Hilling Potatoes with Straw (How to do it and why straw is a great option)
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- Опубликовано: 28 сен 2024
- Hilling potatoes provides many benefits to developing tubers. Learn a few of those benefits here, along with why I've chosen to begin hilling my potatoes with straw. After using soil, wood chips, hay, and straw to hill potatoes over the years, I've settled on straw this year, and I explain why.
Although the video shows hilling potatoes in my ground bed, I also am using this method for my potatoes in my raised bed as well.
Beginner's Garden Podcast: journeywithjil...
Episode 10: Even a Beginner can Grow Potatoes: journeywithjil...
Elizabeth says, Thanks so much for this very needed information, especially that you've tried so many different types of covering. Also, one VERY IMPORTANT aspect is that you begin potatoes by planting in a trench. I started on a ridge row of raised soil. So hilling-up (covering) with my soil, and compost meant a lot of wheel barrowing and depositing. Well that necessitates my row getting wider and wider to sustain the added covering on top next to the potato stems. So I quit that and since using rice straw one time years ago, I returned to the use of rice straw. I didn't know that hay caused a problem, so am glad you had the experience, Jill, to inform us. I live in far north California and it's very dry here. I think the problems of pests and disease on any garden vegetable plants is caused mainly by humidity, which we don't have, so I have seldom ever had pests and disease. I used wood chips for years and never had a problem, but straw is easier to haul. Jill, I have read and read about hilling-up, but needed to actually see it done in order to be reassured how I was doing it. So, thanks for your channel. You do a great job!
Best explanation of why to hill potatoes. Thank you from a new Gardner.
Thank You for this very informative video, I have looked elsewhere & just could not find my answers. This is my first time growing potatoes in Sugar Cane Mulch (Australia) & I am having great results (only early growing yet)- you have helped me with some questions I had, also new Subscriber to your channel. Cheers Denise- Australia
2nd year of doing the Ruth Stout method but I used a bale of straw from previous year and it must have gotten infested with snails/slugs. They are eating all of my leaves. I also use grass clipping that have dried in the yard or on a sidewalk for a day or two. The grass clippings are best on the Tomatoes.
I do the grass clippings for my tomatoes too. Only a couple of weeds occasionally. Plus it provides compost material for next years crop
Great advice. Thanks!
I have fresh wood chips, thanks for the video I'll use that this year.
Thank you! I've only finished one small bucket since I started growing potatoes this year, I have 10 more buckets going now, but I think I need to switch what I hill up with, so now I need to hunt down some straw, thanks again!
I use hay. I used straw this year..and my garden was overrun with straw weeds! It was horrible! Never had that issue with hay. 🤷🏻♀️
would lawn grass work just as well?
@@happyentertainment8003 I've never heard of anyone using lawn grass, I'm still a novice and learning a lot after 3 years now. I will try anything to learn the hard way. But no clue about lawn grass, sounds like a bad gamble....
@@groverscorner2364 I've been trying it out with my potatoes, I'll tell you if it works out. Thanks for telling!
and also you dont have to work so hard at hilling the straw. you can put the straw right on top of the green tops. they will grow right through it.
There’s something inspiring about a woman working the soil and playing in the dirt.
I’m thinking of using semi-composted leaves on top of my hilled plants. This a good idea?
Or will the semi-rotten (dry mixed with damp) compost cause ROT?
Dunno...
Good question. It probably depends on your climate. We get a lot of rain in the spring, so that might be a concern for me with "too much" moisture, but if you live in an area without rainy springs, it might be a good thing.
Thank you for this interesting video!
Thanks so much, you’ve helped me make my decision!
Enjoyed the video thank you
Grazie. Bravissima.
Hi I have a question. In the past I have hilled potatoes with pine straw and it worked very well. This year however, I can't get pine straw so I used ordinary straw thinking it would work just as well. Well there must have been a lot of seed in that straw because now I have a LOT of grain sprouts on my hills (dunno if it's oats, wheat, barley, rye etc). I am concerned that it can suck nutrients from my potatoes and am also concerned about how to get rid of them without damaging tubers. Any good advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Very informative and entertaining video. …do you clean up the straw or will it be compost ? Thanks again
Just let it stay in the garden; it breaks down quickly adding organic matter to the soil.
Did you video the harvest to let us see how it all worked out? Did you get lots of potatoes? Thanks
No, I didn't. We ended up getting a lot of rain, which made the blight worse. So my crops suffered that year. I did notice the early blight didn't get to these as fast as they normally would have. I'm hoping to get a video of this year's harvest soon, though. Stay tuned!
