Red Potato Harvest: How I Got 10X Yield
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- I planted 5 lbs of red seed potatoes in a 15' box and harvest almost 50 lbs of nice sized red potatoes. I did not mound or hill the potatoes. I fed them once a week and let the automatic watering system water them for 1-2 minutes a day. It couldn't have been easier. I tried for two years to grow potatoes in a potato box but never had any harvest. The potato boxes were definitely more work with no harvest. The 4'x4'x4' boxes really grew great potato plants but yielded no potatoes. Next year I think I'll double the space for potatoes since using the Mittleider gardening method is so much easier and yields are so great.
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I use one of the mixtures recommended in the Mittleider Gardening Course book (see the link below the video). I use 75% sawdust and 25% course sand for all my garden beds. I plant everything in that. It is very inexpensive and works great!
You can double or triple your yield if you will pick the bigger potatoes as the ripen. You can see the ground swell a bit...letting you know you have a potato that's ready to pick.....I get around 100 lbs. from 4 potato pieces- plants- using this method. Why? The potato plant will continue to feed the larger potatoes and starve the smaller ones.....Pick the big ones and more will grow- mature. Also, if you allow the top greenery of the plant, to die and turn brown before harvesting It gives the potatoes a tougher skin to store them with---That will be the last harvest I'm talking about.........They store longer....much longer. Hope this helps you.
So wait for the leaves to dry out so I know they're ready?
Thank you for your advice. This year was my first harvest of red potatoes. I planted 4 lbs and got 59 lbs but the plants were green and had so many Lil taters on them. I wish I'd have let them keep growing and just took out the big ones. I bet id have 100 lbs. Will do it next year
depends goals if ray villifane carve face on potatoes want big possible breaking. I like let go leave brown die. that point no more potatoes get.
Wow, so good to know, thank you! 😀
I planted for 35 years now this year planted 4 - 100 foot rows of red potatoes seed pieces dropped 8" apart in row, always cut pieces, with fertilizer 5-10-15. When plant breaks through fertilize again and bed completely covering plant. When breaks through again bed cover completely another 4". Using drip water for whole garden when turned on. Harvested 15 bushels. In 1980 planted same way 100 # seed potatoes, gather 150 bushels, 14 rows did not get dug.
LDS Prepper, Thank you for all your hard work. I think sometimes people forget that somethings in life, its not as easy as going to the store. We need to teach the next generation how to grow and not just go buy what they need. Its crazy all the negative comments people leave without doing their own research, plus I find people giving negative comments about gardening has never grown their own food. Keep up all the hard work!
true for you, it is up to us to teach a better way
Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. LDSPrepper on your 1st potato harvest!
I planted my red potatoes 70 days ago. Local dirt and peat moss. The plants are growing like crazy. I am hilling as they grow. Hope I have as good a harvest as you did.
I built a raise bed and used your planting method. It worked excellent. I have picked a couple potatoes and the were amazingly large & beautiful. I am harvesting them all tonite. Can't wait! Thank you for sharing your experience!
So do I. There is nothing like a great harvest to re-excite you about gardening. Best of luck on your harvest. I think the main reason I harvested so much for so little is because of the natural mineral fertilizer I use.
Excellent. It is really easy to mix, just read and follow the instructions that come with it and remember to water it in with a soaker hose immediately after applying. Since it is water soluble you need to water it in.
That's awesome. It has been said that a good potato farmer can get 10lbs of potatoes for every pound they plant. I'd say you are close enough. Great job!
who said that martha stewart. just buy the potatoes and store them, just don't use them all. If ww3 starts then go plant some. If you just like to waste time and money than carry on.
I love picking potatoes, it’s like Easter egg hunting!🤣
when i lived in lower alabama I was hungry and tried growing my potatoes in the sandy soil there. During the winter!! They were somewhat protected as the place was surrounded by trees. They got most all day sunshine and never got a chance to flower. When in Late January I dug them up because a deep freeze there burnt the greenery on them, i was so happy to find I actually had a bunch of potatoes. Love your videos and am sharing this one. Happy Gardening.
My wife already made potato salad with some of these and used the onions, chives, etc. from the garden in the salad too. It was delicious! It is actually all gone (eaten in one day). She is making more tomorrow. :)
Those look really nice and I'm liking the fact that they are so easy to harvest! When you have to use a tool to dig them up you always end up poking or slicing some but yours came out like a dream! I also like how clean they are straight from the bed. Awesome! Take care :)
Well done, potato peel from the kitchen works just as well, laid on the surface and covered with compost.
