My mom used to cut her potatoes the day of planting, dig a hole, fill the hole with water, letting it soak down, then refill , put a sheet of crumpled newspaper in, add 2-3 eyes of potatoes, and then cover the potatoes with the dirt from the hole. She always had a good crop, even planting sometimes July 1. Up in northern Alberta by Bonneville.
@@frankie-lounelligan7050 it seemed to hold the water in and the potatoes weren’t watered after that because they were in a far field. They were mostly neglected until harvest., except for being hilled once. Red Norland potatoes they grew very large. I may also have encouraged the right kind of fungal growth- myccorhizal
Thanks Frankie, you are my guru! I have been looking for indeterminate potatoes for 2 years and all of the greenhouse staff look at me like I have 5 eyes. Red Pontiac here I come!
I know Daunine. I worked at a Garden Centre and we were never provided that info by suppliers. The indeterminate ones that tend to be available the most around here are Russet Burbank, Bintje, Red Pontiac, Butte, German Butterball and Elba. Would love to see how your harvest turns out! Are you thinking of trying them in the tall grow bags?
Less than 90 days in between frosts!!!! Oh my! I have a 143 ish day season and I thought that was short! Southern Minnesota zone 4. Lol, and the southerners are planting their gardens in Feb 🙄 not jealous or anything… Good video Thumbs up Love ur kitchen too
I had no idea!!! WOW!!! Thank you for sharing! I mounded every single potato that I've planted over the last few years and always ran out of dirt! I looked into trenching and that was a bit better or just digging a super deep hole, but i always dreaded it! Now to figure out which ones store well!
Just planted 250 hills of deternate potatoes, I'm laszy. I don't like all the hilling and fusing. I know I know you get more potatoes if you hill em. So now I know that that is not true. Deppends what you plant is what you will get back. Thank you for the most informative presentation.
I’m so happy you found this helpful. If you like spinach, I would also recommend growing Orache. It’s a close relative but does really well in harsh conditions.
@beckywolfe734 we are in Little Smoky. Moved last August so are trying to learn the same. Hoping to build a greenhouse this spring so this year will have to start some things inside.
I like determinates for the exact opposite reason that you do. I'm in an 8A pushing a 9B, and my first crop goes in February 1st. It suits me better to have three growing seasons for determinates, as opposed to a few more spuds growing indies. The thing about Pontiac reds, however, is that they finish out in the same amount of time - at least here - as determinates, so that might be the best of both worlds if I hill them and they still finish up early.
That’s pretty cool….or should I say hot! It must be so great having the potential of getting 3 potato crops in one season. Those red Pontiac’s are pretty awesome no matter what you do with them. I hope you get great crops this year
So helpful! I always thought you had to hill potatoes! I was wondering if I could use soft, wrinkled potatoes as seed potatoes for this year? They were from last year's crop, but not stored properly.
Are they producing sprouts Nicole? Why not try putting some in a sunny spot and see what they do. If you can get some nice juicy colourful sprouts out of them, you can use them for seed, as long as they aren’t actually rotting.
@@frankie-lounelligan7050 I ended up putting the ones I had in the compost. I had cut them and all but maybe a cm became hard as a rock and I figured they probably wouldn't have produced a thing. I just saw a reply you gave to someone earlier that they need to be misted so they don't dry up. That makes too much sense haha. I've made my note so I can do better next year.
@@blusec oh Nicole, I’m so sorry that happened to you. I’m afraid that I probably should have clarified as a bright location instead of saying “sunny spot” as it sounds like they may have dried up completely with too much light/heat. I hope you will try again next year. I experimented this year with some chitting starting extremely early and have plants coming up from potatoes that were chitted for 20 weeks…but they weren’t in direct sunshine. Thanks for letting me know. I will be sure to be q whole lot more specific in my potato prep videos in the future. This is exactly the kind of feedback I appreciate
Have you tried any kind of unheated poly row cover or hoop house? Most years if you can get through the first fall frost then you can get another month of growing into September or even October like last year. Because the ground is still warm, it doesn't take much to keep above freezing in September for a few nights.
