Should You Cut Potatoes Before Planting?
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- Опубликовано: 28 июл 2024
- It's officially tater time here at the Lazy Dog Farm backyard garden. We have 7 different varieties of seed potatoes that we'll be planting soon, so we need to start prepping our potatoes for planting.
Should you cut your potatoes before planting? Should you chit potatoes before planting? We'll discuss the pros and cons of each process and show you how we like to do it. We'll also tell you about some experiments that we'll be doing this year to compare different backyard gardening potato planting techniques.
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Love home grown potatoes. I love to hear them crack when you cut into them. I usually plant Norland, Viking and Kennebec. I just cut, let them dry and plant in 3-7 days depending on weather here in the FL Panhandle.
That is a great sound!
Seeing seed taters from about $5 for 5 at the box store, to 49 to 69 cents a lb fresh and starting to grow eyes from the feed stores. I will be happy with what the seed store offered. It was Kennebec, la soda, and Yukon gold. Made me happy.
That's a good selection. The feed stores around here usually only carry Red Pontiac.
I really appreciate the experiments you do. It gives us great information on how we treat our own gardens. Thanks for what you do.
Our pleasure!
My best yield of potatoes was my first time growing them. Yukon Gold planted whole about 2' apart. Size was no different than when I've cut them up but I feel like I definitely got more per row than when I cut them. It's worth noting that the year I planted whole was also the best spring weather I've ever seen for gardening. Nice long cool spring. Best garden I've ever grown all around.
A cool, dry spring always makes for a great taters crop. A hot, wet spring is bad for taters.
Yup, it's time, it's tater time. I've had chitting potatoes in my kitchen for a few weeks. I cut my potatoes and set the pieces to dry in used styrofoam egg cartons. I hill mine with a mix of soil and leaf litter that's been bagged by the lawn mower. Thanks for all the info. It has really improved my gardening.
That’s going to grow great. I have heavy clay muck so one thing I can do is just put taters right on top of the ground without burying them at all and then covering them with lawn clippings from the lawn mower bag every so often and growing them in a nice moist deep mulch. It sure beats digging in clay muck to harvest by digging through deep mulch.
Seems like the egg cartons are the preferred chitting method for small-scale gardeners. I've been seeing that quite a bit lately.
Great comment about the cost of hobbies and comparison to golf. You can probably buy 50 lbs of seed potatoes for the cost of one round of golf! Yes, store-bought potatoes are cheap, but if you compare the price of home-grown to organic store bought potatoes it probably isn't that far off if you have a good harvest. And home-grown taste so much better, not to mention as you said the added varieties you can grow at home. Most of my potatoes are from Wood Prairie but I also plant some organic potatoes from the grocery store. While those from Wood Prairie always out perform the store-bought, the store-bought ones also do well. I am in the Florida panhandle zone 9a. I plant in 5 gallon buckets and 7 and 10 gallon grow bags. I succession plant a few containers the first of each month starting 9/1 or 10/1 depending on the weather, with my last planting 3/1. I have fresh potatoes every month starting Dec/Jan until May/June.
That's great that you can grow them successfully in the fall. I've done it once, but it wasn't easy.
@@LazyDogFarm There's usually one month 's planting where I have to harvest early. That month has been different each of the past 3 years, which is why I succession plant. But even the early harvests produce some nice tasting potatoes, albeit small ones. I succession plant a lot of cool season crops. While it's guaranteed to be hot and humid in the summer, the fall, winter, and spring are much less predictable in my area.
There is nothing like new potatoes , love them . I planted 10 lb. one year and harvested 150 lb. haven’t been able to do it again ,lol.
That's very impressive to get a 15x multiple like that.
Small world! I ordered from Wood Prairie months ago before I knew that you were an affiliate. I got the Adirondack Blue, Adirondack Red and King Harry which just arrived earlier this week. I also have some Yukons left from last year's harvest which have sprouted and I will cut into chits to make room for them too. Guess I didn't store them correctly, but live and learn. I was planning on planting Saturday but here in NJ we have rain until Sunday. I would have planted Saturday had I not watched this video. Thanks as always for your guidance!
