potatoes

I am looking for information on growing potatoes..any links or personal experience much apparciated

Eric, Have you Searched 'potato'? There are 5 pages of potato topics. Start there for general info until you need help with a specific question. Hopefully, someone will post a link or two.

I tried..but I think I miss spelled potato..LOL thats why I didnt get anything to come up..will look it up

I've done that!

Here ya go!

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/search?search_keywords=Potatoes&typerecherche=interne&show_results=topics

And there are 3 pages if you search the archives for singular potato! Lol

I know Eric got redirected and is probably off reading all kinds of potato info, but I wanted to throw in my two cents if that's ok

My version of ANSFG says to plant potatoes 4 per square, but I remember someone saying that other versions say to do one plant per square.  I've done four per square for several years, and then last year I tried one per square.  What a difference!  My potatoes produced a lot more when I planted one per square.  Plus, I only used a quarter of the seed potatoes.  I'm trying that again this year.

littlesapphire wrote:I know Eric got redirected and is probably off reading all kinds of potato info, but I wanted to throw in my two cents if that's ok

My version of ANSFG says to plant potatoes 4 per square, but I remember someone saying that other versions say to do one plant per square.  I've done four per square for several years, and then last year I tried one per square.  What a difference!  My potatoes produced a lot more when I planted one per square.  Plus, I only used a quarter of the seed potatoes.  I'm trying that again this year.

1 per square. Period. Just let' em go. ONE.

CitizenKate wrote:You say po-tay-toe, and I say po-tah-toe!

I thought it referred to tomatoes, Kate.  In England in the South we said tomahto and in the North, tomayto, along with such words as grass, bath, etc.
 
My DH was a northerner and I was a southerner so we used to tease each other.

In Canada I have never heard anyone saying tomahto so when I think of it I say tomayto. It so hard being bi-lingual.

CitizenKate wrote:You say po-tay-toe, and I say po-tah-toe!

littlesapphire wrote:I know Eric got redirected and is probably off reading all kinds of potato info, but I wanted to throw in my two cents if that's ok

My version of ANSFG says to plant potatoes 4 per square, but I remember someone saying that other versions say to do one plant per square.  I've done four per square for several years, and then last year I tried one per square.  What a difference!  My potatoes produced a lot more when I planted one per square.  Plus, I only used a quarter of the seed potatoes.  I'm trying that again this year.

That is really interesting, LS, because I looked at my ANSFG 2nd Ed and it said 4/square on the taters. I planted 1/square last year. I believe at the time I had not purchased the bookthat I have now and was using the original SFG from my public library to plant my first garden. It said potatoes 1/square. I never even looked at this edition until you said that! My plants got so huge I can't imagine putting 4 in a square!

littlesapphire wrote:My version of ANSFG says to plant potatoes 4 per square, but I remember someone saying that other versions say to do one plant per square.  I've done four per square for several years, and then last year I tried one per square.  What a difference!  My potatoes produced a lot more when I planted one per square.  Plus, I only used a quarter of the seed potatoes.  I'm trying that again this year.

I think I will, too, then, in addition to trying a grow bag or two.  I use potatoes for so many things and they are so easy to preserve, and I'm always looking for them to go on sale so I can put up large amounts of them at once, so I finally decided I should start growing some.  Thanks for sharing that tip.

Kelejan wrote:
I thought it referred to tomatoes, Kate.  In England in the South we said tomahto and in the North, tomayto, along with such words as grass, bath, etc.
  
My DH was a northerner and I was a southerner so we used to tease each other.  

In Canada I have never heard anyone saying tomahto so when I think of it I say tomayto. It so hard being bi-lingual.

Haha - bi-lingual... having traveled around the US a lot, I've made something of a hobby of trying to guess where people I meet are from, and seeing if I can impersonate their accent convincingly enough that they couldn't tell where I actually came from.  (I was born in the UK to parents from Illinois, and grew up in Kansas - try nailing that accent!)  I got the potayto/potahto reference from a song performed in an old Fred Astaire movie Shall We Dance, which does also mention tomatoes... "Tomayta, tomahta, potayta, potahta - let's call the whole thing off!"

How do you preserve your potatoes.  I stored mine in my dark pantry but they sprouted real quick.  Do you dehydrate or pressure can them so they will last longer??

