Garbage Can Potatoes

Thank you Llama Momma for getting us off to a good start towards successful potato growing this season, see post here. Now for part 2.

We need someone to find the definitive factors to make garbage can potatoes a success each and every time. (I will use 'garbage can' to include any type of tall container 24-30 inches and up for growing potatoes ie stacked wood boxes, sturdy bags)

Each spring, gardeners all across the internet get excited about growing potatoes in garbage cans. There are posts on forums, blogs, and websites about garbage can potatoes and how to do them. But, there is rarely any follow up-including here on our forum. Nobody comes back mid-summer or fall to talk about the great harvest they had. Rarely does anybody post pictures of dozens of potatoes spilling out of their can. And I wonder why.

The first year I tried garbage can potatoes I got over 70 potatoes. The next three years I tried, all I got was the first layer on the bottom ie the normal harvest from a seed potato. I don't have a clue why my garbage can potatoes didn't work three years in a row. Since I have the space, I went back to growing them in the ground.

But I would like to see forum members have success with their garbage cans this year. I suspect potato variety may be important; maybe the growing medium is important; I don't know. But somebody out there in the internets does. Somebody out there has had enough experience to say this will work and this will not work when it comes to garbage can potatoes.

Anybody want to volunteer to be the finder outer?!

And two minutes later my hand was up, waving as I did. So, thirty years later and having never learned not to volunteer....I'll be your Huckleberry. I had just watched a Youtube video of Mel (yes, that Mel) two days ago, growing spuds in a bucket and decided that's how I'm going to do it this year. I'll take pictures along the way, from start to harvest and keep the report updated as I progress.

You might check with LM and BBG in this post. They are talking about accumulating some kind of data from everyone this year as they grow their potatoes.

I'm looking for information that can be used prior to planting time to ensure a large harvest for everyone from the garbage can method.

From what I researching on the potatoes that will produce extra by "hilling up" were the long season type. I have a German Butterball coming in a couple weeks it is a long season . While I do not know if this is true, Ive not heard from anyone the type they were hilling up . We will see

Ha-v-v

Ha, I'm obviously not an expert, but I've never heard of hilling as a method to produce extra potatoes, it's always recommended to hill in order to keep the potatoes covered so they don't turn green. I agree: we will see!

It's kinda funny...I grow a couple hundred pounds a year and don't know much at all about growing them. They're like weeds. I've left orphans at harvest time, and they are the first thing to come up in the spring. I've set boxes on top of orphans, and they grow sideways to reach daylight. They start growing under black plastic. An 8 inch white potato plant is weird looking!

But I can't grow them in garbage cans.

Hummmmmm I've got a couple orphans growing in the compost bins now:roll:

boffer wrote:Ha, I'm obviously not an expert, but I've never heard of hilling as a method to produce extra potatoes, it's always recommended to hill in order to keep the potatoes covered so they don't turn green. I agree: we will see!

It's kinda funny...I grow a couple hundred pounds a year and don't know much at all about growing them. They're like weeds. I've left orphans at harvest time, and they are the first thing to come up in the spring. I've set boxes on top of orphans, and they grow sideways to reach daylight. They start growing under black plastic. An 8 inch white potato plant is weird looking!

But I can't grow them in garbage cans.

Im by no means an expert.. I was offering that info for the trash can method. My terminology is off Im sure. I will try to find that link, I of course may have saved it but then again... ack I dont know what I did.

I have had no success what so ever, well one time I got some tiny baby potatoes. But I was planting at the wrong time. I want to grow them like you do and get a couple hundred pounds a year

Ha-v-v

Last year was a terrible year for potatoes here due to the long, wet, cold spring. I thought I would try the garbage can method this year to help control drainage and maybe get a few potatoes. I've never tried growing potatoes before, my local farmers always did it for me (for a price of course) but this year I was totally out of local potatoes by November.

Wish me luck!!

boffer wrote:Ha, I'm obviously not an expert, but I've never heard of hilling as a method to produce extra potatoes, it's always recommended to hill in order to keep the potatoes covered so they don't turn green. I agree: we will see!

It's kinda funny...I grow a couple hundred pounds a year and don't know much at all about growing them. They're like weeds. I've left orphans at harvest time, and they are the first thing to come up in the spring. I've set boxes on top of orphans, and they grow sideways to reach daylight. They start growing under black plastic. An 8 inch white potato plant is weird looking!

But I can't grow them in garbage cans

How wide was your can Boffer , where did you site it ,what was the temp in the area etc etc ...tell us more please.?
( Gosh some folks are quick tonight far too quick for this one fingered typist. ; )

Hilling potatoes.. I suspect that is what I know as a ridge ... lets see if we can nail it . I'm asuming that your potatoes are white skinned ovoid and fairly free of holes .pits or blemishes google " King Edward potatoes " and look at the images ......these are the style of spuds I'm on about.

WWWWWWWWWWWW gives a series of ridges or roots and peaks

The level soil is well dug and manured .. come your normal planting time dig a 6 inch deep hole drop in 1/2 a trowel of composted manures and along pegged taut line make more holes at 30 inch intervals , in each hole put a chitted potato and cover it so the soil is level . if the soil is sandy and your clime is dry increase the spacings to 3 feet.
Run your rows north to south if possible to get sun on both faces of the ridge
distance between rows at least 3 foot center to center but better at 4 feet.

