Potato problem's explained! More at 11... Oh wait, I'm not a news anchor, and also, it IS 11. Now it's 11:01. So you missed it. Seriously, I got a late start tonight because I bucked the economic trends and went out and bought a car. Albeit a cheap one to destroy by taking it a mile a day to the park and ride, or roughly 1,000 miles a year. Buying a car takes forever. But I had to post.
Those of you that don't read the Veggie forum of GW don't know that I found amazing answers to mine and hundred's of other's potato woes.
It seems the Times article left off a key ingredient. Do NOT use early variety potatoes. They don't need potato bins because they only set fruit once, at the bottom. My experience proved that. (Though they would work well with SWCs or maybe a kiddie pool with 6 inches of dirt.
So pick only late season varieties to grow in the potato bins. Aparently a substitute for Yukon Gold is Yellow Fin. Binjte is another yellow late variety. Russets are mid-season but I'm hoping they set more than one layer of fruit. I'm hopeful that I get good production.
Speaking of production, Greg's customers get on average 60 pounds per bin with his personal best of 76. A former employee of his gets over 100 pounds by using a cover to keep the frost off for 2 months. I may do that with mine just so I can get big bakers. Just a thought.
Well, that's it for me, I have to update my Potato Bin page... To-date over 2,000 people are missing a key ingredient. YIKES!
Enjoy your garden!
Oh.... that makes sense because I also had the Yukon Golds in one of my bins too! And they only made potatoes at the bottom of the bin. But, I think my problem was that my practically drowned with all the rain we had. Potatoes like "dry feet" and do not like their roots to be wet. But next year I will try again and will grow a late maturing variety. Thanks Sinfonian for the info :-)
ReplyDeleteAha! I had Yukon Gold, too. Excellent news - That makes me feel better about my very few potatoes.
ReplyDeleteCool! That's good information. I'll definitely build some potato bins later, and order some late maturing seed potatoes for February. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWell, that explains my "Red Cloud" potatoes that I grew in a large deep bin - having pretty much the same production as I would have had in the regular garden bed. They are an early to mid season variety. I will use the deep bin again next year - but plant it in the "Buttes".
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