Friday, July 19, 2013
The verdict on potato towers
Back in the Spring I wrote about the exciting idea of planting my potatoes in towers this year. Because I had read so many varying techniques online, however, I wasn't sure if I should use hay/straw, or soil, or compost; or if I should use seeds or plain ol' taters from the store; or if they should be cut up or placed in whole. SO, I ended up doing a mixture of all of these ideas to see what came out the best for me.
The results are in! And so are the potatoes. Disappointingly, only about 15-pounds worth. I planted 5-pounds or so of potatoes, so they didn't produce much. I think part of the problem with potato towers is that, while they conserve space, you limit the amount you can grow. (duh!) Mine were about 18-inches across this year, and next year I will make them at least 2-feet.
As far as planting in hay/straw versus soil versus compost, I could clearly see as we were harvesting each tower that the potatoes did not grow in the layers of hay/straw at all. They definitely grew more in the soil, but I'm sure the compost helped to feed things. Next year I will just use the hay/straw to line the wire tower and I'll fill it with soil.
I will also continue to add soil as the potatoes peep out the top. I had read about this idea, but decided not to incorporate it this year. After watching the soil and hay/straw compact down to nearly half the tower, I can see now that I wasted a lot of space by not continuing to fill the towers with soil as the potatoes grew. I wonder how much I would have grown if I would have done that.
The potatoes we harvested were all from seed potatoes. The potatoes I just threw in from the store did nothing but rot. Actually, a few produced some deformed looking lump-growths that we threw out, which is just eerie. (No, they were not organic. Mental note.)
Lastly, the seeds that seemed to produce the most growth were in fact cut up, but they were substantially large chunks, like, nearly half a potato. I gather that the smaller cuttings just didn't have enough for the plant to feed off of to form the initial growth.
So, that's that. Next year, here is the plan: wider towers lined with hay and filled with amended soil, which I will continue to fill as the plants grow. I will only plant seed potatoes, which I will plant in large chunks with good eye growth starting.
The results are in! And so are the potatoes. Disappointingly, only about 15-pounds worth. I planted 5-pounds or so of potatoes, so they didn't produce much. I think part of the problem with potato towers is that, while they conserve space, you limit the amount you can grow. (duh!) Mine were about 18-inches across this year, and next year I will make them at least 2-feet.
As far as planting in hay/straw versus soil versus compost, I could clearly see as we were harvesting each tower that the potatoes did not grow in the layers of hay/straw at all. They definitely grew more in the soil, but I'm sure the compost helped to feed things. Next year I will just use the hay/straw to line the wire tower and I'll fill it with soil.
I will also continue to add soil as the potatoes peep out the top. I had read about this idea, but decided not to incorporate it this year. After watching the soil and hay/straw compact down to nearly half the tower, I can see now that I wasted a lot of space by not continuing to fill the towers with soil as the potatoes grew. I wonder how much I would have grown if I would have done that.
The potatoes we harvested were all from seed potatoes. The potatoes I just threw in from the store did nothing but rot. Actually, a few produced some deformed looking lump-growths that we threw out, which is just eerie. (No, they were not organic. Mental note.)
Lastly, the seeds that seemed to produce the most growth were in fact cut up, but they were substantially large chunks, like, nearly half a potato. I gather that the smaller cuttings just didn't have enough for the plant to feed off of to form the initial growth.
So, that's that. Next year, here is the plan: wider towers lined with hay and filled with amended soil, which I will continue to fill as the plants grow. I will only plant seed potatoes, which I will plant in large chunks with good eye growth starting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)