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Potato Update
Since I posted about my potatoes at the beginning of the season, I thought I should share an update. Unfortunately it's bad news. I planted 5 lbs of potatoes and only got 4 lbs back! Mostly because, as I discovered, gophers have been sniping them all season! What a wonderful life those gophers must have, to dig around and stumble upon my gold mine of underground food.
I also think that I did not keep the potatoes watered well enough and that the temperatures got too high too fast, as usual... Potato plants won't set tubers once it gets too hot. I had a lot of mulch on them to try to keep them cool and moist but I guess it wasn't good enough :(
Oh well... there's always next season...I saved some good ones to plant again next spring. Meanwhile I will be stuffing my sandy soil full of as much organic matter as I can, which should help all around. Well, for everything but the gophers :P If you see any snakes, send'em my way.



All great comments. I live in central AZ and came from upstate NY so I had to get used to the new growing conditions. I found out by accident (a few small tubers left behind) that the left overs overwintered well (a raised bed garden) and sprouted early in the spring. By the time the heat set in, the potatoes were ready to harvest. No heat problems! Good luck to you all.
I've never grown potatoes but want to. Think I remember seeing some sort of wired cage that you can bury when you plant - or am I imagining things?
Sounds like you're thinking of a potato tower where you add dirt as the plant grows to keep the stem buried. A wire cage is one of the constructs used for this.
So i haven't done this personally but i have researched it a lot so take what you will from this. It seems this is only successful with the right factors. Vertical containers like that dry out fast and get hot easily, so you have to make sure to keep it as moist and cool as potatoes like. It helps if the plant leaves grow out the side all up the container, for that and to photosynthesize enough to support a lot of tuber growth. Monday importantly you have to plant a long-season type potato, not mid or early. Only long-season or late types keep producing more tubers along the stem, the others make them all at one time.
If you do it I would love to hear how it goes! I have wanted to try it but i think it'd be an uphill battle in my hot & dry climate.
Thx!
I have heard of people planting wire cages in the ground to keep squirrels from eating their bulbs. Make a box of chicken wire, set it in the hole where you want bulbs, add dirt then bulbs, cover the bulbs with more dirt, close the top of the cage, cover with mulch. Little f***ers can't get to your tulips or crocuses.
My understanding of potatoes, from experience and conversation at farmers' markets, is that you never know what you're going to get until you harvest. You can have big green and no potatoes, little green and lots of potatoes, little green and no potatoes, big green and lots of potatoes and some variation I neglected to mention. Potatoes are random and mess with your head.
I use them to break up clay and they do a good job of it. I plant quartered grocery store potatoes that have started to sprout.
Yes, the cages for bulbs - I've seen those on Gardeners Supply. Maybe it was wishful thinking that they came in potato size!
I think I'll ask around at the farmers market in a few days and see what the local growers say. I'm in northern city. Climate is perfect for potatoes but our city lots are small. So I can't afford to waste 3 square feet on a plant that may or may not bear!
How much room did you give your plants? 5 lbs in a small lot may have been too crowded.
My most successful potatoes had about 4 sq ft per plant in blistering sun and I planted a quarter of a potato that had one or 2 eyes sprouting.