A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Tire method for potatoes

Hey!
In the "can't grow radishes club" post, someone mentioned the tire method for potatoes.

Enlighten please! What is this, and how do you do it?

LOL... that was me and we must have been posting at the same time.

I am growing my potatoes in a tire and here is how ***I**** did it (please qualify this by knowing this is my first year trying to grow anything so....)

1. Get tires (my SO is an automechanic so this was easy). I used SUV tires because they are larger.

2. Get seed potatoes ( I got red pontiac)

3. Get dirt (I used Miricle grow garden soil)

3. Cut seed potoes into pieces (I was told to leave at least an eye on each) cure in the sun for a bit (I did this for 2 days I believe)

4. Fill the tires with dirt, make sure to push the dirt into the edges of the tires.

5. plant the seed potatoe pieces in the tire and cover with dirt (I think I planted mine 1-2 inches deep)

6. waiiiit (this was the hardest part for me!!!!)

7. In a bit leaves will start to come up. When the plants are like 8 inches tall take another tire and stack it on top of the first one. and fill it with dirt, leaving some of the leaves showing.

8. Reapeat step 3 until you have 3-5 tires (I plant to do 4).

9.When its time to get the taters you apparently can just remove one tier at a time!

Now... again I am new. If you give me a sec I will run into the yard to snap a few pictures of my tire stacks... 1 has 2 tires on it already and the other will be getting its second tire this weekend

Hope that helps, please feel free to ask me anything, I might not know the answer but I can try

Marina

the short answer is that you put a tire down (i put a piece of chicken wire/hardware cloth down first to keep burrowing pests out), then as the plants grow, you keep mounding them, and when needed, you put another tire on top to keep going.

OK... not sure if these will help or not... but I had no clue what this stuff would look like when I planted it!!!!









If you decide to do it I would loooove to hear about it

Marina-

Jif, what's your fave flavor Kool-Ade?

I've read a number of related methods, and apparently, after they outgrow the first tire, you can just add straw, and the potatoes will grow out into the straw. It makes harvest very easy, just lift the straw.
Note: Some people are very concerned about the cadmium in the tires. In my opinion, if the tires start to show the steel belts, or otherwise start to break down, I'd get rid of them. The cadmium is in the steel belts inside the tires, and I doubt it could leach out until it's exposed. Thought I'd mention that, though.
If you want to harvest new potatoes, the usual recommendation is that once the plant blooms, you can harvest some. I know people who don't wait for blooms, but that's a good indication.

You are absolutely right!!!!!! I had burrowing pests steal most of my potates when I tried growing them this way...I didn't use the wire on the bottom.

That is so cool! I think I will have to try that. I saw a bunch of tires piled up on the side of the road that the city cleanup guys had pulled out of the woods. I might go relieve them of the disposal!

I read a thing once where a lady put a bunch of hay in a clean (new, I think) metal trash can, and planted the potatoes in that, and then when it was time to harvest, she just dumped the whole thing out upside down, and there were the potatoes, growing in the hay that had been composting all the while.

Do y'all think it's too late to start potatoes? We can usually grow things here until October or November, depending on how much heat they need. I don't know how long potatoes take.

Valerie...potatoes can be planted weeks, or even months, befor last frost date, depending on the zone, but I would be really curious to know what planting in summer produces. New potatoes are harvested very early, full grown in the fall, so there's a wide range of possibilties. What is "optimal" may not be what is possible.
Might be a good year to experiment.

Hi Valerie I'm down here in Jacksonville too

I've grown potatoes during the summer and fall and I must say they grow better when it's cooling off. I get alot more potatoes when I plant in the fall or early spring. When I try in the heat of summer,they just don't take off like other times. I do mine in a raised bed and cover it with hay. You can get a bundle of hay for $4/$5.

G-Mom

Well, I'm all for listening to the voice(s) of experience, so I'll probably wait till fall to plant potatoes. So many things just wither up and die in the heat here (unless we're having a hurricane and they pass out from standing in inches of water for days on end!)