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Post by FrostyTurnip on Mar 25, 2023 19:32:09 GMT -6
The seed sold from Atwood’s was Minnesota certified seed potato. They were so horrible I had to go back and swap out a couple bags for some that were not disease or damaged. I probably should have returned all 40# of them.
The seed potato in the garden haven’t come up yet. I check one a few days ago and it was putting out roots. I checked tonight and there are couple that are rotting. It’s not from too much rain, either. I suspect soft rot.
This will be my 3rd season of potential failure. It’s still early. Last year, I didn’t want to put all my eggs in one basket, so I filled a cardboard box with medium and planted a seed potato in addition to what I planted in ground that didn’t grow well. Great foliage on the boxed potato. Grew well. I watered it well since it was right at the back door. It picked up blister beetles in June. When they were ready to harvest, I popped the box and there were no spuds at all, just foliage. I did not feed that bad boy, only watered and added some compost at planting time.
I know it’s way early in this season, but I’m tired of trying with Irish potatoes. It’s expensive. And they’re so critical to our diet.
I’m ultimately trying to preserve healthy seed potatoes so they can be perpetuated, but I cannot even get them to grow.
Rant off.
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Post by macmex on Mar 25, 2023 19:54:02 GMT -6
Sorry to hear this. We planted most of our potatoes last weekend and they still have to pop up. I believe potatoes are fairly heavy feeders, though, we never add fertilizer in the garden, just mulch.
Sounds like you got hold of some lousy seed potatoes. I don't purchase much stuff like that at Atwoods, preferring our local Farmer's Co-op.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Mar 31, 2023 11:32:10 GMT -6
70 percent are up. I freaked out too soon. Gun shy!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 8, 2023 19:32:05 GMT -6
Frosty, congratulations on the sprouting potatoes! That sure is happy news!
I've had years where I had extreme foliage on potato plants with very little production as well. Probably my fault for not keeping up with the job of hilling up enough dirt to keep the vines covered. Who knows? That was too many years ago to remember. I do remember thinking at the time that I was really well pleased with all the foliage. Live and learn I guess.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Apr 8, 2023 23:51:48 GMT -6
We started mulching them last week. First we added a layer of tall green grass from the scything. Then, we nested Johnson grass around the short sprouting foliage and covered the bare spots. Only one bed is complete at this point. We had a freeze. The mulched bed suffered the worst. I assume it is because the mulch kept them cooler for longer. The rest is not that bad. Live and learn.
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Post by buffaloberry on May 3, 2023 9:45:23 GMT -6
What's happening! I wanna find out if you all know about the cup and Lumper potatoes, both old heirloom potatoes and I'm looking for more places to find these historic ones to grow for my community since it has Irish history in the mid 1800s.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on May 16, 2023 0:15:17 GMT -6
The potato plants look very well now. Very tall and lush, trying to put on flowers now. We pull those off. They’re doing so well, the Colorado potato beetles showed up for the first time. In the past, I had confused the cucumber beetle with them.
I suspected I might upset the ecological balance in the garden with this large monocrop of potatoes. Shewt, even the large expansions give me concern until things balance out. So, when I found them I wasn’t surprised. I looked at the vast number of leaves among the 3 foot tall plants and left to retrieve my stool. I sat down, took a deep breath and dove into the first plant on the end of the row expecting to stay a while. I was uncomfortable doing this while they were wet.
First plant: Larvae under the leaf. Squash. 2nd plant: Lady bug 3rd plant: Another larvae. Wait. That was lady bug larvae!
I got up, killed all the adults that I could find, grabbed my stool and left. They’re migrating in, so we check often killing quite a few adults. The lady bugs were able to squash the cucumber beetles even though there were swarms of them, but the CPB are so big, they could destroy the entire crop very quickly.
My frustration on slow progress scything might be squashed knowing that I am slowly removing the habitat of predator bugs gently rather than shredding them with the lawnmower and jolting them to run off entirely. I do hope that toppling the weedy landscape will help draw more lady bugs to the garden area.
Here, they like to nest at the base of thistle in late winter or early spring. I leave some of it in for them.
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Post by macmex on May 16, 2023 5:57:12 GMT -6
Those are great observations! I've learned, when a houseplant or plant from the green house becomes infested with aphids or white flies, I just have to set it out... in the weeds, in the garden (I'm being redundant, as to set them out in the garden is to set them out in the weeds). After a few days the pests are invariably gone. Early in the spring I've noticed that the beneficials really like to hang out in clumps of flowering weeds like dead nettle and henbit.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on May 19, 2023 8:45:01 GMT -6
Have not seen any more Colorado potato beetles. I’d like to say it’s the lady bugs, but I dunno. I’d like to say it’s the cooler weather, but I dunno. I also spotted bird droppings on the leaves; more help. Yesterday, my son pointed at a nymph on a potato leaf to ask what it was.
It was a cocky little wheel bug nymph - probably about to molt - strutting its stuff and looking right at him as if to say, “Bring it on, buddy!” We left with our bowls of soapy water and caution on our minds about our next stroll through the crowded potato plants. I’m grateful to the most high.
A little more than 30 lbs of potatoes went into the ground for a relatively large jump in mono crop size in my back yard and the ecology is handling it with minimal help from me. We really need approximately 100 lbs of potatoes planted for fresh eating, keeping and for Seed Saving, but I figure being that greedy would cause some problems.
Note: Néed to widen the paths or plant differently to increase air flow.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Jul 5, 2023 9:07:02 GMT -6
I have a ton of potatoes . .. .
In the ground . . .
Rotting.
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Post by amyinowasso on Jul 5, 2023 9:33:37 GMT -6
Why? Have you had rain?
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Jul 5, 2023 9:57:07 GMT -6
Yeah. Was raining cats and dogs this morning. Just over 1/2” so far.
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Post by amyinowasso on Jul 6, 2023 7:19:05 GMT -6
I don't have room to grow in the ground. I have 2 purchased potato "bags", any deep grow bag works, but I like chicken feed bags, just cut them open to harvest. Yeilds are better in the ground, but they don't rot. I've also grown them in straw bales. That was a monsoon spring, everyone else lost their crop. Oklahoma weather being what it is, if I had room, I would do some in the ground, some in bags and some in straw, just to hedge my bets.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Jul 6, 2023 9:01:22 GMT -6
Because this is my 3rd problematic year, I did that last year sorta. I put potatoes in cardboard boxes right outside the back door so I wouldn’t neglect watering. I’d use them for seed potatoes, at least. All green. No potatoes.I used a bit of rabbit manure.
I’m going to order a pallet of instant potatoes. Screw this.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 6, 2023 15:43:10 GMT -6
Frosty,
Hang in there. I feel for ya ... Some years are like that.
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