A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Tater's..how do they grow?

Im wondering on how the taters grow when in a container? what I mean is when you put the next level on ,do the tubers grow with a space(void) between the 1st set and 2nd level?
How do you get the youngens out to have some fresh baby spuds and let the rest keep growing ?
Im trying to come up with a bin that you can extract the lower layer without loosing the dirt and spuds from the next level.

What happens to the main stem as it grows up and you cover it? Can you remove the whole layer(like sliding the bottom ring out)and not hurt the rest of it?

Sure would be nice to go out and open a drawer and get your fresh spuds.

Any ideas?

rick

Here is some info you might like to read that our wonderful Wild Willy has prepared. The second link explains about planting potatoes in containers.

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/potato.html

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/potato2.html

That's how I found yas..2nd stop on the google search

Im looking for a neat idea of going and extracting youngens without messing up the whole thing.
My idea is to make a box that you can slide a layer out without disturbing the next layer up.
I have a old 3dr cabinet and am thinking of notching the drawers for the main stem to stay put when you pull the drawer out to get the spuds. The next drawer up will still have the bottom in it and will create a void between the 2 layers and keep it from falling through....but will the spuds fill the void to where I can't pull it out?

Im just trying to figure out how to design it so it would work, just don't know if the taters will understand what to do !
Remember I did say I like to think outside of the box ... maybe I should just have a few smaller ones for the early spuds and find something else to tweak

BTW I'll be buying the dirt..cough cough.."soil" lol for the bins . The clay stuff will be way to hard on them.

rick

I'm lost on how to help you with that idea..but good luck.

Last year I grew them in tires piled on top of each other. 4 tires to be exact. when they were ready I took off the top tire which didn't disturb the other tires. Then when the next was ready I removed it leaving 2 tires and so on.

You have to have a type of container in which you can layer.

I thought I read somewhere you want to pull the bottoms before they rot while the upper half still is growing .

I think this will go on hold for now ...maybe it was a door on the side

I found some potters 3 big ones and 4 1-gal, keep the big ones going and harvest the smaller one 1st.

rick

You're in luck. Last fall I came across a web site that talks about building a potato bin in 4 square feet. Here is the link:
Sinfonian's Square Foot Garden

tchundley

I one time planted a whole potatoe in a planter and left it out doors until next spring i remembered it was outdoors and when i dug it up not only did the main potatoe get huge but had roots growing from it and baby potatoes from the roots.

Thanks for the link TCHuley. I think I'll try that since I have some old wood sitting around and was afraid of planting where my dogs would continually "till."

Rick. If you figure something out I'd love to see the pictures and know how long you waited to pull the bottom "drawer" out.

Ok so how long should I wait to harvest baby potatoes? Leave in the ground 4-6 weeks after planting or longer??

If you'd like a quick crop of "baby" potatoes for soups and stews, you can plant the seeds 4 inches apart, and begin harvesting them as soon as they reach the desired size.

Not sure on the time but I wait til a good week or two after they flower...dig down with my fingers and snap a few off..then leave the rest to continue growing.

Unless I am wanting to harvest some young "baby" potatoes, I usually wait until the plant is completely brown. if that is the case, I do as Tamara does..

mine are growing very well here.

Thank you ladies!!! Mine are doing great also. I cant believe how big they get!! I keep covering up leaves and they keep growing.

Well the fancy tater bin will have to wait till I can create something for this yr.
Since it's my 1st yr trying spuds I just kept it simple .
I used some various size potters and will harvest the smaller potters 1st and let the bigger ones mature out more.

Can't wait ....
I've added dirt around the plants when they were about 2-3 inches high already and now they have taken off and have grew 2-3 again over night.

Here they are as of last night ....need more dirt today , the greens are over the top of the potter on some already.



snow

Snow I only covered the leaves at 3" and am waiting till they get to 8" cover more. I think that is right. Are you constantly covering yours?? Is both ways ok?? I dont know

Nice looking crop by the way - whens dinner?? I like to fry them for breakfast with onions and garlic!!! I am Polish - go figure

Im not sure...I was told to keep covering and just leave the tops showing till you fill the potter up (about 3" of growth at a time) , then let flower and mature. After flowering you can start eating them or let mature to bigger spuds.

Think it's like any other plant .... trim it back, cover it and it grows more underneath. In the spud world would'nt that mean more spuds?

will see... 1st yr trial

snow

Thats my opinion just wait and see this first year. Are you growing anything else?

growing cuc's, zuc's,onions, peppers, maters and beans...and the taters.
Did some dill too.

Cuc's came up in 4 days, just waiting on the beans zuc's and onions to pop up.



Taters as of last night.


..and hilled




snow

I am growing peas (2 types), beans, herbs, onions, scallions, tomatoes, beets, carrots, squash, peppers, cucumbers, celery, cauliflower, lettuce and spinach. I may have been a bit ambitious for my first year but so far it is working. Oh yeah and I planted one cantaloupe for fun

That's great..this year I am putting in the smallest veggie garden ever for me...not going to have time to look after a large garden traveling back and forth to DD's place while waiting on her baby...

The leaves on my spuds seem to be much bigger?? hmmmmmmmmm Cant wait to harvest them. I did come up with a way to "containerize" them in my rows. I have to take some pictures

This is how I am "mounding" my spuds. Look ok?? I amleaving some as is just to see the difference (If I blow the photo thing just let me know)
[img]http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab105/washingtonbullet101/potatoes.jpg?t=1275914215[/img]

I keep dirt almost of the top of the foliage on my potatoes. I don't ever trim them back. Just keep dirt close to the top.

The link to the pic didn't work..

Thanks Tamara - first time I tried an image - below should work



[img][IMG]http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab105/washingtonbullet101/potatoes.jpg[/img][/img]

I had taken your link, removed the [img] and emailed it to myself to look at it. This is a lot easier.

Wow, now that's a beautiful fence for a garden.

Plants are looking good.

I was surprised how tall the potatoes got - I couldnt see mounding high (especialy after that horrid rain we had) so I am using 6" tubes

The fence was my Bday gift from my family.

Im going outside to plant the grapes now

The mounding of the plants isn't for the covering of the leaves..it's for the covering of the potatoes growing, we just use the leaves as a guide. The sun will reach through the ground and scald your potatoes, green potatoes are poisonous.

Ah that helps!! I knew about the green potatoes - but I thought by covering the leaves I was promoting growth below - sometimes I over think things. I am well mounded. Thanks again tamara!!!

Nice garden WB :wink:, you should be fine . Looks like you have good soil to work with.

My self, I have clay fill with zip for growing power and is to hard on underground crops.

Over the yrs I have broke it down some to be able to get plants to grow with so-so harvest....hope it's better this yr

During all my reads on spuds, when "container" planting you trick the plant to grow vertical to get your crop to grow from bottom up. When you cover to the tops like im doing the plant will root tubers from the covered stems. How high can you go?? I don't know , but guess I can say ...im growing "vertical spuds"

snow

Well the nice soil is from my mounding the rest of the garden is sand and clay. I am working on breaking it down. My beet sand carrots will be test. I tilled then a week later I planted it was pretty solid already.

I will be most interested to hear how your spuds do