I don’t have a hoop house myself but have seen how great they can be. I have a friend who has one in Golden and they were harvesting veggies until well into October for just that reason
Great info! Thanks. :) Last summer I planted a bunch of pots and a barrel of potatoes. Placed 3 - 5 cut pieces in about 4" of soil and covered over, gradually adding more soil as the greenery grew, until the pot was full. They were beautiful plants and produced fairly well. I don't know what kind they were. Perhaps pontiac, but not sure. In this application you would suggest using indeterminate for the best production, correct? And should a person gradually add the soil as I did? Or plant the chitted potato seed on the bottom and immediately fill the pot or barrel all the way with soil?
It sounds like you did it just right, and this is a great method for indeterminate potatoes. When working with indeterminates, if you want to increase yield, you can force more tubers (ie potatoes) to grow if you keep adding growing medium onto the growing plant. It’s always best to start with a seed indeterminate potato planted in about 4” of loose, rich soil and add as the plant grows. What you did was perfect!
@@frankie-lounelligan7050 I think I once read somewhere that if planting determinate potatoes in pots or barrels, to plant several layers, a few inches apart, rather than just the one layer on the bottom. Do you think that would work as well? I feel like there would be a LOT of greenery. Might be too dense for the upper layers to poke through. ??
@@beed3202 yes, I’d be worried about the same thing when planting determinates in a pot. I have had great success with 3 or 4 chitted chunks all planted 4” deep in 5 gallons pots. I think that any more than that would be too dense....could be wrong, but what I’m doing is working for me
Frankie Lou -have the potatoes you put in 5 gal buckets in your greenhouse popped up yet? Mine haven’t and I put well chitted potatoes in 10 days ago. You said they were quick to grow so just wondering.
Hi Frankie Lou: Is there any good reason for not filling up your pot that you have your determinate potatoes planted in right from the beginning? I majority of folks I have found online say to plant at 4", fill to 6", and then to top when foliage is 6" tall. But one gardener said it wasn't necessary to do those stages. Would be interested in your thoughts. Thanks as always!
If you are using determinate potatoes, there is no benefit to adding more soil. Adding more soil will cause indeterminate potatoes to produce more tubers, so it totally depends on what type you are planting. I plant mostly determinates with the short growing season here so I usually don’t add more soil. Last year I was experimenting with planting indeterminates in bags but I didn’t find I got a whole lot more. Probably not enough space in bags to really make a difference. This year I have planted all determinates and I’m just plopping them in the soil that is filled to the top and I’m leaving them be
@@SharonLynnWilliams I put them probably about 4-5” deep in the buckets and bags. My plan is eat them while they are still young (I love them like that).
Thank you for sharing. I’m very new to gardening. I live in Calgary, Ab and I would love to grow indeterminate potatoes in 5 gallon buckets. Do you recommend waiting until after May long (usually our last frost) or could they go out sooner since they’ll remain in buckets and not transferred into the ground… aside from covering them with mulch, would it help if I covered them with a kind of tarp to get them outside sooner? Thank you!
I have done what you plan to but I wouldn’t leave the buckets out if the temps are freezing at night because the potatoes in the buckets will actually be more likely to get damaged than ones in the ground as there isn’t as much soil surrounding them. I placed my buckets in my greenhouse that is heated at night when I started them early and moved them out to the garden in early June. I’m not sure a tarp would do the trick to keep the buckets warm enough….I may have to think more about this one!
Last year May and early June were exceptionally wet. I planted potatoes in ice cream pails (will get bigger buckets this year) and had dollar store tarps at the ready to cover the pots when it poured. Just be aware that too much water in containers can rot the potatoes. Good luck. I’m still eating my potatoes.