If I may add another comment: You mentioned that you had a couple of unsuccessful harvests for potatoes. Well then we're all learning together & Congrat's on this success!
Correct. That is why we use a balanced natural mineral fertilizer that we mix ourselves. That way we know the plants are getting all the nutrients they need to grow healthy and produce fruit.
Fertilizer half through growing season because the sand and sawdust are good for large potatoes but do not have nutrition to increase your yield.
I love the easy harvest technique due to using sand & sawdust!
Since ideal seed potatoes are ~2 oz. each and you started with 5 lbs of seed potatoes, then you must have had ~40 plants (i.e. 5*16/2). With a yield of 48.5 lbs / 40 plants, your average yield per plant = 1.2 lbs.
If you planted your potatoes 10 inches apart with 34" between rows, your acre yield would be ~220 cwt (ie. over 22,000 lbs of potatoes/acre). For comparison, some commercial operations grow 400 cwt/acre in some TX areas--so your small patch actually did quite well when compared to professional producers!
Nice harvest, the first thing I noticed was how clean they were impressive. well done.
Always fun to watch a potato harvest. Good work.
Gardening With Puppies I
It makes sense that you would have a good yield from that "soil" mixture. Potatoes need an acidic soil to produce well and saw dust will make the soil acidic. Congrats on your harvest. Feels good to provide for your family
wonderful harvest from five pounds of potatoes. I am thankful for the gardening method you are sharing. I did the lasagna method this year with my potatoes, haven't harvested yet, but I hilled them 4 times and it was back breaking work. I will post a video when I get my results. Great job and thanks for sharing.
I also harvested some of my purple potatoes today and ended up with 2.5 gallons of potatoes from 3x3 feet in a geobin compost bin. 75 days to harvest. I was pretty excited that they turned out.
Thank you. I finally found a gardening method that everything grows in. I'm excited.
BTW, the 60 lbs of Mittleider fertilizer will fertilize a 30' long garden box for 7.6 months if you fertilized every week. That is a long time. For most people that would be a year supply of nutrients for their garden.
Good idea. The Mittleider Gardening Course book that I have a link to below the video really makes successful gardening easy. It is a step-by-step book that leads you directly to healthy plants and big harvests. Enjoy.
90# is an awesome yield. Good going! I kind of moved the leaves out of the way and sprinkled the nutrient mix above the watering line as best as I could. I then come back and water it in with a soaker hose. I can't really see when all the nutrient mix goes but by watering it in it seems to get to the plants.
I have been planting potatoes for 20 years and I am telling you that you get more and bigger potatoes if you mound the rows! I get around 100 lbs out of a 12 x 12 box.
***** A couple pounds cut carefully will do a 12x12 box nicely! I make three rows hilled up and plant in top of the hill about 3 inches deep. As they start coming up I hill them again. Digging them from hilled up rows is so much easier!
What I do is make a real nice mounted row and then I stick the seed potato in the top of the mound about 3 to 4 inches deep. As they come up I will remound them but I don't worry about covering the plant if it happens or not that's ok what I do worry about is making sure any potato that might break thru is covered. Putting them in the top of the mound allows them to grow down into the mound making really big potatoes and more than normal. I have gotten 10 and 12 to one plant instead of the normal 5 to 7. Some of them are so big I can't get my hand around them. Remound after each rain.
Yeah! I'm excited! My wife has already made two large bowls of amazing potato salad. Yummy!
Just for comparison. Near your place there in Idaho, a good potato farmer is planting about 2600 lbs. of seed potatoes per acre, and harvests between 500-700 cwt. of potatoes per acre. That is between a 20X and 25X production increase. Of course, he is growing a different variety, but it just shows how productive modern agriculture can be.
That's great! We live about 1.5 hours north of Houston, and I'm seriously considering trying this method, based only on the yields I've seen you get through your videos. Thanks for posting!
Oh and Congratulations of a job well done, now you will be able to enjoy the fruits of your labour.
One thing that should have been mentioned was that he got as many potatoes from the cut pieces as he did the whole potato. Thus proving if you cut them into pieces(as long as they have a couple of eyes per pc) you can grow twice as many potatoes. Based on 16 lbs for 1/3 , 32lbs for 2/3, then he said rest was pieces and he got 48.5.
I had the exact same thing happen two years ago (2011). I cut the barrel into three rings, and as they got taller, I just added rings and filled with soil. They grew all the way out the top, and then fell over. When I broke down the barrel, not a single spud. I think the roots get too hot in the elevated barrel, so the plant just doesn't fruit. That's all I can figure.
