Re: [gardeners] Perfect potato plants
Allen and Judy Merten (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Tue, 01 Sep 1998 01:40:00 -0500
Hi Matt,
First are Yukon Gold potatoes recommended for your area?
Second, did you plant potatoes from the grocery or were they actually
seed potatoes?
Third, since your soil is sandy loam why not plant in your soil?
I planted Lasoda(red) potatoes in the spring. We have sandy loam also. We
harvested over 500lbs of potatoes from an area about 30 x 60.
I really like Yukon Gold potatoes when we buy them from the store. My
extension agent said they were not recommended for our area though.
I have begun to plant fall potatoes also. I saved the smallest potatoes from
the spring crop for seed. I hope they turn out ok.
One other thing. Did you plant small whole potatoes or did you cut the
eyes out in ice cube sized chunks? Here it is recommended to plant the cut
potatoes in the spring and the small whole potatoes in the fall.
Allen
Bastrop Co.,Tx
matt trahan wrote:
> We planted some Yukon Gold potatoes this spring. The above email is
> unfortunately, not the method we used. ;-)
> We tried the 3 foot round compost bin with 2 inch circles cut out of it.
> We used compost and dirt to fill it. We used 7-8 seed potatoes in a
> circle, with 2 in the middle. There was 1/4 mesh wire (hardware cloth)
> under the bed to keep out moles and voles. We filled it with sandy loam
> and 80% compost over time, up to the top of the bin. I waited till the
> potato plants were about 12 inches tall before covering half of them with
> another layer of compost.
>
> Just emptied it today. We got 1.5 pounds worth. And the largest was
> about the size of a large egg.
> This was done up in Surry, Va. USDA zone 7. The soil is sandy loam.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Matt Trahan, matttrahan@escu.campus.mci.net OR garden@juno.com
> USDA zone 8, AHS heat zone 7, Sunset zone 31, northeastern North Carolina
>
> _____________________________________________________________________
> You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
> Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com
> Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]