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Potatoes and SFG
+11
jjphoto
WardinWake
Ray'ssfg
LupinFarm
bpbdrummer
chocolatepop
choksaw
SirTravers
jerzyjen
boffer
momstitch
15 posters
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Potatoes and SFG
How would you go about planting potatoes in SFG?
Martha
Martha
momstitch- Posts : 18
Join date : 2010-03-16
Location : Southwest Missouri
Re: Potatoes and SFG
Take out the top 5 inches of mix and put aside. Lay in your potato sprouts and make sure you leave the little sprouts sticking up. Keep filling back up with dirt mels mix as the sprout grows. Harvest carefully. Thats how I did it with my fingerlings last year. I'm going to try the trash can method this year to see the difference.
Edited cause YIKES gardeners don't use the word dirt! SOIL - I'm sorry gods of the garden, please don't smote me
Edited cause YIKES gardeners don't use the word dirt! SOIL - I'm sorry gods of the garden, please don't smote me
Last edited by jerzyjen on 3/17/2010, 10:20 pm; edited 1 time in total
jerzyjen-
Posts : 210
Join date : 2010-03-03
Age : 46
Location : Burlington County, NJ - Zone 6b
Re: Potatoes and SFG
I saw somewhere that tires make a good potato growing bed. As the plant grows you raise the level of the dirt and add another tire. At the end of the season you just unstack the tires and harvest the potatoes as you pull the dirt away.
If I were doing that SFG style I think I'd use as 2x2 planting scheme...probably in a corner of the main box. I'd add 3 wooden dowel pegs in the top of the base planter and make a 2x2 raised section another 6 or 12 inches high with 3 holes in the bottom to match the dowels. I'd continue that method of adding sections so I could raise the mix level as the plant grew. At the end of the season just unstack the 2x2 sections and peel the dirt back into the main bed and harvest the potatoes.


If I were doing that SFG style I think I'd use as 2x2 planting scheme...probably in a corner of the main box. I'd add 3 wooden dowel pegs in the top of the base planter and make a 2x2 raised section another 6 or 12 inches high with 3 holes in the bottom to match the dowels. I'd continue that method of adding sections so I could raise the mix level as the plant grew. At the end of the season just unstack the 2x2 sections and peel the dirt back into the main bed and harvest the potatoes.

SirTravers-
Posts : 327
Join date : 2010-03-01
Age : 49
Location : Hobbs New MExico, Zone 7A/7B
Re: Potatoes and SFG
Thats actualy an awesome idea Sirtravers i can already here the gears grinding for my next project lol
choksaw-
Posts : 459
Join date : 2010-03-02
Age : 48
Location : New Port Richey FL.
Re: Potatoes and SFG
playing with legos, blocks, and Lincoln Logs all those years pays off sometimes hehe.
SirTravers-
Posts : 327
Join date : 2010-03-01
Age : 49
Location : Hobbs New MExico, Zone 7A/7B
Re: Potatoes and SFG
i ate my lincon logs and blew up my legos in a GI joe war but man we had fun building with those things
choksaw-
Posts : 459
Join date : 2010-03-02
Age : 48
Location : New Port Richey FL.
Re: Potatoes and SFG
You can find all kind of info if you google 'garbage can potatoes' I got 70 taters out of a garbage can one year-not bad for 3square feet of ground.
The advantage to Travers drawing is you can take off a board on the lower side to steal a few new potatoes
Travers your HOA isn't gonna appreciate your tire planters!
The advantage to Travers drawing is you can take off a board on the lower side to steal a few new potatoes
Travers your HOA isn't gonna appreciate your tire planters!
Re: Potatoes and SFG
Very true they'd freak over tire planters. All my old redneck ways are having to be modified! Oh well I still like building this new stuff anyway. 