My harvest this spring was not 50 lbs, but I certainly didn't plant 5 lbs either. I probably got 5x yield.
each stem comes from an eye. planting pieces or whole potatoes with multipule eyes that are located a half inch or more apart on the piece will give the best chance of multipule stems in my experience. Thanks for another great video.
Thanks for the recommendation. I have Kentucky wonders growing up strings in another part of my garden. I like to keep my plants separated so when they are spent I can remove them without disturbing other plants.
I just learned recently that there are DE-terminate and IN-determinate potatoes. The DE-terminate ones you do NOT mound up with dirt, the IN-determinate ones you do. Irish and Red Pontiacs are DE-terminates and do not need mounding. The "baking" potatoes (ones with thick skins and are a "late" grower) are mostly IN-determinate and you should mound the dirt up to get more potatoes. Would love to see you dig your bed deeper, plant some Russets, filling the bed only part way up, then every time the plants grow another 10 inches, hill them up 8 more inches. Bet you'd get 15x, maybe even 20x your yield!
My potatoes are planted in between two layers of barley straw from bales that are a year old. I will be hilling them up soon, probably with some wood shavings since I'm growing things in most of my other bales. When I do, I'll add a mixture of Fox Farm Soil Conditioner mixed with Espoma organic green sand (which adds potash and is from Glauconite) for fertilizer. Your potatoes look delicious! Congrats on a great crop!
Yes, please see my "Mittleider Garden: Automatic Watering, No Drip Irrigation, Soaker Hose, Sprinklers" video.
I use the Mittleider gardening method. (See the video description below the video for more info and links). I water daily and feed them weekly. They are growing in 75% sawdust 25% course sand as per the Mittleider Gardening Course book instructions. I got great results with really minimal effort.
I've eaten my sweet potato leaves... I just picked a bunch, cut off the stems and then cooked them like spinach. They were good!
It costs me $42 to mix 60 lbs of Mittleider fertilizer. It would cost me $230 to get the same amount of MiracleGro, if I were to buy it. I can't think of a less expensive way to feed your plants and get such great harvests. Just something to consider.
Fantiastic! I have had trouble growing potatoes, but am going to try this method now.
Great harvest! I think they loved the sand and sawdust they were in.
That was the best potato growing video I've seen! Nice looking beds and irrigation. You've done a great job. Congrats!
Very nice load of potatoes. I enjoy growing them and eating them.
That is exciting! I love harvesting!
Good job on the harvest. I have been growing potatoes in the garden, in pots inside and out side, and in the compost pile. I get a small harvest from every location with little effort. In pots and in the compost I plant kitchen cuttings and I am very pleased with the results. In the garden I like using seed potatoes. I would recommend you place your potatoes out in a sunny window and get them to sprout. When you see the first sprout pop up, knock it off. Then watch as the potato will send out bunches of sprouts, and this is when you plant them. The more sprouts, the more stems, the more potatoes, simple really. And as mentioned earlier, mound them too.
Keep dig'en.
What a wonderful harvest!
Yes, completely organic. I use mined mineral fertilizer that I mix myself using the Mittleider Magic Mineral mix. Everything I use is approved by the USDA for certified organic farming. We share/give away about 90% of what we produce. I planted red potatoes, that is the variety. I'll do the same next season and probably plant more next time.
WOW great crop of potatoes you've got there
Really awesome video! You harvesting the potatoes was very exciting, and I can't wait to plant my own.
The initial setup up of the garden is a one time thing. He can reuse the irrigation equipment and most everything else.
When I was growing up we had 3 - 3 acre gardens and used a Farm-all Cub tractor to make the furrows and plow the weeds and grass.
As for irrigation .... well we did not have it. The gardens were from 1/4 mile to 2 miles from the house.
I was the one to drive the tractor using a middle buster to dig the potatoes up. many times we would get 1,500 lbs of potatoes.
Those were the days...
D. Hansel: in 1979-81 my foster parents had a half acre garden that fed (6) foster kids at a time as we raised 150 broilers & 75 turkeys in 4H too. We won 1st place & Reserve Grand Champion in Poultry Division @ County Youth Fair & took 4 turkeys to auction in Houston Livestock Show. Our 2 top turkeys auctioned for $15,000 (I laugh now bc my Ex husband got less for his Grand Champion Steer in Wilco in 1981!) I learned later the judges @ County Youth Fair had gone ahead of us & told all the people @ Houston Livestock Show that if they heard of our town name? we were foster kids! Those people were awesome! If I had been allowed to repeat like that? I would have gotten my entire college paid for! I'm almost 50 & still trying... I was adopted by a family who couldn't pay for it (not to mention their daughter went to UT) but I have always & still want to go to A&M for Ag. Economics. I've taken a test at community college that tells me I'm naturally good at this, maybe bc of that experience? I'm looking for land that I can set up a few green houses and coops just to get started, but my Ex taught me how to raise Longhorns. I've done research @ DFW & think I like Beefmaster & Brangus better... he's said I can mix them. :D even better! Now I'm trying to get reset financially to get this all setup. pray4it!
