do now

Too Late LOL!

Oh that’s good Peps, I feel more confident now. I have planted some non-certified ones that were sprouting in the pantry and am not that anxious about them, but I’ve also bought a lot of certified ones that I ‘m keen to do the right thing by.
Thanks again.

I have planted heaps of spuds in the bare parts of my mini orchard, planted spade blade deep and well mulched, they wont show until spring. I have another bag of small seed potatoes in my laundry cupboard , they have sprouted and I will plant them soon…soon as I can work out where to put them lol.

Happy Potter said:

I have planted heaps of spuds in the bare parts of my mini orchard, planted spade blade deep and well mulched, they wont show until spring. I have another bag of small seed potatoes in my laundry cupboard , they have sprouted and I will plant them soon…soon as I can work out where to put them lol.

Boy you have a busy production garden now HP!

spuds are fantastic when freshly picked and home grown so you could say that the cost doesn’t matter because they are so delicious.
however i used to have a cheap source of seed potatoes ($2 per kg) so i am reluctant to buy seed spud @ $1 per spud. seed spud are not only grown on virgin soil in the highlands of tassie – they are in fact grown like ordinary spuds, by certain growers in most states under special conditions.
the best results i’ve ever had is a return of 10kg of big spuds for every kg of small spud planted. this result came from certified spuds. so i would be keen to use certified seed except for the prohibitive cost. at $7 per kilo of seed its dubious that i will ever get my money back given the soil improvement, time and water needed.
therefore i am currently using eating potato as seed – something my mother always did.

I was keen to get the varieties I fancied and thought I could only get them via seeds, but Safeway started selling Dutch Cream after I’d ordered my seeds of that and there were a few others that looked interesting. King Edwards have to be in because of my Pommie background, my father and grandfather grew them.

I picked spuds that suits

mash
roast
salad
boil

Should keep me happy when I harvest them.

This year I am going to try the sowing in the soil instead of just under the straw. May get a better harvest with them in the soil. Thinking our summers are too hot here for the above ground system.

Lucky1 said:

This year I am going to try the sowing in the soil instead of just under the straw. May get a better harvest with them in the soil. Thinking our summers are too hot here for the above ground system.

yes – the reason that people can plant in august is the spuds are buried and escape the frost by being in the soil.

have you noticed that every spud is now a gourmet spud? could it be a marketing ploy to make us pay more? youbetcha.

the soil preparation for spud is similar to other root crops in that they don’t respond well to nitrogen. unfortunately big leaf growth is bad. the best way to temporarily suppress nitrogen in the soil is to fork a green manure crop into the soil. this will absorb the nitrogen. old manure is good and so is mulch. blood and bone and sulphate of potash are excellent. slight acidity is required.

the idea that spuds produce more and more tubers from an upward going stem is a bit erroneous in my opinion. you mound and mulch spud to
- suppress top growth
- stop tubers being exposed to light and turning green
- conserve moisture and control temps.
as far as i know they just multiply around the original tuber.

spuds like to be always damp. they are obviously not an aussie plant because as soon as the soil turns to dust you get nothing – zilch – dead plant.
its best to plant into the damp spring/autumn soil and keep them damp with about 2-3hours of irrigation per week. exactly what that means with the water restrictions i’ll leave to your imagination.

harvesting is done when the tops die off (4 months from planting). normal people can’t wait so if you’ve planted in rows you start digging the end of the row after flowering has finished. the flowers are small white things that you could miss if you weren’t so mad keen.
they are a good crop for kids because removing white tubers from brown soil is a bit like having a gold mine.

there are some diseases attached to spud crops. whole nations have lost their crops (ireland, usa and aust.) due to blight. hence crop rotation and certified seed. a few blemishes on the skin is normal but if a spud looks perfectly good outside and is hollow inside, with a black rim around the hollow ! – not good – you planted a diseased spud or you haven’t rotated.
the little caterpillar that eats holes in the leaves has to be killed with dipel.
in thirty years of planting spuds i’ve had poor crops but no real disease.

pepe said:

the idea that spuds produce more and more tubers from an upward going stem is a bit erroneous in my opinion. you mound and mulch spud to
- suppress top growth
- stop tubers being exposed to light and turning green
- conserve moisture and control temps.
as far as i know they just multiply around the original tuber.

Gosh that’s a bit of an eye-opener Peps, I don’t know how many times I’ve read that they form more tubers as the stems lengthen. It’s academic really though, they’ll form tubers wherever they can.

pepe said:

the idea that spuds produce more and more tubers from an upward going stem is a bit erroneous in my opinion. you mound and mulch spud to
- suppress top growth
- stop tubers being exposed to light and turning green
- conserve moisture and control temps.
as far as i know they just multiply around the original tuber.

I agree. I have had new tubers develop further up the stem. Then again I am no expert either…

bluegreen said:

pepe said:

the idea that spuds produce more and more tubers from an upward going stem is a bit erroneous in my opinion. you mound and mulch spud to
- suppress top growth
- stop tubers being exposed to light and turning green
- conserve moisture and control temps.
as far as i know they just multiply around the original tuber.

I agree. I have had new tubers develop further up the stem. Then again I am no expert either…

I NEVER have had new tubers

‘scuse me, it’s been an unproductive brain dead day at work today :(

bluegreen said:

bluegreen said:

pepe said:

the idea that spuds produce more and more tubers from an upward going stem is a bit erroneous in my opinion. you mound and mulch spud to
- suppress top growth
- stop tubers being exposed to light and turning green
- conserve moisture and control temps.
as far as i know they just multiply around the original tuber.