Glad we could help! Enjoy your tater time whenever it arrives.
Knowing you’ve grown your own potatoes, and what’s been put on them to grow, some may like to do it organically.😀🇦🇺
Yep. Knowing how they were grown makes it well worth it!
@@LazyDogFarm I grew potatoes for the first time last year. they taste better than store bought.
love the channel!
I'm a sulfur duster. I can't begin to guess the results of your experiments but they're all interesting. Starting in late June I'll be offering lively Colorado Potato Beetles to local gardeners at a quarter apiece, U-Pick-'Em.
Yep me too. I dust them too.
Although we have our fair share of pests down here, we're fortunate that we don't have to deal with those potato beetles.
@@LazyDogFarm I bet you'd trade those Colorado Potato Beetles for some of our Squash Vine Borers that terrorize those of us in the Southeast!
I've had great success against Colorado Potato Beetles using a dusting of wheat bran over the tops of the plants. Bugs eat 'em and swell up inside and die. This has to be repeated after a significant rain, but it really does work.
I sealed mine off with wood ash. A friend with a feed store said that's what he did and it worked perfectly.
A drinking game. Take a drink every time he says tater. You win if you make it past 10 mins.
Wait til Friday. You'll be wasted 2 mins into the video. lol
2 more inches of fresh snow , 14 degrees outside here. I love watching your videos. 😊
Bless your heart. Maybe all that nasty stuff will melt soon.
'sposed is a word in New Jersey too
I’m following your recommendation and I ordered those German butterballs and some cute fingerlings. Thanks for the good word! I’m doing small scale in grow bags. Gonna be FUN!
You'll like those butterballs!
I can't wait to get mine in the ground , just cut them today , I'm planting 3 types , red Pontiac,Yukon gold, and red La Soda , Great video Travis lots of good info that I'm going to put to use.
Sounds like you're ready for tater time!
Great tater growing tips and info. I have never grown them myself but this sure has motivated me to try growing them. Potatoes are one of our family favorites, and can’t wait to see how yours do. It will be interesting to see which ones turn out the best. Thanks for an awesome video Travis!!
Go for it Tim! Potatoes are one of the easiest and most rewarding crops to grow in the backyard vegetable garden.
Mine went in the ground this past weekend. Doing a bit of experimenting myself. I have some, Yukon Gold, Pontiac Reds, and a few Kennebec's I held over from last year. They looked pretty ragged but I think they will work out. I'm doing some in raised beds and some in the in ground plot. I also bought some from the local grocery store that were really nice and I want to give them a go. It was fingerling potatoes and I figured I would give them a try. I'm trying to produce so I can keep my own seed stock for self sufficiency. That seems to be what's trending around homesteads now.
Being able to produce your own potato seed stock is a very valuable practice!
Great video with a lot of info. Thank you Travis. Hope you have a great harvest . I’m excited to see the end result.
Thanks Ima!
I like how you speak of different parts of the country when you are teaching. I’ve grown in Alaska most of my life. We are moving to Washington and I can’t wait to learn about Washington’s growing season. I’ve always wanted to grow in different seasons. In Alaska there is freezing season, slush season. And spring. Lol the hottest it gets is 80 and that is rare. Thanks for the tips. Potatoes are one of my favorite crops to grow. 💚
Washington should be much milder for you and allow to grow a wider selection of veggies!
Hey y'all It's time its TATER time!! I got all my taters on order they will send them out to me when it is time. I got the beds prepared covered with a foot of straw keeping everything insulated and ready to go. In the spring I remove all the straw to another part of the garden. I cut my taters into 2-3 pieces 2 eyes each. I found the best thing to apply to the cut taters before planting is air, air is natural, plentiful, sustainable, its easy to work with and its free. I can't wait for mine to come. Y'all take care bye for now
Air is good. That's what we use.