I dehydrate mine. Peel, slice, blanch for 2 minutes, then on they go.

Just fyi - I've found that I have to store them in jars rather than the seal-a-meal bags. The sharp edges cut thru the bags. You can seal the jars if you have the seal-a-meal jar sealer...

yolos wrote:How do you preserve your potatoes.  I stored mine in my dark pantry but they sprouted real quick.  Do you dehydrate or pressure can them so they will last longer??

Mine sprouted quickly too. Not cold enough in my basement.

I didn't cut my seed potatoes up. I just planted an entire tater per square. Worked great!

AtlantaMarie wrote:I dehydrate mine.  Peel, slice, blanch for 2 minutes, then on they go.

Just fyi - I've found that I have to store them in jars rather than the seal-a-meal bags.  The sharp edges cut thru the bags.  You can seal the jars if you have the seal-a-meal jar sealer...

Thanks AM.  Yes I have a Food Saver thingie that seals the jars.

AtlantaMarie wrote:I dehydrate mine.  Peel, slice, blanch for 2 minutes, then on they go.

Just fyi - I've found that I have to store them in jars rather than the seal-a-meal bags.  The sharp edges cut thru the bags.  You can seal the jars if you have the seal-a-meal jar sealer...

That's exactly what I do with most of mine - 2 minute blanch and dehydrate.  1/8-inch julienne-cutting them works well in the dehydrator, too.  I've got a kitchen gadget that makes fast work of the chopping.



I tried the vacuum bags, too, and got exactly the same results.  Now I just use plastic tubs with tight-fitting lids, and everything I've dehydrated has kept well in those.  (As long as they were dried sufficiently to begin with.)

I also dice and flash-freeze a lot of them, too.

Yep! I have slices (for scalloped dishes) and diced. I also have ground.

4 lbs of potatoes will give you about 1-1/2 cups of ground once they're peeled & dehydrated. Makes for a very interesting demo for our food prep & survival classes. I have a 4-lb bag of potatoes sitting there along with sliced, diced, & ground dehydrated ones so that folks can see what happens.

I have been planting potatoes four per square and never been impressed with the quantity produced although I have enjoyed the quality.

One per square for me this year. I will report back at the end of the season.  If I remember.

ETA I have put a note on my calendar.

Maybe I'll try a couple of squares of potatoes in my SFG this year. Last year Mrs TD grew potatoes in one of the soil based borders near the compost piles. She just planted some old potatoes that had started to sprout in the basement where we store them. Our soil is quite good for growing things perhaps because the neighbourhood used to be a farm. Who knows what chemicals have been used in the past on this land. Even though the soil is good, I don't like the preparation (digging) in the Spring and then the ongoing weeding. That makes me want more SFG beds. 

By the way, when we first moved here there were cows that would come up to the back fences of the neighbours' properties across the street from us. The cows belonged to Agriculture Canada (a federal government department).  That farmland still exists but the government sold off a strip of land so that the city could build a four lane road. So instead of cows mooing we have cars and trucks roaring past. At least the city built up a berm between our neighbours and the new road, then planted trees and bushes on the berm to hide the road and keep the noise down. Well there I go again ... writing too much especially things that are off topic.

TD, please never apoligise for writing too much.  I love to read peoples' opinions.

I did 1/square in the early 90s and still did last year. Planted 2 squares with Yukon gold, got about 5 lbs. varying sizes. Will do more this year. Super easy, pretty plant, love to eat 'em. Win Win Win.

My taters are sprouting in my basement, too warm I guess. They have been in the darkness. How sprouted is too sprouted to eat? I guess the substance that turns them green and sorta toxic is in the sprouts? Can I just cut the sprouts off? My mom did that...these are pretty sprouted though.

Scorpio Rising wrote:My taters are sprouting in my basement, too warm I guess.  They have been in the darkness.  How sprouted is too sprouted to eat?  I guess the substance that turns them green and sorta toxic is in the sprouts?  Can I just cut the sprouts off?  My mom did that...these are pretty sprouted though.  

I don't have an answer for you, but I just threw all my sprouted potatoes in the garbage.  Next year I will dehydrate the left overs before they become a forest in my pantry.