You should totally replant that box again with rainbow fingerlings and do a video for soil preperations and plant spacing.
I'm happy for you! They look so good.
Thats awesome,, so easy to dig and they come up pretty darn clean.. I'll bet there some good eating at your house tonight!! Blessings!
remember potatoes are part of the root of the plant. Nitrogen grows leafy green the phosphorous and potassium (p and k) are more essential in growing potatoes. sorry, i know you weren't asking me but I had just been reading up on a potato growing guide from the county extension office.
Thank you for posting your results on your potato grow. I'm into my third year of growing potatoes and my yields are nothing near what you are pulling up in sand & sawdust. Cooler climates usually have better success with potatoes, but you seem to be doing just great. i think some of your commenters forget that a lot of potato varieties are not available in grocery stores & farmers markets. The quality greatly outweighs anything you can buy through a supermarket chain. You can also get an inexpensive belt sander or, mulcher, or chop saw to cut tree & woody tree branches from pruning that make great source of toxin free sawdust.
Derek Miller do you water your potato like him
stephen groves
No. I have heavier soil so I'm guessing that it retains more moisture... But the loose draining soil is obviously what I need.
do you feed your soil eg like put on cow manure in winter, plus if you get no rain for 3 or 4 days in summer i would water them [ if water is free if you pay for what you use do not water at all]
stephen groves
I water every day, but I should till in some manure in the winter. I just use compost & my top soil.
yes, potato need manure i know this as a farmer i know have only got his cow's for the manure [i know you can buy man made potato food,but its better to feed the soil in winter than the potato when growing]
Thank you for posting this. A lot of good stuff goin on here.
Never grew potatoes before, thought saw dust depleted the soil of nitrogen, , had a compost heap, plenty of old saw dust (1 year old from chainsawing 10 tonne of firewood ) a couple of bags of red potatoes I bought from the supermarket not eaten with eyes forming, It all came together after seeing yore video LDSPrepper, all these ingredient came together today, and planted also aprox 5 kilos of red potatoes,I think having the compost pit made the decision to add potato growing to my vegie garden
glad to know sawdust does work -- I plant potatoes every year in 5 -- 100 foot rows about 30 or so pounds of cut up seed 8" apart -- only need about an oz. per piece to plant using 10-10-10 --100 # before planting and 50 #s at each of 2 beddings -- 2013 product 14 bushels-- 14 x 30 = 420 #s and yes whole potatoes will grow but why waste seed -- we eat the seed potatoes not planted very good
Did you know that pressure treated lumber contains many chemicals including arsenic that will leach into the soil when it is rained on or gets wet from your watering system, and potatoes in particular will take up whatever is in the soil since they are a root crop. Same with any other root crop including carrots, radishes, sweet potatoes, beets, etc. You really should replace all of the sand/sawdust soil and start again fresh and use non treated lumber for all of your garden construction.
They stopped using most of those chemicals back in the early 2000s
I have been using treated wood for a long time now, have not experience any health problems that can be contributed to these listed chemicals.
belita ross: Many poisons take a VERY long time to build sufficiently in the body to be noticed at all. Suffice it to say that once you notice any symptoms, it is much too late to avoid the damage that has already been done. Why would you trust the manufacturers of the lumber with your health and just assume that you are fine based on your own self diagnosis. (cancer is present in the body for 10 to 15 years before it is even detectable by oncology doctors) The solution to the problem is so easy and the risk still so entirely real that it is inconceivable to me why anyone would take even the smallest chance at all with their health, no matter what mainstream media says about the risk.
Are you willing to gamble your health on what corporate America tells you about something they manufacture? As a whole, they don't exactly have a reputation for being open about health risks posed by it's products. Remember DDT? How about nicotine, gmo crops, and hydrogenated oils just to name a few things that are potentially harmful or even deadly that they are MORE than willing to lie about. Go ahead, use treated lumber......I wouldn't.
dellasmom I use corrugated steel (like roof panels) with the support of the treated wood on the OUTSIDE! It is sturdy, raised above the ground level, and keeps the treated wood away from the veggies.
