky terrain?
 
No, I didn't know that. I wonder if it would work with just plain straw, too, or if there is something in the pine straw that makes it possible? I might have to try my hand at potatos this spring! ;-)
 
Can also grow decent root crops in Sphagnum Peat Moss (the brown stuff sold in a "bale"). Just be sure to fully saturate it over a day or so (slow to take in water initially).

Can fill a basket or black Nursery Pot with the peat and plant any root crop. The peat is on the acid side (around 5.5 to 6.5 pH) and works well with tomatos also.

Just never let the peat dry out...will take "forever" to re-saturate.
 
Potato Question:

Will potato "eyes" that have sprouted in your house from grocery store bought Russet or Idaho potatoes grow properly? Or, must you "buy" the "seed potatoes" from a garden center?

Don't think there would be a problem; however, would like input from other gardeners!

[would let them cure over after cutting them up before planting, of course]

Thanks,
bill
 
yes, i dont know about "properly" --some of them arent perfectly round or oval shaped but you can sell those on Ebay.
 
Bill, I've planted sprouted eyes from store bought russet taters and they grew just as well as my new potatos. For some reason their skins were very thin and delicate, not at all like the store bought russets, but they tasted fine. They did not achieve the monster size often seen with russets grown in real tater country.
 
I've heard that they spray anti-sprouting chemical on potaters so they won't sprout. It kinda stunts them over time. Thus not as good as new seed potaters for planting.
 
You can get a few old tires to grow potatoes. Plant the eyes, let them come up to form the plant. Add a tire and cover with mulch. When the plant gets high enough, add another tire and mulch. You can do this several tires high. When your ready, just unstack the tires and you have multi level potatoes, easily removed from the mulch. Try it, it works...
 
For root crops, do any of you all add epsom salts?

I've done that for the last several years and it increases the root (whether it be potatoes, carrots, beets, turnips, etc...).
 
i didnt know that but i use epsom salt as a source of magnesium, mainly for the palms.
 

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