I haven’t found one single list that is absolute (and I’ve even found conflicting stuff on sites) but this is a pretty good article about varieties and I agree with most of the classifications made in it. When I finally get our website up and running, I will include a list of ones that I’ve actually grown and checked myself. In the meantime, I hope this is helpful: laidbackgardener.blog/2020/04/05/determinate-and-indeterminate-potatoes/
@@frankie-lounelligan7050 i have them on my window sill..and some have molded..perhaps didnt move them enough..and some appear to be dry..too dry..the others have nice thick green sprouts..probably have been on sill for 3 weeks...wonder if i could put them in a pot now...seems like if i wait 6 weeks..they will all be shrivelled up
@@kimhanson7589 I would remove the moldy ones so that doesn’t spread. I find keeping them in cardboard egg cartons really helps with mold. Maybe move the others out of direct sun now and give them a little light misting every once and awhile so they don’t completely dry out
@@kimhanson7589 I just had a terrible thought. Are you sure that the potatoes aren’t actually moldy, but just have developed callouses? I just had another person think they had moldy ones and they weren’t. The chitted potatoes develop a hardened callous that can resemble mold. I wish I could shoot you a picture.
My mom used to cut her potatoes the day of planting, dig a hole, fill the hole with water, letting it soak down, then refill , put a sheet of crumpled newspaper in, add 2-3 eyes of potatoes, and then cover the potatoes with the dirt from the hole. She always had a good crop, even planting sometimes July 1. Up in northern Alberta by Bonneville.
I’ve never heard of that before! I wonder what the benefit of the newspaper was?
@@frankie-lounelligan7050 it seemed to hold the water in and the potatoes weren’t watered after that because they were in a far field. They were mostly neglected until harvest., except for being hilled once. Red Norland potatoes they grew very large. I may also have encouraged the right kind of fungal growth- myccorhizal
I just ran into this term a couple of weeks ago shopping for tomato seeds. Great explanation
Glad it was helpful Marshall! I hope you and your lovely family get to enjoy lots of tomatoes this year
Thanks Frankie, you are my guru! I have been looking for indeterminate potatoes for 2 years and all of the greenhouse staff look at me like I have 5 eyes. Red Pontiac here I come!
I know Daunine. I worked at a Garden Centre and we were never provided that info by suppliers. The indeterminate ones that tend to be available the most around here are Russet Burbank, Bintje, Red Pontiac, Butte, German Butterball and Elba. Would love to see how your harvest turns out! Are you thinking of trying them in the tall grow bags?
Less than 90 days in between frosts!!!! Oh my! I have a 143 ish day season and I thought that was short! Southern Minnesota zone 4. Lol, and the southerners are planting their gardens in Feb 🙄 not jealous or anything…
Good video Thumbs up Love ur kitchen too
Glad you enjoyed the video! Those of us with shorter seasons have to use every trick in the book, don’t we?
Thank you for another great video.
Thanks so much. Glad it was helpful
I guess I got lucky the first time I randomly chose russets! I had no idea. Thank you!
They are a great potato for forcing more tuber production.
Great information, thank you.
So happy you found it helpful!
I had no idea!!! WOW!!! Thank you for sharing! I mounded every single potato that I've planted over the last few years and always ran out of dirt! I looked into trenching and that was a bit better or just digging a super deep hole, but i always dreaded it! Now to figure out which ones store well!
Glad it was helpful!
Great knowledge! I have small growing spaces, so am thankful for this advice!
Thank you! I love learning something new!!
Thanks for the good explanation! I had been trying to figure this out. I'm in Saskatchewan and have short season too so this really helps!!
I’m so glad it was helpful Melanie!
Just planted 250 hills of deternate potatoes, I'm laszy. I don't like all the hilling and fusing. I know I know you get more potatoes if you hill em. So now I know that that is not true. Deppends what you plant is what you will get back. Thank you for the most informative presentation.
I’m not a big fan of fussing either! So glad you liked the video
Helpful info..thanks!!
So happy it was helpful!
Great info - we just bought a property near Valleyview and I'm trying to learn all I can about what I can grow here in such a short season.
I’m so happy you found this helpful. If you like spinach, I would also recommend growing Orache. It’s a close relative but does really well in harsh conditions.
@beckywolfe734 we are in Little Smoky. Moved last August so are trying to learn the same. Hoping to build a greenhouse this spring so this year will have to start some things inside.
Good vid. Thank you for a nice clear explanation. I'll be growing red Pontiacs in Ontario. :)
I’m so glad it was helpful
Nice kitchen, nice tips, and nice lady. Thanks!