Great information, thank you so much. Also, does anyone know if there is a variety of potatos that do better in the south?
I'm testing a few based on my interview with Jim Gerritsen of Wood Prairie Family Farm (episodes 238 & 239 here: journeywithjill.libsyn.com/) but basically the shorter season varieties are best suited so we can get a harvest before the heat sets in. I'll be sharing my experience with them on the channel later this year.
Can you use pine straw?
How much potato green leaves out of the ground and not covered
I try not to cover the leaves much, mainly the base of the stems.
I'm gonna give straw a try. Thanks cutiepie.
Great video and very informative. How did the potatoes turn out when using this method?
They did okay. It wasn't my best harvest, but we got so much rain, which always makes a difference in my climate. The early blight, which is always a problem, didn't occur as fast using this method as it does using just soil, so I still use it because I believe it helps that.
@@thebeginnersgarden Thank you! I will try out this method next year (I'm being plagued by early blight right now, so I'm game to try anything). Appreciate your insight and all your hard work!!
Thank you Jill. very valuable information. what's your location and zone ?
Arkansas, 7b
@@thebeginnersgarden Really???...OH wow, I am also in Arkansas, zone 7a. I am about an hour from Fort Smith? If you don't mind, how far from Fort Smith? Thank you for sharing your hilling potatoes because I have one row growing using straws...just didn't know how to hill it although I heard people talked about it but just never know the reason why and how...well, you nailed it. THANK YOU:)))
When do you add the straw? When they are already up
Yeah, when they are about 6-12" high
Do you need to add the straw right away or can you add after the plants have come up?
After the plants come up. I usually do it when they are about 8-12" tall.
Elizabeth says, I've noticed that when the plants are nearing a foot tall, which happens to be when they really need hilling-up, that's exactly the time they are blooming and thus producing right after, and the hilling's already been done a short time before hand to protect the tubers from being toxic/green.
Hi do you have a vidio with the results. thanks from susan
No, I didn't get to it that year, but I plan to this year, hopefully.
Can you use leaves?
Can you just plant the potatoes deeper instead?
Yes you can. I actually did that in my raised beds where the soil was more loose, and I didn't have to hill the potatoes with as much straw. I just choose to hill because my native soil has heavy clay content and it's rigorous work digging that deep. But if your soil is loose, that would be a good choice. Plant deep but don't cover all immediately; just cover as the crop grows.
Elizabeth says, Exactly! It pays off later on to in the beginning plant in a trench no deeper than 4 inches.
Unfortunately most straw is sprayed with glyphosate (RoundUp) whereas MOST hay isn’t grown with harmful chemicals. Glyphosate will contaminate your potato (or garlic) crop and prevent germination of seeds sown in straw beds. As described in the video, not all hay is suitable either; but I’d choose unsprayed hay over straw any day.
I'm not sure if there are differences in location, but the men at my local farmer's co-op told me the opposite. It's the hay that is sprayed (in my area I believe it's 2-4D). If the straw is sprayed, it's not as devastating. Personally, that has been my experience. When I mulched with hay, my soil was contaminated clearly with herbicide damage as shown through my gnarled tomato plants. But when I've used straw, I have never had that experience. I do agree that unsprayed anything is always better, but it's not always available everywhere.
We have farmed for years and don't know of anyone that sprays roundup on wheat. It will kill the wheat. Most people here grow winter wheat so by spring it has outgrown any weeds that might compete, except for maybe a few, unlike crops planted in the spring.
Elizabeth says, Glyphosate has such a short life-span. Like Jill, I've used straw and never suffered any problem. She's absolutely right. The hay is the product of the straw. It's what they want to be disease-free, not the straw, it's not sprayed.
Beutiful
No need to hill potatoes, they will grow anyway
dont plant any squash near straw or mulch cover. you'll battle squash bugs and lose.
What a good idea!! Just a heads up though ( I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned it yet) but, where I am, straw has as good of chance, if not more, of chemical residue. I'd watch the source of that as well.
as she mentioned, if you can't get organic straw, don't use it. In the end any dried ORGANIC material (clippings, leaves, hay, straw, whatever) will work
I use the grass clipping from my yard
Love it! I just got myself a straw bale and am very excited to use it this year with my potatoes. Thank you Jill x
I dont put taters under ground i lay them on the ground then cover heavy with straw.
