Re: potatoes :)

**Furbalsmom** 6/21/2011, 1:01 pm

My Yukon Gold potatoes died Sad

They turned yellow and the plant just fell over. I did turn the bag out and found four golf ball sized potatoes and 6 little fingernail sized potatoes.

Oh well, perhaps the All Blue I just planted will do better. The All Blue that we planted in the Grow Ur Grub Kids Garden at our community garden look very healthy.

HieronRemade 6/21/2011, 1:33 pm

Argh you guys are starting to freak me out, lol. Just like tomatoes, it's normal for the bottom leaves of potato plants to get yellow and die, right? I assumed that was the case since they're in the same family. If not my Yukon Golds might be in trouble!

**Kelejan** 6/21/2011, 2:56 pm

When can I did up my first potato plant to see if there is anything there? I have two kinds, a red and a white, and they are showing enormous growth with no sign of stopping. No flowers yet. Would there be any spuds down there as there are no flowers?

Goosegirl 6/21/2011, 7:30 pm

My Yukon Gold's are going crazy with NO sign of yellowing. May have something to do with the weather here, tho'. I have only had to water them twice since they went in on Good Friday. We are currently in a Flash Flood Watch and have had approx. 3 inches of rain since yesterday. Temps only in the 60's - no fear of my lettuce bolting yet. Did I somehow get transported to the PNWet?

GG (Good thing a goose is a WATER bird!)

**Furbalsmom** 6/21/2011, 7:32 pm

HieronRemade

My whole plants turned yellow. Not sure, but I may have not watered it enough.

HieronRemade 6/21/2011, 8:12 pm

Hmm...I wish I knew whether this an early sign of them not doing well or not. They seem fine other wise; most are starting to flower, would that have anything to do with it? Well I guess I'll just have to look at them again tomorrow and see if they've yellowed further.

Nonna.PapaVino 6/21/2011, 9:33 pm

Was gone this weekend, and returned to find more evidence that the Makah Ozette fingerling potatoes are going to send up blossoms way before the Kennebeck or the Purple Vikings. If they do indeed mature early, and they are planted at the bottom of a 4X12 bed filled mostly with kales, lettuces and cabbages, what would be a good thing to put into the squares when the potatoes are harvested? Winter cabbages, kales and broccoli? What would you do?

FamilyGardening 6/28/2011, 11:27 pm

HieronRemade wrote:Hmm...I wish I knew whether this an early sign of them not doing well or not. They seem fine other wise; most are starting to flower, would that have anything to do with it? Well I guess I'll just have to look at them again tomorrow and see if they've yellowed further.

the potato plants should flower and then die down and dry up....then its time to harvest! Very Happy

let us know how they do and what you find!

hugs
rose

FamilyGardening 6/28/2011, 11:29 pm

Nonna.PapaVino wrote:Was gone this weekend, and returned to find more evidence that the Makah Ozette fingerling potatoes are going to send up blossoms way before the Kennebeck or the Purple Vikings. If they do indeed mature early, and they are planted at the bottom of a 4X12 bed filled mostly with kales, lettuces and cabbages, what would be a good thing to put into the squares when the potatoes are harvested? Winter cabbages, kales and broccoli? What would you do?

from what i read most taters take about three months to grow.....some of my taters that i planted first came up way after the others did....now they all look to be about the same size.....not sure what to plant next either.....i will be in the same boat Very Happy

hugs
rose

FamilyGardening 6/28/2011, 11:37 pm

checking in to see how others taters are doing Very Happy

mine are tall and green....a few teeny tiny buds but no flowers yet.....the garbage can ones are looking a little droopy now....so fingers crossed flowers will pop up and they will die off.....i planted these guys march 15th....so they seem to be almost two weeks late!!.....they did take a while to sprout though.....

garbage can taters.....small white seed taters

potato - potatoes :) - Page 5 06_28_17

one of my wine barrels ( the second one looks the same).....these i believe are the yucon golds....no flowers or buds yet and still growing straight and tall....they did come up later the the garbage can ones....

potato - potatoes :) - Page 5 06_28_18

hugs
rose.....whoes neighbors were wondering what the heck she was growing out of those garbage cans Laughing

and who cant wait to see if she has taters or not!

HieronRemade 6/29/2011, 12:16 am

FamilyGardening wrote:the potato plants should flower and then die down and dry up....then its time to harvest! let us know how they do and what you find!

hugs
rose

Oh that's good to know! Several of the plants are in fact in bloom now; they're small, pretty lavender flowers. So hopefully they'll be ready for harvest before too long!

Just a random observation - my Yukon plants still don't look anything like yours Rose...They're not at all bushy, just very tall and straight and thin. What I'm calling the "rogue" russets growing in my compost pile are more similar to your first pic though, more bushy and full. I'll take some updated garden pics tomorrow and post for a comparison, just for kicks.

FamilyGardening 6/29/2011, 12:27 am

I would love to see some pics!