Thanks so much! I absolutely love our kitchen. When I first saw it 8 years ago, I knew that I had found my home.
Thanks. Im trying both varieties this year. Grow them in buckets as high as i can. Thanks
Awesome! Would love to hear how the harvest goes
I like determinates for the exact opposite reason that you do. I'm in an 8A pushing a 9B, and my first crop goes in February 1st. It suits me better to have three growing seasons for determinates, as opposed to a few more spuds growing indies. The thing about Pontiac reds, however, is that they finish out in the same amount of time - at least here - as determinates, so that might be the best of both worlds if I hill them and they still finish up early.
That’s pretty cool….or should I say hot! It must be so great having the potential of getting 3 potato crops in one season. Those red Pontiac’s are pretty awesome no matter what you do with them. I hope you get great crops this year
@@frankie-lounelligan7050 Thanks, and similar well-wishes to you as well!
So helpful! I always thought you had to hill potatoes!
I was wondering if I could use soft, wrinkled potatoes as seed potatoes for this year? They were from last year's crop, but not stored properly.
Are they producing sprouts Nicole? Why not try putting some in a sunny spot and see what they do. If you can get some nice juicy colourful sprouts out of them, you can use them for seed, as long as they aren’t actually rotting.
@@frankie-lounelligan7050 I ended up putting the ones I had in the compost. I had cut them and all but maybe a cm became hard as a rock and I figured they probably wouldn't have produced a thing.
I just saw a reply you gave to someone earlier that they need to be misted so they don't dry up. That makes too much sense haha. I've made my note so I can do better next year.
@@blusec oh Nicole, I’m so sorry that happened to you. I’m afraid that I probably should have clarified as a bright location instead of saying “sunny spot” as it sounds like they may have dried up completely with too much light/heat. I hope you will try again next year. I experimented this year with some chitting starting extremely early and have plants coming up from potatoes that were chitted for 20 weeks…but they weren’t in direct sunshine. Thanks for letting me know. I will be sure to be q whole lot more specific in my potato prep videos in the future. This is exactly the kind of feedback I appreciate
Have you tried any kind of unheated poly row cover or hoop house? Most years if you can get through the first fall frost then you can get another month of growing into September or even October like last year. Because the ground is still warm, it doesn't take much to keep above freezing in September for a few nights.
I don’t have a hoop house myself but have seen how great they can be. I have a friend who has one in Golden and they were harvesting veggies until well into October for just that reason
Great info! Thanks. :) Last summer I planted a bunch of pots and a barrel of potatoes. Placed 3 - 5 cut pieces in about 4" of soil and covered over, gradually adding more soil as the greenery grew, until the pot was full. They were beautiful plants and produced fairly well. I don't know what kind they were. Perhaps pontiac, but not sure. In this application you would suggest using indeterminate for the best production, correct? And should a person gradually add the soil as I did? Or plant the chitted potato seed on the bottom and immediately fill the pot or barrel all the way with soil?
It sounds like you did it just right, and this is a great method for indeterminate potatoes. When working with indeterminates, if you want to increase yield, you can force more tubers (ie potatoes) to grow if you keep adding growing medium onto the growing plant. It’s always best to start with a seed indeterminate potato planted in about 4” of loose, rich soil and add as the plant grows. What you did was perfect!
@@frankie-lounelligan7050 I think I once read somewhere that if planting determinate potatoes in pots or barrels, to plant several layers, a few inches apart, rather than just the one layer on the bottom. Do you think that would work as well? I feel like there would be a LOT of greenery. Might be too dense for the upper layers to poke through. ??
@@beed3202 yes, I’d be worried about the same thing when planting determinates in a pot. I have had great success with 3 or 4 chitted chunks all planted 4” deep in 5 gallons pots. I think that any more than that would be too dense....could be wrong, but what I’m doing is working for me
Frankie Lou -have the potatoes you put in 5 gal buckets in your greenhouse popped up yet? Mine haven’t and I put well chitted potatoes in 10 days ago. You said they were quick to grow so just wondering.