We cut off a piece with two or three eyes and drop it in the ground, behind the shovel blade that we have just dug into the ground. As we lift the shovel back up, the soil falls onto the chunk of potato, burying it. So, the potato chunk ends up being about four or five inches deep. We step on that dirt as we drive the shovel blade in again about two or so feet away. We continue our rows this way until our patch is sewn. So, we cut and drop all in one process. Our soil is dry and light, so we don’t need to let the cut potato chunks “skin over”. During the season, we hill the potato plants twice. We plant in mid-April and harvest in late summer/early fall. We also irrigate our gardens, since our rainfall here is slight.
Sounds like a great technique!
Last year after chitting my potatoes I applied some of my stove ash while they healed over. I also applied some of the stove ash early winter and tilled in before planting. During the growing season I applied the Agrothrive 3 or 4 times and had excellent results!
Nice! Thanks for sharing your tips and tricks.
I’ve always cut my seed potatoes into pieces because that is what my dad taught me to do. This year I’m growing Russet and Yukon Gold. I am curious to see the results of your experiment. -never too old to learn something new! Thanks. Kate
Thanks Kate! Hopefully we get some conclusive results.
Pretty excited to see the results of your potato experiments growing in soil vs. straw. I started growing my potatoes in my spent straw bales from the previous years straw bale garden and just adding more and more new straw on top as needed. I love not having to dig my potatoes out of soil… Even in a raised bed. But I’m interested to see if I’m “missing out” on some yields. 😊
We shall see how the yields compare. Stay tuned ...
Thank you for sharing 😀
My pleasure 😊
I am excited about trying potatoes with straw. I garden at my sisters 17 acres but her soil is so hard and gooey. I have been adding additives like crazy but having trouble with potatoes. I am going to try compost and straw with potatoes in top of ground. Miss The kids and Brooklyn.
The straw method might be just the right trick given that soil situation.
Thanks for the info! I grew potatoes last year for first time. I bought organic bag of red new potatoes for 3.50$ they’re all growing green sprouts so I’m going to plant them to see what comes up. We have a deep freeze the next 2 days. Hope to plant by Saturday
Sounds like a good plan! Hope you have a bountiful harvest come spring!
I’m in 7a and I’ve grown the sprouts out bigger for the last few years because our soil isn’t quite warm enough when when we have to plant to keep them from rotting. We get hot fast, whenever Mother Nature decides like y’all but our winters are colder and pretty rainy. Not so rainy this year though.
Good point. If you need a head start, pre-sprouting is a good idea.
This year I purchased 50 pounds of red Pontiac potatoes. Really good seed, averaged between 3 and 4 cuts each potatoes with at least 3 eyes each. First time gardening in several years, looking forward to picking up the hobby again.
That's the variety that most of the feed and seed stores around here carry. You should try and get your hands on some Red Viking one of these years and compare them to the Pontiacs.
@@LazyDogFarm this will be the first year in the new garden. Time is killing me as we are in the process of moving. Next year I would like to try some new varieties, provided the economy doesn't completely collapse and we are all scrounging for what we can get. Planning to do a fall "seed" crop just to be safe. In years past I got a yield of 8 to 10 pounds for every pound planted.
Looks like you got your monies worth of potatoes in those five pound bags!!!! Grounds all ready to plant my potatoes, but they calling for a lot of rain on Wednesday here in Louisiana, hope it not a repeat of last Spring... ✌
A wet spring can be tough on taters.
Keuka is pronounced "cue ka". I am originally from WNY near the Finger Lakes where there is a Keuka Lake and this variety was developed nearby by Cornell University.
Thanks for the clarification Michael.
Trying me some Baltic Rose this year as well. Also Yukon Gold, Pontiac Red and French Fingering
Keep us updated with how the Baltic Rose compares to those others for you.
My taters planted in zone 9b.Thanks for sharing 🙏 😎 🏖 🏝
Good for you!
I only watch to monitor the Stache but I happen to like gardening too. It works out.
We appreciate you watching for whatever reason! lol
I use the straw method and if not covered well i tend to get a lot of greening on the spuds, i have to cover a couple times while they are growing to minimize this. But i do start the in 3 or 4 inches of dirt to start when planting.
Yeah that's one concern I have with the straw method, but we'll see what happens.