What a great solution to a "sticky" problem!!
Hi L.D.S.P. - - you've got some great ideas here Sir & I believe your method (along with some of your commentor's ideas as well), will be most advantageous to my Wife & I. Thank you very kindly for posting this!
The recommended is 16-16-16. If I had only 10-10-10 or 20-20-20 available I'd buy the 20-20-20. Check feed stores in and out of your area. I have to drive 25 miles to find 16-16-16.
great harvest.i would love to try growing potatoes this spring for sharing.
Great video! I'm looking forward to harvesting mine from an 18 gallon tub this year.
Amazing! My sweet potatoes are barely coming up now! I thought they had died, but I was mistaken. Beautiful garden.
awesome results
LDS prepper, Thank you, that helps.
10x3 or 20x3 will work. If I had to choose I'd get the 20-20-20.
New potatoes go good with green beans and bacon mmmmm mmmmm. Nothing better.
Make sure your seed potatoes have at least three eyes when you plant them. That should do it.
Great video. We're starting a small garden so your advice about growing from seed was really helpful!
did you know you can eat sweet potato leaves? You can use them in a stir-fry. Judging by the plant, it looks super nutritious so I would take the opportunity to do so. Just make you peel off the hard stuff on the stems before cooking.
So do I. :) But I just couldn't make it happen. And as I see other videos on youtube they had the same disappointing experience.
I like what you did there....Sand and sawdust Amazing, But use Comfrey or nettle juice next time for your feed.
What a great video. Thank you!! Tamara Blickhan
My small town hardware shop sells their seed potatoes for $.50 a lb. They are small, dry and full of eyes. You get a PILE of taters per LB. I'm hoping for easily a 20X yield.
If there was no difference between what the whole seed potatoes yielded vs. the cut sections, just think of how many pounds of potatoes you could get with 5 lbs of seed potatoes cut up. It would create many, many more plants. You'd possibly get 20X yield, or more.
I LOVE your channel! This is only the 3rd vid I've seen and I am a fan.
AWESOME!!! Thanks for all your help.
This is a great idea for people using raised beds, in the backyard, and cities. I REALLY liked how these came out so pretty and clean. We have a 1/2 acre garden and digging potatoes is backbreaking. I wonder if I could get hubby on board w/ this idea? :)
Do you use a forest fungi 'soup' to break down the sawdust, that is how the nutrients are made available for the plants.
Thank you am going to try growing some potatoes excited
I'm probably a bit late but well done I know what its like to keep religiously taking care of something for months getting all exited about the big reveal to end up with nothing,You are now my potato Hero. Remember the guy last year with the tires that was so sad .Next year its Reds for me do you know the name I'm English but I found some purple Cherokee tomatoes this year.
Very good harvest. Congrats!
Awesome yield
it makes you feel like a kid again.
what did you feed them once a week with?
Youve got my curiousity peaked for this Mid Atlantic gardening method. My mother did organic and made her own mix...but sand and sawdust? She would probably laugh. Makes sense that it would be lighter and hinder growth less.
Wow u should sauté those sweet potato leaves. They are super healthy just like spinach and kale.
to Jessica, THX!
i have access to pond and spring water, compost from my wooded area, leaf mulch-some maple, some oak, some pine needles. huge amount of mulched leaves from two years of saving. a patch with sun...ugh...mostly shade. AND a huge desire to grow my own food and can or dehydrate it. i am new to country. i did raised beds in city with success, but never root plants. about 2 acres of shade. about 1 acre of water fed run off from Amish farms in sunlight-that part is hard soil. my shade part is soft. My pumpkins in hard soil were fantastic. but i want FOOD! any suggestions? i kill everything it seems. but this year, hope to get better. i love to cook for others...but it would be nice to cut the bill
I love potatoes... Go figure, I am an Irishman. I live in North Carolina and recently cleaned out a portion on my yard, removing bush stumps and whatnot. Initially I wanted to plant tomatoes in there, but after watching this, I want to grow red potatoes. Would I be able to grow both using this method?
or apply 1.5x the amount you would apply of 10-10-10. so if you apply 1lb of 10-10-10 you would want to apply 1.5lb to get the same amount of 15-15-15.
if you want 20-20-20 than simply double the 10-10-10. You will have to adjust your micro nutrient ratios.
I think though if you use higher fertilizer numbers you might burn the plants if you are not careful.
Good job! Great results and an easy harvest.
Tater salad, anyone?
Thank you.
I did that last year. I couldn't make it work. I got lots of green growth but no potatoes.
very nice update!!