Do you get a lot of potatoes this way? Did you dig a trench for them then the straw? We're thinking about trying it this way. We live in Michigan.
Wondering if you’ve tried pine straw for hilling? Also, how often do you do this? Thanks so much!
I'm doing that this year. Can even use the dried out leaves, and dried pine needles-straw. The fresh green needles are what add slight acidity, not the dried.
You really know lots about gardening, thanks for sharing 👍
Great video so helpful THANKS!!!!
Grass clippings for me.
This year is my first year for using straw. So far no weeds and the plants look healthy and are just starting to flower. The cost may be a bit higher at first ($7.50 a bale in my area) but no weeding is worth a coupl of bucks. Just have to wait till harvest time to see the yield b/4 I start jumping for joy
How did they come out? That's how I am doing it this year.
Can I hill with grass clippings ( no chemical )?
Yes, that should be a great option (haven't personally tried), but make sure you let the grass clippings dry a bit. You don't want fresh clippings on your garden because they'll form a matte and repel water. But dried (crispy) grass clippings should work great while providing nutrients to your soil in the long-term!
@@thebeginnersgarden Thanks for the tips, happy 2020 gardening season.
Elizabeth says, Actually it depends where you live. Here in far north dry California, I use fresh grass clippings all the time and it never matts, even after drying. Humidity does the matting.
I am growing burbank russet potatoes they are indeterment potatoes. How high do I hill them, thanks
U should have put straw on at planting
Good video, thanks for sharing 😊
Great info, thanks!
Is Alfalfa hay ok?
I'm in Mexico...I have to assume they are using herbicides😒
It depends on what it has been sprayed with but if it hasn’t been sprayed I’ve heard it’s a good choice.
What's the recommended thikness of the straw layer bed? 30cm?
I've never measured it, but I'd say six inches or so.
Hello Jill ...Just subscribed! We just moved to 3 acres in Tennessee and what grew in California ...well, whole new ballpark. I always had tomatoes in bloom March through November ...but my 1st summer here - tomatoes didn't come until end July and then ...all at once. Heart breaking! Thankful for your channel where you explain why things are done this way. I will be planing potatoes as well ....we have an old bail of hay that was bush hogged and left to rot. Is this hay bad to use? Should I try baking some on low heat to kill off fungus? Thank you!
I wouldn't be as concerned with fungus as I would residual herbicide. Only use it if you know it wasn't sprayed. I used herbicide-tainted hay once and it poisoned my tomato crop.
Elizabeth says, When you purchase, ask for sterilized hay (the process kills seed, especially weed seed). Yes, it costs more. Hay is much more expensive than straw.
Tennessee can get some cold snaps in the winter which will help kill off some of the insects. I'm in northern Ohio and cold winters can be rough but it means a lot less bugs for the following summer
Amazing!
What Zone are you in?
7b
@@thebeginnersgarden My first year to attempt potatoes. I am using hay in my zone 8A/B garden and crushed leaves in my zone 9 garden. Inexpensive straw is a problem to find in both areas.
i’ll have to get a few bales from a neighbor. glad to see you back Jill!
Elizabeth says, Try rice straw. It's cheap and has very few rice seeds to come up. No problem.
I can't tell from the video, do you cover any of the lower leaves? Or just hill up against the stem and allow the leaves to rest above the hay?
I try not to cover the lower leaves, but sometimes it happens. I don't worry too much about it as long as most of the leaves are above the straw.
@@thebeginnersgarden I think you could continue to add hay asthe plant grows in height, Maybe 3 to 4 feet even. You may want to try that in the future and see how it works. I think you could get more potatoes by doing that.
I have been using straw purely for animal bedding and then composting it separately because I presumed the pesticide was on it as well. Is that not the case? Or do you need an organic source of straw?
I asked one of the workers about this at the Farmer's Co-Op from which I bought the straw. He said the same troublesome herbicide that is usually on hay (aminopyralid) is not used on straw crops. He couldn't guarantee the straw wasn't sprayed with something, but it wouldn't be that. So far, in the years I've used straw for various purposes, I've never noticed a problem. They hay, however, poisoned my garden last year.
@@thebeginnersgarden That is interesting. I will do some testing with it. Thanks!
@@DebateDeliberate No Chris I grew up on a farm. Wheat which is where the straw comes from is not sprayed. It is very resistant to bugs and disease. Therefore no bug sparay or herbicides.
I was wondering if you could come hill my potatoes. Just kidding. Great videos.
Leaves work very well also.