Yield from potatoes and onions

mark.curole 4/27/2011, 9:57 am

Looking at doing my first SFG (any garden really), and I am wondering what the expected yield for an onion plant and potato plant is.

dizzygardener 4/27/2011, 10:37 am

For onions you get one onion for each onion you plant. They aren't multipliers.

For potatoes you can get up to 10 times as many potatoes as you plants. Sometime you get more and sometimes you get much less, but 10 times is about average. Potatoes are a finicky crop.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

nancy 4/27/2011, 10:50 am

Hi Mark and Welcome! Yield from potatoes and onions 396615

I agree with dizzygardener. I haven't done potatoes before, but I got a 1 for 1 yeild from my onions last year. Best wishes to you!!

boffer 4/27/2011, 11:08 am

I use 10x minimum as a potato yield. They grow like weeds for me in the ground or even a 6 inch SFG box. I haven't had consistent results in stacked tires, boxes, or garbage cans.

I had wanted to avoid the onion part of the question because it gets into slips, sets, and seeds oh my! cyclops

But, there are multiplier onions. Ander introduced them to us last year, and some of us purchased them from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. Mine should be ready to harvest in a couple months, but until then, I can't offer much more.

http://www.southernexposure.com/perennial-onions-multiplier-potato-onions-c-120_219.html

westie42 4/27/2011, 11:12 am

There are some rare onions that multiply mine are called Egyptian Travelers that do just that, they spread everywhere you don't want them to. The division occurs atop the stalks forming clusters of new small ones. Somehow mysteriously they do show up in odd places making new colonial starts.

dizzygardener 4/27/2011, 11:15 am

ooooooOOOOOOoooooo!!!

Multiplying onions?! I'll have to get some for next year. How exciting.

In the meantime, I have Shallots in. They multiply as well.

westie42 4/27/2011, 11:20 am

DizzyGardener these are very durable onions if you would like I would be glad to send you some for a start. Soon I need to make a sweep and put several new bunches in my composter otherwise.

dizzygardener 4/27/2011, 11:40 am

Ok, let me make sure I understand how these work.

I plant the bulbs, they send up stocks with more bulbs on top. The tops fall over the the bulbs are replanted thus producing more?

How do you harvest them? Do you harvest what is on top or what is in the ground? How big are the bulbs when you harvest?

Thanks.

westie42 4/27/2011, 12:45 pm

If you need pull and eat onions these are not what you want. A friend gave me the starters and honestly I am not sure if I ever used them for more than soup flavoring or diced in a casserole etc. What you usually harvest is from the cluster a ways up the stalks that way it is milder and the main plant is reserved, just pull of what you want to use. In a way they are kinda like something for depression times. Mine are mostly a conversation piece but always ready for use in a pinch since I want something milder. If you start them it is easiest to jet a rooted clump that may or not have the top clusters on them. Right now mine have not set any new top clusters this season.

Goosegirl 4/27/2011, 1:59 pm

Dizzy:

The green tops can be cut anytime and used like green onions, but they are just a bit stronger tasting. The bulblets that grow on top of the stalk have a mild onion flavor, and the bulbs in the ground are stronger tasting and are the size of small to medium shallots and can be used as such. Be brutal when trimming and harvesting, or they will take over your yard!

TC

kilda 4/27/2011, 9:27 pm

10 potatoes per plant, huh? I had a bunch of volunteer potato plants in my compost (note to self: when you try to compost a potato apparently it thinks you're trying to plant it). And I just can't bring myself to throw away a volunteer plant. So I moved them into the garden.

I just went out and counted the plants....oh my....what the heck am I going to do with 120 potatoes? Shocked

Miss M 4/27/2011, 10:28 pm

kilda wrote:what the heck am I going to do with 120 potatoes?

http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=1090752 What a Face

MasonGarden 4/28/2011, 12:01 am

If there is a local food bank or soup kitchen nearby, they probably wouldn't mind taking some of them off your hands. I love you

boffer 4/28/2011, 12:25 am

kilda wrote:I just went out and counted the plants....oh my....what the heck am I going to do with 120 potatoes?

Potatoes are notorious for growing in compost piles, or in the woods where I throw them over the fence sometimes! Just leave them in the ground until you're ready to use them. If you still have some when winter gets here, cover them with mulch to prevent deep freezing, and keep them accessible.

Learn some new ways to prepare potatoes! Wink

middlemamma 4/28/2011, 12:49 am

I believe Dizzy, what Westie has are called Walking or Egyptian onions, I have some and they are very cool and fun. Smile

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t4265-madisyn-dd-and-the-walking-onions?highlight=madisyn

Ha-v-v 4/28/2011, 8:50 am

kilda wrote:10 potatoes per plant, huh? I had a bunch of volunteer potato plants in my compost (note to self: when you try to compost a potato apparently it thinks you're trying to plant it). And I just can't bring myself to throw away a volunteer plant. So I moved them into the garden.

I just went out and counted the plants....oh my....what the heck am I going to do with 120 potatoes?

Wow this girl would be so excited with 120 potato plants. I have 4 sons living at home still. They eat more than their Pa and I put together 3 times over. lolololol They are huge people, ( like they were steeped in compost tea from birth).
I love volunteers as well. I have found a ton of volunteer basils this year and they are looking more like weeds!!! I think I have cayenne pepper volunteers too, time will tell there!. Im saving soda bottles and any other container to make pots. I too have a hard time with tossing plants at all. But I figure I better learn to give away or compost stuff or I will have too many of something and waste.
Ha-v-v

kilda 4/28/2011, 10:50 am

fortunately I love potatoes. I figure I can harvest some as new potatoes so they don't all come in at once. Potato salad, potato pancakes, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes....mmm. Of course this is all assuming they're going to produce, which my root crops usually never do. I also love the suggestion of donating them to a food bank, I think I will do that.

Ha-v-v 4/28/2011, 11:04 am

kilda wrote:fortunately I love potatoes. I figure I can harvest some as new potatoes so they don't all come in at once. Potato salad, potato pancakes, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes....mmm. Of course this is all assuming they're going to produce, which my root crops usually never do. I also love the suggestion of donating them to a food bank, I think I will do that.

Im excited for you !! I figured you liked taters Smile

Cant wait to see your harvest. I planted a tub of potatoes, and 32 sqs. Today I will plant a big plastic pink tote with purple potatoes. The last of the seed potatoes this season.

Ha-v-v

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