Excited to plant my German butterball next week
That's a good one!
Also, Potatoes are going up in price. The 5 pound bag of taters used to be 2.35 at our local grocery store. They are now 4.98
Wow. Been so long since I bought any taters from the store, I haven't kept up with it.
I did a small experiment based on seed potato size last year using kennebecs. I planted my smallest seed potato and my biggest seed potato around 4 inches deep in the soil, and gave them each a 3 foot diameter circle of mushroom compost around 6 inches deep for mulch. The small seed potato yielded 5.8 lbs of potatoes, the large seed potato yielded 12.4 lbs of potatoes. There was no signifigant difference in the size of the potatoes. So a bigger seed potato will definitely produce a bigger yield as long as there isn't any competition.
Thanks for sharing James!
I use wood ash to dip my potatoes in before planting
I've heard that works well.
Great show... Those are some interesting potatoes you found online... I cut my potatoes because yield per bag in my opinion will smoke the whole potatoes... I let my potatoes seal just like ya said.. But one thing I do that I didn't hear you mention is, I lay my potatoes out in the light, not sunlight just daylight with the warmth of the season, while they seal the eyes green up, it causes them to come up quicker and have more vigor... What I mean by vigor is come up quicker and more even.. Where the eyes have already just started the growing stage resulting from the warmth, light and airflow, the seed pieces are more ready for the ground, better vigor....
Makes sense. I bet that does give them a little head start.
The folks at Wood Prairie are good people. I chose Caribou Russet this year and got them in the ground MLK weekend. I usually plant them whole after a month of chitting. I'm doing 24' with a few left from a 5lb bag so sounds like my math was close to yours. Thinking Adirondack Blue next fall.
They are good folks. Keep us updated with how the Caribou Russet does for you.
Maybe next year I will have more room to expand my garden some. I just don't have room for potatoes this year, but I want to try them.
Might want to try a few in a bucket or two on the back porch. Then you can add them to the in-ground garden once you get more room.
Planted 250 pounds
Lasoda Kennebec Yukon Gold
Cut with lime coated
want to try sulfur next year
That's going to be a heap of taters!
@@LazyDogFarm
We share with our church family
Our gardens one is 75 rows x 160’
Second garden 40 rows x 120’
We have 2 Farmall super A’s and a International Cub we do most of the cultivation with
I can purchase seed potatoes(not organic) at various local establishments for about 1/5 the cost of the company in Maine where you got yours. The quality in this video looked great..
Yep. You pay more for the more rare varieties and the fact that they're organic. We like the old standby varieties, but also like trying some new ones every year.
Just sat down at my laptop with a leftover bowl of taters and gravy and the first video that pops up is LDF and Tater Time! I'm going to try grow bags this year. Still have about 3 weeks to wait (is it Tater Time?, Is it Tater time, yet?, Is it Tater Time?...) Thanks for all your informative videos!
Taters and gravy sounds excellent! Thanks for joining us!
From experience, most new potatoes developed above the “mother”. I’ve experimented planting the mother deep, this year I’m planting about half as deep as the new potatoes will be in a 6” range above the mother so I’ll also hill the dirt as they develop.
We usually only plant ours about 3" deep or so. I like to be able to scratch them with my hands as opposed to digging them with a fork. So we just pile soil on top of them as opposed to planting them deep.
Looking forward to seeing the results. I looked back at the pictures from when I tried this experiment and it appeared the whole planted potatoes produced larger potatoes. I did get a 10X harvest off those cobbler potatoes.
That's a solid multiple. Our cobblers did well too, but nothing could beat the Red Viking last year.
@@LazyDogFarm Man I loved the taste of those cobbler potatoes for mashed potatoes and potato salad but that thin skin doesn't protect them too well.
Super video.
Thanks Lin!
Travis hold off and plant them on the 16th it's a full moon. According to most Old Farmers you have best grow through full moon phases. I live out in Rio Rancho New Mexico I plan on starting all of my onions peas carrots and spinach outside. We plan on starting our Tomatoes chilies peanuts and sweet potato slips indoors. I've never planted with the phases of the Moon oh, so we'll see how this does. Where still having temperatures below freezing at night. We won't be able to start taters out here till mid-march maybe early April. Thanks for all the planting tips and advice. This is my early-season planting schedule for Zone 7A.