Once the potato tops sprout let them get to 6 inches high and using a pull hoe or a spade gently draw up the earth inbetween the rows to make the ridge or hill.

Carry on as the plant grows to make the ridge about 18 inches high and about 6 inches wide at the top of the ridge with the potato tops in the middle of the six inch wide top soil.

When you water them ( if you need to ) the increased surface area of the sides of the ridges will take in water and any excess runs down into the root of the ridge thus soaking below the potato .
Here we usually let the potatoes flower before harvesting . We pull a few from one end of the rows if we feel like small delicate tasting new potatoes and drop a sprig or two of mint in the pan as they boil till they are just starting to get soft .. serve with butter on them alongside meats , gravy and other veg.

Ridging is effective for clearing & breaking up new ground as the big canopy of foilage knocks down most weeds & you gradually move massive amounts of soil . It's hard work especially if the soil is heavy & wet . The bigger the ridge in height and width as it is drawn up the growing stems allows more new roots to come off from the stem & grow in the newly drawn up soil , these produce nodules that turn into potatoes .
Feeding the growing potatoes with natural or artificial fertilizers will also increase the yield size of potatoes so long as you don't let the ridge dry out.

Usually the green potatoes come as a consequence of them appearing out of the ridge earth not just earth tem up to stop them going green.
if you are lazy like me i planted mine at 30 between spuds in at 5 foot between rows but the potatoes were set in one foot deep holes & covered in 3 inches of soil . I back filled th holse as the plants grew and as such there was no ridge .
We had somme decent spuds at harvest time . My garden however was double trench dug down to three feet the bottom was manured in two year old strawed cow manure , the trench was back filled with 7 yr old composted strawed horsemuck and the soil at the rate of one whel barrow per square yard.

It's too much for me nowadays so I'm going to play with MM in large bin bags starting in about four weeks , inside my greenhouse when the usual snow of we get in February is gone.

how wide is you can Boffer ?

I don't even want to know

nKedrOoStEr wrote:

how wide is you can Boffer ?

I don't even want to know

:lolsignwave:

sorry boofer I cant help; right now.

Its a shame no one has addresed your p;ost. It would help a lot of people.

I have not experience with trash can potatoes.....but saw another garden group talking about how they had to set the trash can so that it got evening shade cause it got too hot. the next year they had better results. Potatoes like it cool.

edited to add===using trash cans is great for composting--that should say how hot it gets.

I think my post is sad not funny Miss carolyn. Even my poor english, I don't see the funny. Please explane.

I do apologize genes. I did not see your post. I saw the ones above your post.

genes wrote:I think my post is sad not funny Miss carolyn. Even my poor english, I don't see the funny. Please explane.

Seems wires have got crossed , Miss Carolyn was laughing at the comments to my misspelling & asking Boffer how wide his can was .

Boffer, I will try to get things back on track here...
I really don't know what the answer is? I mean I have searched all over the interwebs and it's basically the same method over and over. Holes is bottom of container, heavily composted soil, seed taters, cover, and continue to water and cover as they grow. We all know the method, but what is the factor or factors! I don't know! I honestly cant find anything different, or anything that different in each method that sets it apart.
Are we maybe reading to much into this? Are people not following up because they were jipped of their spuds? Or are they so busy eating their scrumptious taters, they just blow the follow up off?
I hear what you're saying. It makes no sense to have oodles of spuds one year. Do it the exact same way the next three and get nothing.
Is it the method, the tater, or the medium? Cutting them? Leaving them whole? Sprouting?
I've looked...I can't find any definitive answer!
I have always done mine in the ground and done just fine. I have never done them in a trash can so I can't throw any experience in here.

I'm going out on a limb with Boffer's standard answer... it's all about the weather... ?

camprn wrote:I'm going out on a limb with Boffer's standard answer... it's all about the weather... ?

Guy Smiley !!!!!! I absolutely died laughing with this !!!

I've never tried growing potatoes, but was thinking about using the following method in my front yard. I was even thinking about pre-assembling the complete box and having the wife paint something pretty on the outside before disassembling for planting.

Grow 100lbs of Potatoes in 4sf

Red-Leg wrote:I've never tried growing potatoes, but was thinking about using the following method in my front yard. I was even thinking about pre-assembling the complete box and having the wife paint something pretty on the outside before disassembling for planting.

Grow 100lbs of Potatoes in 4sf

Yeah, I have been looking at this as well...

Camp, you stated the most obvious, and it may be the biggest factor.
A few things I have found looking around: Heat. Place the barrel in direct sunlight. They love the heat. Water. The water goes hand in hand with the heat. Potatoes are very drought tolerant so the vine will continue to grow and be green even in hot, dry conditions. However, not many taters will be produced.
Also, Wrong cultivar for the region or the weather was such that it did not encourage turberization until late.

yes sir, and Mis Carolyn read that they shouldn't get to hot.

redleg, from your link ""It was so intriguing, escpecially for the home gardener with limited space that we decided to give it a try. In the near future we'll update our progress as the year goes by in a blog, we'll post a link when it's available."

have you found the update?

genes wrote:yes sir, and Mis Carolyn read that they shouldn't get to hot.

redleg, from your link ""It was so intriguing, escpecially for the home gardener with limited space that we decided to give it a try. In the near future we'll update our progress as the year goes by in a blog, we'll post a link when it's available."

have you found the update?

I was unable to find an update.