Re: Potato towers?

priehl 5/11/2011, 2:05 pm

After a disastrous experience trying to compost in a 55-gallon drum with small opening (maybe not disastrous; I could make a cheesy horror movie based on it and post online somewhere), I cut the top off and started some red potatoes. The plant started to grow, then heavy rain came and despite many drain holes, rotted. Problem was I used what I had, which was just soil, and it had insufficient drainage.

This thread has inspired me to try again (in a couple weeks, when the moon is 'going down.' I'll report back if I have any success.

horatiocary 5/11/2011, 2:45 pm

I haven't done much square foot gardening. My interest in gardening lies in the production of food rather than making beautiful flowerbeds. I have recently got interested in making my garden more productive and so I have just started using potato towers. I find them excellent and thought they may appeal to all you square foot gardeners, I thought it was only fair to let you know about them early given the $500 prize!

chrisf 5/14/2011, 1:03 pm

As I understand Yukon Golds will not yield a large crop in the vertical techniques. How about pontiac (red)?

Dunkinjean 6/5/2011, 12:33 am

Yes, I know more questions about growing potatoes in a tower......LOL Potato towers? - Page 3 601593

I am growing Kennelbec and Fingerling potatoes in a tower. Of course I started with 6" of Mel's mix.
Since then I have been adding mushroom compost and they seem to growing fine.

My question: Is it ok to just add mushroom compost to the top?
How do you know when the potatoes are ready to harvest?
After I harvest the potatoes can I take the soil (Mel's mix and alot of compost) and
spread it around my boxes to be used next spring?

Thanks for your patience.

Dunkinjean

stripesmom 6/5/2011, 2:44 pm

This is a picture of my potatoes after they had come up out of the MM for one week (click on picture to enlarge). I have since added another tire and more MM and straw. They are about 10 inches above the second tire now. I know, I should have covered them sooner, but DH was against this in the beginning. I asked him to bring home 16 tires from the garage (they are used and free) and he said he'd just have to spend money to get rid of them, so he only brought home 8 tires. Anyway, we were going to add another tire tomorrow, but the plants are starting to get buds on them. I was wondering if any one thinks it's worth it to add another tire/ more mm/ straw or just let them bloom and harvest them.

Cincinnati 9/4/2011, 10:03 pm

Can you grow sweet potatoes in a tower?

westx 9/4/2011, 11:30 pm

Stripesmom, cut the buds off and add some tires and let them keep producing.

Chopper 9/5/2011, 1:26 am

Cincinnati wrote:Can you grow sweet potatoes in a tower?

There would be no point. They are not the same as potatoes. Potatoes grow along the stem but sweet potatoes from from the root. They are tubers and potatoes are not.

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