Personally I think the planting dates in the Farmer's Almanac are a little "safe." We're usually a couple weeks ahead of what they recommend for our area.
I find truth with that too. I tend to follow my County Extension a bit closer then anything. Their dates tend to be fairly accurate for most of their crops. Tis a few I'd do differently just by my own experience. Great to hear someone else's thought on it.
I’m learning to grow potatoes because I live in Hawaii and all the bags at the store have so many warnings from the things they are treated with to be able to ship them here. I’ve tried to grow some Molokai sweet potatoes, but the white flies were terrible. Trying some other varieties this time 🤞🏼
I bet it's tough to get good seed potatoes over there without paying an arm and a leg for shipping.
I.plant mys n February 14th. Also.i bed .my sweet potatoes.when my irspotates potatoes.when dig my irspotates.my sweet potatoes. Behind my sweet potatoes its d same dirt
We've followed potatoes with sweet potatoes many times. Seems to work well.
I will follow your potato crop with great interest. Cliff at Castle Hill gardening plants whole potatoes but rubs out all but three sprouts, that would be an interesting test some day. Another test I would like to see one day would be comparing the yield of home saved seed potatoes verses the same variety of certified disease free potatoes!
Klaus
All great ideas! I will consider.
The straw on the potatoes is the Ruth Stout method. It has alot benefits....if hilling is not your thing. But its a heavy mulch method....back to eden...Ruth stout the principles are the same.
yes sir the red ones grow good in the potato grow bags the russet are just two big for ma zone 7 the little ones do better ,,, ya good old wholesome fun for the fam and a good 50 pounds last a good long time...
Sure does!
Curious, you grow a ton of potatoes, do you have a root cellar to store them in...
The heat you have is similar here in the desert, although we dont have the humidity, but storing potatoes here is a big challenge...
Love your South Georgia and accent here in Suwanee Georgia. Try this experiment on one tater. Simply lay it down on the ground and keep it heavily, I mean heavily mulched with leaves, hay, straw, whatever. I mean keep it mulched so sun don't get to that tater and it'll grow just like the ones in the dirt, only you don't have to hill it or none of that. Set it down... cover it...forget it. Don't even have to water it. "Set it forget it". Try it...Please...
That basically what we're going to do with our straw experiment. Stay tuned to see how it compares to our traditional tater growing methods.
I've been using straw for years. I dust cut pieces with sulfur, mix bone meal in the dirt, and then plant them about 3 inches down. When I see the plants coming up, then I pile straw around them. That's it. I keep them well fertilized but I don't hill. If it looks like I need more straw, I go ahead and place more. But it is really maintenance-free. I always seem to harvest around 150 pounds from five 25' rows, potato pieces spaced 2' apart. I get a variety of sizes. That's enough potatoes for us for a year. The only worrisome part about the straw is trying to making sure it has not been sprayed with herbicides, etc. That is a concern.
Thanks for sharing Val. Can't wait to try the straw technique this year to see how it compares to the way we traditionally grow them.
For dust I use ashes. It’s what I use on my Japanese water yams ( Nagaimo, Dioscorea opposita ) and African white yams ( Dioscorea rotundata ) . The idea there is the same with potatoes you cut, allow to dry somewhat then dip in ashes and store until planting time. Cooked they are close to and used in cooking just like potatoes but you get one gigantic heavy tuber in one dig effort versus digging up a ton of smaller tubers with taters. I’m still growing taters, my Yukons are all sprouting thanks to putting apples in the top of the tater bag.
I've heard about that apple trick ... something about ethylene gas I believe?
@@LazyDogFarm yes, you got it!
How ya gonna plant taters without "Tater Time" Titus there to help? LOL!
Planting some "bought" Kennebec Whites and some "saved" Yukon Golds this year. The Yukons are from last Spring, so they're not pretty, but they're sprouting well.
