A crop you need to learn how to grow.

[LEaSH]

Not really a potato but sweet potatoes I found easier to grow in my garden, which is basically a hole in clay filled with topsoil.

Do you have good production with sweets? I'm all up in that. I've never grown sweet potato.

 

[smokingman]

Do you have good production with sweets? I'm all up in that. I've never grown sweet potato.

We have grown sweet potatoes and the yield is usually higher than our regular potatoes for the same space.

If you want to try something really fun try sugar beets.They mature in 90 days.Then you shred them and boil.Drain the water into a new pan,slow simmer until you have a thick syrup.Place the syrup in a food grade bucket.The syrup itself will work as sugar would(ie if a you need a cup of sugar you need a cup of syrup).If you wait at this point it will slowly crystallize in the bucket(over months)and you can brake and crush the crystals into normal white table sugar.Link to some heirloom sugar beets...
Sugar Beet Seeds - Sustainable Seed Co.

This is the form of most commercial sugar sold,though they apply a chemical processes(sulfur dioxide) to speed the crystallization.If you have a sweet tooth or need sugar to make preserves you can not beat the sugar beet for shtf.

 

[bwframe]

Not really a potato but sweet potatoes I found easier to grow in my garden, which is basically a hole in clay filled with topsoil.

I have a sweet potato bed nearly ready with black plastic under grass mulch killing the sod. I had a sweet potato sprout in the kitchen that has went pretty crazy. The plan is to remove the mulch, till and replace the black plastic to mulch the slips.

We have grown sweet potatoes and the yield is usually higher than our regular potatoes for the same space.

If you want to try something really fun try sugar beets.They mature in 90 days.Then you shred them and boil.Drain the water into a new pan,slow simmer until you have a thick syrup.Place the syrup in a food grade bucket.The syrup itself will work as sugar would(ie if a you need a cup of sugar you need a cup of syrup).If you wait at this point it will slowly crystallize in the bucket(over months)and you can brake and crush the crystals into normal white table sugar.Link to some heirloom sugar beets...
Sugar Beet Seeds - Sustainable Seed Co.

This is the form of most commercial sugar sold,though they apply a chemical processes(sulfur dioxide) to speed the crystallization.If you have a sweet tooth or need sugar to make preserves you can not beat the sugar beet for shtf.

I love beets, the problem is the deer do too. They cleaned off the tops yesterday. I just installed a new fence energizer, we'll see how it works.

My potatoes went in late this year. Like Teddy, I had them, but couldn't get them in. I "plant" mine under a 3 foot hay mulch.

 

[LEaSH]

We have grown sweet potatoes and the yield is usually higher than our regular potatoes for the same space.

If you want to try something really fun try sugar beets.They mature in 90 days.Then you shred them and boil.Drain the water into a new pan,slow simmer until you have a thick syrup.Place the syrup in a food grade bucket.The syrup itself will work as sugar would(ie if a you need a cup of sugar you need a cup of syrup).If you wait at this point it will slowly crystallize in the bucket(over months)and you can brake and crush the crystals into normal white table sugar.Link to some heirloom sugar beets...
Sugar Beet Seeds - Sustainable Seed Co.

This is the form of most commercial sugar sold,though they apply a chemical processes(sulfur dioxide) to speed the crystallization.If you have a sweet tooth or need sugar to make preserves you can not beat the sugar beet for shtf.

Great info! thanks.

 

[teddy12b]

I have a sweet potato bed nearly ready with black plastic under grass mulch killing the sod. I had a sweet potato sprout in the kitchen that has went pretty crazy. The plan is to remove the mulch, till and replace the black plastic to mulch the slips.


I love beets, the problem is the deer do too. They cleaned off the tops yesterday. I just installed a new fence energizer, we'll see how it works.

My potatoes went in late this year. Like Teddy, I had them, but couldn't get them in. I "plant" mine under a 3 foot hay mulch.

When I finally got mine in I just lined the outside of my garden with them. Right now the whole potatoes are just the couple inches under the soil like the instructions on the bag said. I didn't dice mine up hoping that leaving it whole would help it grow since I was late on my part. I talked to Mrs Teddy12b about doing the potatoes in 5 gallon buckets next year. I think I like the buckets better than tires but we'll see how it goes. After reading all of this I'm tempted to go get another bag of seed potatoes and try the buckets. I might need something easy like potatoes to try because my garden is doing bad this year. I've put in over 150 trees that are doing well and living the dream, but for some reason the garden is just sucking.

 

[CountryBoy19]

I'm interested in learning more about growing the sweet potatoes. never done it before. I was always under the impression that IN wasn't a good place for growing sweet taters.

Do the potatoes do better in buckets than other large plants? I tried to do a bucket garden the first year I was at my new house and everything sucked pretty bad. I'm skeptical that potatoes would fare much better...

 

[Expat]

I grow sweet potatoes every year and they usually do well. Last year was the first year where they didn't ripen up completely before first frost. I must have gotten ahold of a long maturity variety or something.

 

[smokingman]

I'm interested in learning more about growing the sweet potatoes. never done it before. I was always under the impression that IN wasn't a good place for growing sweet taters.

Do the potatoes do better in buckets than other large plants? I tried to do a bucket garden the first year I was at my new house and everything sucked pretty bad. I'm skeptical that potatoes would fare much better...

In Indiana we added sand to the soil for sweet potatoes area in the garden.They did really well.We had some massive sweet potatoes.I do not really think they would do well in buckets.

 

[smokingman]

Bump for 2022. Side note started a few seed trays last week and will work on a few more next week(it is a late start for me honestly).

 

[cosermann]

Potatoes.Why?They will grow with little help or maintenance....