Yup, I posted a picture one of the groups today. I will do a quick post in the Wintersowing group so you can see it. They are looking nice
Adirondack sounds like:
Add-Uh-Ron-Dack 👍
Thank you!
Hi Frankie Lou: Is there any good reason for not filling up your pot that you have your determinate potatoes planted in right from the beginning? I majority of folks I have found online say to plant at 4", fill to 6", and then to top when foliage is 6" tall. But one gardener said it wasn't necessary to do those stages. Would be interested in your thoughts. Thanks as always!
If you are using determinate potatoes, there is no benefit to adding more soil. Adding more soil will cause indeterminate potatoes to produce more tubers, so it totally depends on what type you are planting. I plant mostly determinates with the short growing season here so I usually don’t add more soil. Last year I was experimenting with planting indeterminates in bags but I didn’t find I got a whole lot more. Probably not enough space in bags to really make a difference. This year I have planted all determinates and I’m just plopping them in the soil that is filled to the top and I’m leaving them be
@@frankie-lounelligan7050 how deep did you plant them in the bucket? Your plan is to harvest them as baby potatoes right?
@@SharonLynnWilliams I put them probably about 4-5” deep in the buckets and bags. My plan is eat them while they are still young (I love them like that).
Thank you for sharing. I’m very new to gardening. I live in Calgary, Ab and I would love to grow indeterminate potatoes in 5 gallon buckets. Do you recommend waiting until after May long (usually our last frost) or could they go out sooner since they’ll remain in buckets and not transferred into the ground… aside from covering them with mulch, would it help if I covered them with a kind of tarp to get them outside sooner? Thank you!
I have done what you plan to but I wouldn’t leave the buckets out if the temps are freezing at night because the potatoes in the buckets will actually be more likely to get damaged than ones in the ground as there isn’t as much soil surrounding them. I placed my buckets in my greenhouse that is heated at night when I started them early and moved them out to the garden in early June. I’m not sure a tarp would do the trick to keep the buckets warm enough….I may have to think more about this one!
@@frankie-lounelligan7050 thank you so much. I appreciate your input. ☺️🌻
Last year May and early June were exceptionally wet. I planted potatoes in ice cream pails (will get bigger buckets this year) and had dollar store tarps at the ready to cover the pots when it poured. Just be aware that too much water in containers can rot the potatoes. Good luck. I’m still eating my potatoes.
Where can I find the list of determinate and indeterminate potatoes
I haven’t found one single list that is absolute (and I’ve even found conflicting stuff on sites) but this is a pretty good article about varieties and I agree with most of the classifications made in it. When I finally get our website up and running, I will include a list of ones that I’ve actually grown and checked myself. In the meantime, I hope this is helpful: laidbackgardener.blog/2020/04/05/determinate-and-indeterminate-potatoes/
🇨🇦👨🌾Another awesome Canadian gardener! Just posted a FUNNY Potato Chit video!
I will have to check that out!
Here’s a sub and please share the love!
how long do u let yr chitted potatoes sit before planting them?
Hi Kim, usually 6-8 weeks but they can be started as early as 16 weeks prior to plant out as long as you must them occasionally so they don’t dry out
@@frankie-lounelligan7050 i have them on my window sill..and some have molded..perhaps didnt move them enough..and some appear to be dry..too dry..the others have nice thick green sprouts..probably have been on sill for 3 weeks...wonder if i could put them in a pot now...seems like if i wait 6 weeks..they will all be shrivelled up
@@kimhanson7589 I would remove the moldy ones so that doesn’t spread. I find keeping them in cardboard egg cartons really helps with mold. Maybe move the others out of direct sun now and give them a little light misting every once and awhile so they don’t completely dry out
@@frankie-lounelligan7050 i removed the moldy ones...they are in egg cartons..but i will do the misting for sure...thanks again
@@kimhanson7589 I just had a terrible thought. Are you sure that the potatoes aren’t actually moldy, but just have developed callouses? I just had another person think they had moldy ones and they weren’t. The chitted potatoes develop a hardened callous that can resemble mold. I wish I could shoot you a picture.