He'll be there come planting time. Don't worry. lol
I know you mentioned dry soil. I will be planting in 17 gallon buckets. Did you mention temperature to plant? I'm in East Texas zone 8A (around I-20 Louisiana line) and we will have temps as low as 28° this week and looking like around 30° next week. I think it has been much colder this year because we have had a lot of lows in the 20s.
Aim to plant about two weeks prior to your average last frost date. That will give the potatoes a few weeks to emerge, and hopefully you're done with freezing temps by the time they do.
You need potato goggles to protect those eyes.
Are those like ski goggles, or will sunglasses suffice?
@@LazyDogFarm Wrap-around sunglasses might be best as they could help with the hot sun later on.
I'd assume the uncut potatoes are gonna bunch up and consequently give smaller potatoes. But then again your soils gonna make good potatoes either way...
That would be my assumption as well, but we shall see ...
When are you taking us to the farmstand
We'll try to get some footage the next time we do it.
Hey Travis….where did you get those burlap sacks? Love to get some.
My mom always cut her taters and dusted the cut area with sulfur…. I’ve got a bag, and will do the same this year..
Got them on Amazon. Paid more than I wanted for them, but they should last a long time.
I beat you to it 😁. I cut mine about a week ago and already put most of them in the soil. I bought one of my varieties from the grocery store. I washed them really well with antibacterial soap, dryed them good and set them in a egg carton in the window and they sprouted within days. My Yukon golds I did buy organic seed potatoes.
You're on the ball Mary! I've seen quite a few folks using that egg carton method for sprouting them.
I'm a fan of the egg carton method, too.
You mentioned Maine potatoes. The tater country around Presque Isle (pronounced "presskyle") Maine is beautiful. Folks don't generally associate Maine and taters, but they grow oodles of them. If you ever get a chance to see that country, take it, and bring your fishing pole :) If I ever get tired of basically no winter, and the heat here in the deep south, that is where I'm going...no question about it.(grow me some summer cabbage lol:) If you grow in containers or bags chit your spuds down to 1 or 2 eyes, or you'll have a bucket of golf balls :) don't matter if you use cut or uncut. In other words remove all but 1 or 2 eyes from each piece. I'm really interested on how those Wood Prairie varieties do for you, I always buy a tow sack full of what ever the feed store has :) Anyway..tater time! he hee boi! :)
I've been to Portland, Maine once for a conference and got to visit the big LL Bean stores up there. But I'd love to go back and explore more.
Hi Travis, I plant both ways, cut vs whole tater...I prefere to plant the smaller seed potatoes whole, the larger potatoes are cut up and allow to scab over..why? Because when I pull up the plants for harvest, the whole potato can be present rotten, smelly, and slimy. Can't be good to have a slimy, moldy object in the tater row/container..personal choice, never had a production issue, just about even by weight. Blessings.
Makes sense about the whole potato creating more moisture in the soil.
Pine needles works good on potatoes , looks like you have a lot if pine trees.
Those aren't ours, but we do live in pine tree country!
Travis, Sean from Rio Rancho NM. Another experiment you should do or one I'm going to try is planting with the phases of the moon. You should plant some of them on the full moon plant some of them after the full moon and watch to see if the moon phases affect the plants growth in a positive way. They say the old timers planted off the phases of the Moon??? Which will be better planted on the full moon or planet after the full moon? I'm going to try this with my taters. Since I have a full moon tomorrow I'm going to put my early season crops in the ground with the full moon. Never tried planting with the phases of the moon just kind of curious if there's any positive benefits or if it's just all hype. Happy planting my friend. The family and I enjoy the videos and tips keep it up.
I've been doing that experiment for years. I've never paid attention to the moon and thus have planted on a wide range of moon phases. lol Doesn't seem to matter at all. If you want to quickly debunk the moon planting idea, ask someone who does why they do it? They don't have any scientific explanation for why they think it works.
I look into this High strangeness myself and I think it comes down to them people that follow books. Only book I can find talking about the moon phases was the Farmers Almanac. I was just curious if there was any truth behind it or if it was all folklore. Thanks for your input sir. Happy gardening.