SirTravers-
Posts : 327
Join date : 2010-03-01
Age : 49
Location : Hobbs New MExico, Zone 7A/7B
Re: Potatoes and SFG
I just tried planting potatoes for the first time, although i went with the trash can method, picked up two 32 gallon trash cans at lowes for $9/ea. drilled a bunch of holes in the bottom for drainage added a few inches of mix , and planted about 5-6 pieces of seed potato in each can. just red potatoes in one and white potatoes in the other. If it works out well, next year I'll order some other types like blue and some odd varieties.
Re: Potatoes and SFG
Very popular are 5 gallon buckets, like from home depot, but I'm using tote boxes this year...I can get about 3-4 plants in a long totebox, I'm doing the same with my onions. I had problems with the rabbits stealing my onions last year lol. I figure I can put the totes in the garage, or whatever.
LupinFarm- Posts : 66
Join date : 2010-03-13
Age : 34
Location : Springbrook, Ont. (Zone 5b)
Planting potatoes

Ray down under

Ray'ssfg-
Posts : 122
Join date : 2010-03-02
Age : 76
Location : Paynesville, Victoria, Australia
Table Top Taters
LupinFarm wrote:Very popular are 5 gallon buckets, like from home depot, but I'm using tote boxes this year...I can get about 3-4 plants in a long totebox, I'm doing the same with my onions. I had problems with the rabbits stealing my onions last year lol. I figure I can put the totes in the garage, or whatever.
The more I use Table Top (TT) height SFG's the more I like them. You have the makings for an easy TT by placing your tater farm on a table, set of sawhorses, or a purpose built frame. Rabbits cannot climb up a table leg").
God Bless, Ward.
WardinWake
Certified SFG Instructor-
Posts : 935
Join date : 2010-02-26
Age : 72
Location : Wake, VA
Potatoes and SFG
Thanks to all who replied. I think I am learning through these replies that it doesnt require a large surface area to grow potatoes. I didn't know that they could grow on top of each other like that. Thanks again
Martha
Martha
momstitch- Posts : 18
Join date : 2010-03-16
Location : Southwest Missouri
Re: Potatoes and SFG
I also had another idea. I was going to take a rotozip and cut a small square or two into a large trashcan, then use some small bolts, latches, and hooks to basically make a door, that way i could "steal" new potatoes when i wanted to. I don't know if I'll have time to try it as I am working, momming, wifing, and schooling right now, but one can dream correct? 

Re: Potatoes and SFG
chocolatepop wrote:I also had another idea. I was going to take a rotozip and cut a small square or two into a large trashcan, then use some small bolts, latches, and hooks to basically make a door, that way i could "steal" new potatoes when i wanted to. I don't know if I'll have time to try it as I am working, momming, wifing, and schooling right now, but one can dream correct?
you could also grow them in straw and then you just reach down in and pick a few.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/salloum100.html
Re: Potatoes and SFG
Yup, that is exactly what I did in my 2x2 box in the picture above, made life much easier, since ironically i am a little squimish about creatures that have more legs than my cat....
Ill try to get a pic later.
Ill try to get a pic later.
Potatoes and mulch?
I have heard a lot of good things about growing potatoes in mulch. If I were to put grass clippings or straw over growing mix, couldn't that introduce weeds?
Martha
Martha
momstitch- Posts : 18
Join date : 2010-03-16
Location : Southwest Missouri
Re: Potatoes and SFG
IDK about grass clippings, but I got no weeds from the straw. mainly because the only soil you have is in the very bottom, the rest is straw piled on top. I think the lack of sun helps prevent the weeds also.
Re: Potatoes and SFG
momstitch wrote:I have heard a lot of good things about growing potatoes in mulch. If I were to put grass clippings or straw over growing mix, couldn't that introduce weeds?
Martha
I wouldn't use fresh cut green grass. Leave it on the lawn to dry first.
Re: Potatoes and SFG
Think you can use straw in the trash can method? If so, that would cut down on a lot of the cost of adding soil to a big trash can.
Re: Potatoes and SFG
jjphoto wrote:Think you can use straw in the trash can method? If so, that would cut down on a lot of the cost of adding soil to a big trash can.
This is what I plan on doing!

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