Learn how to store them.A quick root cellar.5 gallon bucket.Kitty liter 2 inches deep.Piece of wire mesh or chicken wire over the litter.Clean(do not damage the skin or over clean),let air dry,place in the bucket.Seal and bury to keep cool and out of the light.Check them every other month,and remove any that are bad and replace kitty litter as needed.The summer crop will last until the next season stored this way.Keep them below the frost line when you bury them.You can not bury them to deep though you want to be above the water line if at all possible.

Growing - Nothing like oversimplification. I grew up growing potatoes with my dad (who was raised on a farm) in our garden, in an state where potatoes are a significant crop (not Indiana - which is not a #10 potato producing state). Depending where you live, Colorado Potato Beetles are a significant problem. Since my dad liked to do things "organically" a fair bit of my time as a kid was put to use controlling them "mechanically". Since then, I've found Spinosad to be a great control.

Storage - temp AND humidity are important. Ignore humidity at one's peril. Keeping one year's harvest until the next year takes a bit of doing. I don't remember if we were entirely successful in this regard.

Nonetheless, a good crop. Just don't get idea they'll grow and store themselves with little help or maintenance (depending on one's definition of "little" I suppose). That may not be the case at all depending on your location and soil conditions. YMMV.

 

[Cameramonkey]

On a whim, I tried the trash can potatoes thing last year. I followed the instructions and they sprouted and all seemed well. Except when I went to harvest, I found exactly 3 "potatoes" that were the size of cherry tomatoes.

 

[Expat]

On a whim, I tried the trash can potatoes thing last year. I followed the instructions and they sprouted and all seemed well. Except when I went to harvest, I found exactly 3 "potatoes" that were the size of cherry tomatoes.

that had to be a bit disappointing

 

[Jaybird1980]

On a whim, I tried the trash can potatoes thing last year. I followed the instructions and they sprouted and all seemed well. Except when I went to harvest, I found exactly 3 "potatoes" that were the size of cherry tomatoes.

Wow, that would suck. Did the plants put on flowers?

Never did them in a container, but I plan on it this year.
Have always had a good crop of potatoes when we did them.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Wow, that would suck. Did the plants put on flowers?

Never did them in a container, but I plan on it this year.
Have always had a good crop of potatoes when we did them.

I honestly dont recall. I just followed the instructions and most of the plants kept growing and I kept adding soil.

I assume so since I got several. And I know it wasnt one of the cuttings because they were complete.

I wonder if there was too much nitrogen in the topsoil/compost bags I used? I know some plants wont produce fruit if nitrogen is too high. They just keep growing and growing.

 

[eldirector]

The only time we ever tried potatoes we had huge, lovely greenery and exactly nothing for roots. Literally pulled up less than we planted. Don't recall the flowers. This was a while back.

Have some really nice raised beds now, so might be worth another try.

 

[Jaybird1980]

I honestly dont recall. I just followed the instructions and most of the plants kept growing and I kept adding soil.

I assume so since I got several. And I know it wasnt one of the cuttings because they were complete.

I wonder if there was too much nitrogen in the topsoil/compost bags I used? I know some plants wont produce fruit if nitrogen is too high. They just keep growing and growing.

Yeah if there is to much nitrogen you can get all top growth. I would think a mix of compost and topsoil wouldn't be to much though.
Hard telling what happened, if you try it again watch for flowers, that's the indication the tubers are producing. That's how I know when to pick my new potatoes.

When you say follow instructions, was that online instructions or did you buy a kit of some sort?

 

[Cameramonkey]

Boxed seed potatoes about the volume of a pringles can. Instructions on the back.

 

[smokingman]

Growing - Nothing like oversimplification. I grew up growing potatoes with my dad (who was raised on a farm) in our garden, in an state where potatoes are a significant crop (not Indiana - which is not a #10 potato producing state). Depending where you live, Colorado Potato Beetles are a significant problem. Since my dad liked to do things "organically" a fair bit of my time as a kid was put to use controlling them "mechanically". Since then, I've found Spinosad to be a great control.

Storage - temp AND humidity are important. Ignore humidity at one's peril. Keeping one year's harvest until the next year takes a bit of doing. I don't remember if we were entirely successful in this regard.

Nonetheless, a good crop. Just don't get idea they'll grow and store themselves with little help or maintenance (depending on one's definition of "little" I suppose). That may not be the case at all depending on your location and soil conditions. YMMV.

I still can the vast majority of mine.

 

[smokingman]

On a whim, I tried the trash can potatoes thing last year. I followed the instructions and they sprouted and all seemed well. Except when I went to harvest, I found exactly 3 "potatoes" that were the size of cherry tomatoes.

When did you harvest them? Harvesting to early will give you very poor results.

How And When To Harvest Potatoes

Knowing how to harvest potatoes will help you get the greatest benefit from your crop. Read here for more.

www.gardeningknowhow.com

"Wait until the tops of the vines have died before you begin harvesting."

The only thing left growing in the garden when I dig the potatoes out is lettuce. Everything else has been killed off by the first hard frost.

 

[boosteds13cc]

When did you harvest them? Harvesting to early will give you very poor results.

How And When To Harvest Potatoes

Knowing how to harvest potatoes will help you get the greatest benefit from your crop. Read here for more.

www.gardeningknowhow.com

"Wait until the tops of the vines have died before you begin harvesting."

The only thing left growing in the garden when I dig the potatoes out is lettuce. Everything else has been killed off by the first hard frost.

I tried doing this in two 55 gallon drums. Planted seeds and kept up with adding dirt as they grew (started in april). Plants grew amazing and got extremely tall. Went to harvest in Aug and I say less than 3 lbs of sad excuse of smaller grape to cherry tomatoes.

Glad to see I'm not the only one who sucks at potato growing.