Im trying not to be to excited.....last year we tried to grow potatoes in a wine barrel ....we used a store bought organic tater instead of a seed potato......the plants grew full, lush and green.....yet not a very good harvest....got like five taters from it....LOL

this year we went with the seed potatoes.....hoping we will get a better harvest this time.... Very Happy

i have watched youtube video's with all differnt kind of results...even a video with the plant that had a single stem like you are talking about....when they pulled it up...it had tons of taters on the root ball...you just never know what your going to get.....its kinda of fun though Shocked

hugs
rose

Goosegirl 6/29/2011, 6:57 am

My Yukon Golds!

potato - potatoes :) - Page 5 Pict0116

The seemingly bare spot is the stump of the tree that WILL NOT DIE! With tips from another thread, I may be able to kill it this fall.

GG

larkspur 7/1/2011, 10:31 pm

I way underestimated how much Mel's Mix I would need to keep hilling a 4x4 of potatoes. So my question is, if I just use compost, then next season, won't my soil percentages be way off for a good Mel's Mix? Should I use something else, like straw, that I can just pull off the soil after harvest? Please let me know your thoughts. I ran out of Mel's Mix tonight, and still have plants to hill. I read about using grass clippings, but our lawn is just full of bindweed, so I would hate to put that into my boxes. I'm a square garden newbie, and trying to learn! Thanks for your help!!

FamilyGardening 7/2/2011, 1:14 am

i have been told you can use straw Very Happy

i topped my hills with it......first time using straw for me....cant wait to see what i get Very Happy

what im learning is when our SFG beds settle or we pull out a plant and then plant something new we are to add compost to that square....so i dont think it will hurt to add compost to the potatoes to hill them up.....

hope others will chime in too....cause im new at this Embarassed

hugs
rose......who cant wait for her tater plants to die....so she can see what is under that MM & straw Very Happy

miinva 7/2/2011, 3:43 pm

I think the compost would be fine because it'll break down by next season. I put compost in when I plant something, but we also re-compost our beds in the spring, which has worked well for us.

FamilyGardening 7/2/2011, 5:40 pm

we have flowers on the garbage can potatoes!

potato - potatoes :) - Page 5 07_02_10

hugs
rose

**Kelejan** 7/2/2011, 7:05 pm

And I have some flower buds on my 4x4 bed (compost pile actually) of pots. Getting there at last.

The whole bed look fabulous so far and I will be bitterly disppointed if nothing comes of it.

Aub 7/3/2011, 12:34 pm

Should we let them flower or pinch them off? My hubby said not to let anyone eat the pretty red berries, they are poisonous.

HouseofWool 7/3/2011, 4:59 pm

I have topped off our garbage can potatoes with straw and am now hitting the waiting phase. (I don't like this phase much.) I was being impatient and moved the straw around a bit, but I don't see any taters that have formed yet. Which sent me off to wikipedia and I found this tidbit.

Potato growth has been divided into five phases. During the first phase,
sprouts emerge and root growth begins. During the second, photosynthesis
begins as the plant develops leaves and branches. New tubers develop
during the third phase, which is often (but not always) associated with
flowering. Tuber formation halts when soil temperatures reach 80 °F (26.7 °C); hence potatoes are considered a cool-season crop.^[68]
Tuber bulking occurs during the fourth phase, when the plant begins
investing the majority of its resources in its newly formed tubers. At
this stage, several factors are critical to yield: optimal soil moisture
and temperature, soil nutrient availability and balance, and resistance
to pest attacks. The final phase is maturation: The plant canopy dies
back, the tuber skins harden, and their sugars convert to starches.^[69]

Methinks it is Mother Nature telling me to keep my greedy mitts off.

**Kelejan** 7/3/2011, 7:14 pm

My potatoes are now in their third stage, flower formation.

Off now to check the soil temperature in my containers and the 4x4.

ETA: Have checked and as far as I can tell from my meat thermometer, it is 75F. Now I will just use my imagination and visualise them getting larger and larger. Very Happy

Thanks for the info, HouseofWood. Now cut and pasted into my little book of facts.

HouseofWool 7/4/2011, 9:14 am

Well, it was really my own paranoia at not seeing any tubers that sent me off on the chase. Thank goodness for the internets and our ability to get information rightnowthankyou! Hmmm, I wonder if there is a correlation between that and my impatience...

Goosegirl 7/4/2011, 9:36 am

HouseofWool wrote:Well, it was really my own paranoia at not seeing any tubers that sent me off on the chase. Thank goodness for the internets and our ability to get information rightnowthankyou! Hmmm, I wonder if there is a correlation between that and my impatience...

We have truly become a Veruca Salt society..."I want it NOW!" potato - potatoes :) - Page 5 889526

HouseofWool 7/4/2011, 5:20 pm

So very true GG. And today, I saw the first blossom one one of the plants. YEA

FamilyGardening 7/5/2011, 12:49 am

its really sad that every morning i rush out to check on my taters hoping to find them dieing off..... Razz

hugs
rose.....on a positive note....we have three baby birds in a nest inside one of my hanging flower pots Shocked

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