Do you fertilize the potatoes? If so, then what NPK fertilizer do you use. Do you fertilize frequently? Do you add limestone or other minerals to the soil?
We use a somewhat balanced fertilizer on potatoes (relatively equal amounts of N-P-K). We'll put Nature Safe 8-5-5 in the furrow at planting, then we'll side dress at the first and second hilling.
I predict taters galore! Your channel is just so wonderful and I appreciate your teaching for us to learn!
There will be taters upon taters!
Do you overhead water your potatoes or just rely on rainfall? If you water how much or how often per week?
We will overhead water them with the tripod sprinkler if the leaves start to wilt. But we don't water them near as much as we do other crops in the garden.
I’m in zone 7 in NC when should I be planting potatoes? I have all mid term varieties
Two weeks before your average last frost date is a good bet.
Thank you! Know I feel comfortable about trying to grow taters.
Go for it! Potatoes are pretty easy to grow once you get the hang of it.
lets go....its almost tater time!
Almost!
Well, your tater time signals 2 weeks for us! All of ours have big sprouts, we shall see how they go
Time to get the dirt ready!
Do you get a problem with the Yukon Gold being hollow in the middle? I'm curious if the Keuka Gold has that issue. When you were 1st saying that Kennebec was not going to be in the mix, I was a bit confused since I knew you had a stash of them to use as seed potatoes from the fall. :) I ordered Eva, Kennebec and German Butterball and have Superior, Yukon Gold and a few russets I saved from last year. The smaller ones I plant whole and larger ones I will cut. Superior makes some great (pan fried) browned potatoes.
Haven't tried superior, but it sounds like a good one. I haven't ever had issues with the hollow heart on Yukons or really any potatoes for that matter. I'll see it every now and then on a couple of them, but it's usually not widespread.
@@LazyDogFarm ok thanks. Yukon Gold is the only one that seems to have a problem with hollow heart. At least for the varieties I have grown.
I just started a couple trays of onions and it’s my first time so my question is this....
Do onions get leggy? I’m in zone 6 so I’m starting indoors. Any tips or tricks are appreciated. Thank you
They might look a little thin in the beginning. But once they get some good roots going, they'll thicken and stand up straight.
Some of us garden for more than a hobby. I am on Social Security (75) and the cost of food is increasingly a problem. growing for fun is great but return on investment becomes more important each year. Included in this is storage, if we have a large crop that goes bad before we eat it, it's a problem. For us it's #1 Return on investment #2 nutrition #3 Easy to grow. We tend toward no till, heavy mulch, seed saving and soil building. We mulch with Live oak leaves and Pine straw also constructing a cool room for storage.
I get that. Not sure if you grow many pumpkins or winter squash, but that's a great food source that stores extremely well. They do take a bit of room to grow, but well worth it IMO.
@@LazyDogFarm Butternut squash as they keep really well.
Purple fingers delicious
How much Agro Thrive do you put in your drip system tank?
Usually a cup or two. I don't measure it, but that's a good approximation.
Travis, I got the tater itch a little early and we had a night time freeze down to 26 about a week after I planted them. they were planted about 6in deep and i covered the bed with tarps and plastic before it got cold. do you think they will be alright and still come up?
They'll be fine. You just don't want the leaves to freeze when they emerge from the soil.
What do you think of horse manure compost? I checked into the bgcompost you got but I do not own a truck so do you think they have the huge bags to put compost in? I have a lot of red clay in my soil. About 6 inches of good soil then red clay. (2) 4 X 8 raised beds a (1) 4 X 4. Then (2) 15 X 25 inground beds.
I love growing potatoes. It is like going on a treasure hunt to dig them. What fun. I have done the Ruth Stout growing method where she does not cut them she just throws the whole potatoe down and covered them with straw. My kind of gardening. I am 75 with back trouble. So I am limited. My red potatoes did a lot better than the white potatoes but my girls liked the Russett baking potato better. I am not sure they will grow in Macon, GA. I have cut mine and let them air dry last spring and they did good. I am looking forward to growing corn this year. Silver Queen and another sweet variety.