I agree. I have had new tubers develop further up the stem. Then again I am no expert either…

I NEVER have had new tubers

‘scuse me, it’s been an unproductive brain dead day at work today :(

Well then, does that mean that if you plant the spuds deep enough that you don’t need to go to all the trouble of hilling or mounding or whatever you like to call it ?

Well then, does that mean that if you plant the spuds deep enough that you don’t need to go to all the trouble of hilling or mounding or whatever you like to call it ?
———-
sir pete puts his spuds down a spade depth 12” (30cm) in friable soil – i tend to bury mine 8” (20cm) – but since he gets 5 times the yield that i do – bury them like he says.
i have read about the hilling, stacking tyres etc. – they might be true – but in my experience they go down as well as up. i have seen small tubers on the stems when harvesting.

pepe said:

Well then, does that mean that if you plant the spuds deep enough that you don’t need to go to all the trouble of hilling or mounding or whatever you like to call it ?
———-
sir pete puts his spuds down a spade depth 12” (30cm) in friable soil – i tend to bury mine 8” (20cm) – but since he gets 5 times the yield that i do – bury them like he says.
i have read about the hilling, stacking tyres etc. – they might be true – but in my experience they go down as well as up. i have seen small tubers on the stems when harvesting.

Thanks, I’ll bear that in mind when I plant mine in the bins. I’ll give them plenty of soil, compost, potting mix etc under them.

Thanks, I’ll bear that in mind when I plant mine in the bins. I’ll give them plenty of soil, compost, potting mix etc under them.
———————————
one year i tried growing spuds in stacked tyres but it failed because they got too hot and dried out.
so you probably need to bury a 50mm diam. ag pipe down at the spud level to water them.
stacking soil under the leaves as they grow might produce a series of ‘sets’ – its just that i have never succeeded in doing it.

pepe said:

Thanks, I’ll bear that in mind when I plant mine in the bins. I’ll give them plenty of soil, compost, potting mix etc under them.
———————————
one year i tried growing spuds in stacked tyres but it failed because they got too hot and dried out.
so you probably need to bury a 50mm diam. ag pipe down at the spud level to water them.
stacking soil under the leaves as they grow might produce a series of ‘sets’ – its just that i have never succeeded in doing it.

Do you mean bury the pipe from the top level to the level where the spuds are ? Or bury it in a circle round the spuds? Sorry, having a blonde moment. (Well I used to be !)

orchid40 said:

pepe said:

Well then, does that mean that if you plant the spuds deep enough that you don’t need to go to all the trouble of hilling or mounding or whatever you like to call it ?
———-
sir pete puts his spuds down a spade depth 12” (30cm) in friable soil – i tend to bury mine 8” (20cm) – but since he gets 5 times the yield that i do – bury them like he says.
i have read about the hilling, stacking tyres etc. – they might be true – but in my experience they go down as well as up. i have seen small tubers on the stems when harvesting.

Thanks, I’ll bear that in mind when I plant mine in the bins. I’ll give them plenty of soil, compost, potting mix etc under them.

I’ve never had them go up or down, mainly sideways.

Do you mean bury the pipe from the top level to the level where the spuds are ?
————————————
this one.
how high are these bins?
you need to get water to the roots, and if the bins are waist high, thats very difficult to do by watering the top.

Bubba Louie said:

orchid40 said:

pepe said:

Well then, does that mean that if you plant the spuds deep enough that you don’t need to go to all the trouble of hilling or mounding or whatever you like to call it ?
———-
sir pete puts his spuds down a spade depth 12” (30cm) in friable soil – i tend to bury mine 8” (20cm) – but since he gets 5 times the yield that i do – bury them like he says.
i have read about the hilling, stacking tyres etc. – they might be true – but in my experience they go down as well as up. i have seen small tubers on the stems when harvesting.

Thanks, I’ll bear that in mind when I plant mine in the bins. I’ll give them plenty of soil, compost, potting mix etc under them.

I’ve never had them go up or down, mainly sideways.

LOL, Bubba ! Travelling spuds :)

They are 60L bins, garbage bin size. How high……..umm………..about …..1 mt I think.

orchid40 said:

They are 60L bins, garbage bin size. How high……..umm………..about …..1 mt I think.

that’s waist high – so bury a hose of some description down to the roots if you can.

OK Peps – will do.

have you noticed that every spud is now a gourmet spud? could it be a marketing ploy to make us pay more? youbetcha.
——————————————————————-
I agree with you on this Pepe.

as far as i know they just multiply around the original tuber.
——————————————
Spud porn!!!!!!

Sometimes people get little bulbing things on the top of the plants. Can’t remember why this happens though….. CRAFT moment.

Lucky1 said:

Sometimes people get little bulbing things on the top of the plants. Can’t remember why this happens though….. CRAFT moment.

The potato flowers become berries I think. V poisonous.

orchid40 said:

Lucky1 said:

Sometimes people get little bulbing things on the top of the plants. Can’t remember why this happens though….. CRAFT moment.

The potato flowers become berries I think. V poisonous.

They look like little onion bulbs don’t they o40????

can you plant the berries?…or will they be sub-standard and not worth growing on?