I don't think they have big bags for the compost, but I bet you could find some of those big bags on amazon. They're pretty tough and reusable.
Home gown potatoes are scrumptious. Store bought don't come close. Also store bought potatoes are considered one of the dirty veggies when it comes to pesticides used to grow them. I have never had any need to use chemicals on my potatoe crop. They are easy to grow and pretty inexpensive to purchase. I get them from a local greenhouse that sells them in bulk so I get what I want.
If we have a dry, cool spring, we usually don't have to spray ours. The mustard cover crop prior to the potatoes really helps too.
@@LazyDogFarm What are you spraying for? (Insects/disease.)Just wondering if the spray used is not organic why spend more $ for organic tators. Is your spray organic? Also I have never heard of determinate or indeterminate potatoes. I'm up north in central, Iowa and at least my experience is they don't keep growing past a certain point which is usually no more than a couple of feet then the vines brown up and the crop is made. Good Friday is a traditional planting time here. Thanks for the good info.
I have never grown potatoes in my gardens, I have some russets that are going to eyes. I usually just peel and pressure can them but wondered if they would grow in the garden? Would I do better to just buy some seed potatoes? I’m in AL zone 7b.
If they're sprouting, they should grow. Sometimes grocery store potatoes can be treated with something to keep them from sprouting. But if you have sprouts, you should be good to go! Just be careful to not break the sprouts during planting.
@@LazyDogFarm thank you
I planted my Yukon Gold taters 3 days ago in containers and this morning the top inch or two was frozen . The potatoes are about three inches down . Do you think this hurt them at all ? I’ve grown a lot of things over the years but never grown taters . I’m just up the road 25 miles from you .
They should be fine in the soil.
Got my seed taters at a local mom and pop feed and seed for .80 lb. Question. Why aren’t you growing any russet style potatoes. I sure would like to see that so I’d know which ones to try myself.
I never have tried any russet types. We prefer the yellow-flesh potatoes above them all, but we do grow a few white ones.
The color is not the attraction. It’s the size. I’d like to grow some of them gret ole bigguns!!!!!!
Do I need to wait for the last freeze to plant potatoes I’m in 8a.
Aim to plant about two weeks prior to the last freeze. They'll be fine in the ground and usually take a couple weeks to emerge from the soil.
👍👍👍👍👍
We always coated ur potatoes with sulfur powder after cutting them. My husband said it helped to dry them out after cutting & keeps the bugs from infesting them after planting. He’s gone now, but I still use they sulfur powder. Don’t really know if it makes a difference or not????
Some folks swear by it. I've never used it, so I can't knock it.
Do the potatoes have to have sprouts before planting? And if I cut them before they sprout, will that affect them negatively?
They don't need sprouts to plant. And cutting them before they sprout won't affect them negatively.
@@LazyDogFarm thank you!
Can't way to see the results of the "to cut or not" trial.
Stay tuned ...
Stupid question. What tiller is that? I am sure you mentioned it before but I can't recall. I have rented a few tillers to do my garden and they were all terrible. The last one was a rear tine tiller and it was the worst experience of my life.
It's a Grillo G85D. A rear tine tiller is much better than a front tine tiller. Those front tine tillers will beat you to death. It's like operating a jackhammer.
@@LazyDogFarm Thanks for the reply.
Almost Tater Time!
Almost!
I believe my daddy used sevin dust on the fresh cuts.
Interesting. Never heard of using Sevin on them.
Yes, cut your potatoes! In the least, you will get more seeds to plant….watch this:ruclips.net/video/AY5jSt5_rnQ/видео.html
I could see if you have a family but I'm on my own now. Family has all passed away and friends so doesn't pay for me to grow them.
Sorry to hear that. Glad you still are enjoying gardening though.
Golfing is way more expensive, and you can't eat golf balls. What fun is that???
Correct!
How come you don't support your father's hoss business anymore?
I resigned from there in April of 2021. We're enjoying using products and working with a wide variety of companies here on the Lazy Dog Farm channel.