* Potatoes *

Dutchman · Mar 27, 2011

I want to try and grow potatoes { in central iowa } this year ..

Question : what is a good potatoe to grow and will store for the winter ?? I don't have a cellar , but our closed in front porch stays between 40 - 60 ...it doesn't freeze ...

Is there a trick to store potatoes ???

I'm just getting ready for spring ...

THANKS for your information....

Mark

JayinNY · Mar 27, 2011

We were just talking about that below. I have bought "seed potatoes" and had poor luck with them. Now we buy potatoes from the supermarket, leave them in the light so they grow eyes, then I cut them into pieceses and plant them. I get many potatoes, store them in my heated basement in a basket on the floor and they keep until April, or when ever we run out.

Paul from MI · Mar 27, 2011

Store them in a cool DARK place. Light will "sunburn" them, make the skin turn green. That's why you hill up dirt around them when they are growing. I have had good luck with Yukon Gold, Red Pontiac, & Kennebec. Yukon Gold is probably the best keeper. My next garden job will be sorting out the small ones for seed. We usually can keep them in our root cellar until May or so, sometimes longer.

funky_g00 · Mar 27, 2011

Any potato is a good potato. You should not have a problem growing any type out there. Pick the type that suits your needs. Yukon golds produce the largest spuds and have thin skins. Russetts are very uniform in size, thick skins great for baked potatoes. Norland generally small in size great for mashed potatoes. These are probably the most common ones you will fine in your area. You are not limited to these though. These all store well, my family primarily raises the yukons because of the size and less work (fewer spuds per bushel = less spoilage digging and prepwork). Your porch should work just fine for storage. Potatos just need a place that is dark, cool and dry. Other than that the only other requirements is good air flow and make sure all that are put in storage are undamaged with no briuses or cuts/stabs.

Mike Stockwell · Mar 27, 2011

taters, onions etc... we store in a stocking or pantyhose with a knot between them and just snip off what we need. that way they dont touch each other and get plenty of air.

JDseller · Mar 27, 2011

A trick I started using is to never get a dug potato wet. Washed them off once, every one of them rotted before spring. After I dig them now I spread them out on an old hay rack in the barn and let them dry. Then as I put them into baskets to store I just brush the dried dirt off of them. I store them in an unheated section of my basement. It is cool and dark. I have them last until the next harvest every year.

I have the best luck with kenabeck potatoes.

Paul Janke · Mar 27, 2011

Somebody else probably knows more, but it seems to me that I have read that potatoes rot less if there is an apple stored with them.

msb · Mar 27, 2011

Cut the taters and place them on top of the ground. Cover them with about a foot of straw. Then at harvest, just rake the straw back. No strain,no pain. Little of no weedin either.
No. I didn't belive it either until I tried it last year. Just try a few for starters.

Anonymous-0 · Mar 27, 2011

I read somewhere when they poke their leaves through the straw, place more straw on top. don't know if it increases the crop or why it is done..

BCnT · Mar 27, 2011

we always bought potatoes from the store too...those Yukon Gold always made a good crop.
i got a junk room here at the house that i keep an area open on the floor to lay potatoes out on newspaper to store...room stays dark unless i go in there for some reason.
dont wash.
i have used straw to grow potatoes...used a hay ring for the cage...planted eyes in the ground and mulched bed...every time i saw leaves i covered em up with more hay next day...wound up with over 700# out of that ring and never watered,weeded,or fertilized nuthin...hay was some year old coastal bermuda.
diggin that crop was more like a Easter egg hunt...i quit doing it because i cant use or give away that many spuds.

State of Jefferson · Mar 27, 2011

I grew about a ton and a half of spuds in my market garden this year. Mostly reds, but a couple rows of Yukons and one of russets. I keep the one's I didn't sell right away in my basement, harvested em first of november, and they're just now starting to get soft.

Ben

old · Mar 27, 2011

I have grown them that way not for decades and have told others to do it on here. Had a friend who is now long gone that used a box that he filled with hay and just stuck his tater in the hay and said he had taters any time he wanted them just went out and dig a few when he wanted tater to eat. His box was about 3 foot deep and if that box it still there which it palpably isn't I would bet it still had tater in it

tjdub · Mar 27, 2011

SE MN here.

I put about 700lbs in my basement last fall. I usually plant a few varieties, but I've had the best luck with Kennebec. Best yield of any potato I've ever grown. Russets seem to keep the best, but I've never had much luck getting yield from them and I usually have a lot of deformed ones and scabbing on them. Norland and Pontiac (reds) don't seem to keep very well for me at all.

I don't have a true root cellar. I framed up a 4'x8' box that's 2' high and put 2" pink rigid insulation for the two interior sides and lid (no insulation on the floor or basement walls. It stays at 60F in the box which seems just fine for potatoes. You have to keep a close eye on the moisture level though especially after you put the potatoes in. I leave the lid cracked pretty well to let the moisture out for the first couple of weeks at least. I also keep a close eye out for rotters during that time. Once rotten one can spoil many others (and your appetite!). By March they're spouting pretty good and pretty spongy, but they still taste great.

IH2444 · Mar 27, 2011

Yep same here, I just keep the store bought potatoes after they start growing eyes, put them in the basement till I need to plant them. Works fine, kind of recycling.

farmboyWI · Mar 28, 2011

Potatoes are one of the easiest crops to grow in a garden. I don't even buy any, I just dig the volunteers from my moms garden and throw them in some holes in mine, water good and I never lose any. For storage just DONT WASH THEM. A burlap bag or rag works good to brush the dirt off. Keep cool,dry, and dark.

landlord7012 · Mar 28, 2011

We have the best luck with kennebecs in our sandy-loamy soil. We planted some gold nuggets last season but they don't keep as well (started to shrivel up). Usually have enough left at the end of the year to plant out. I do rinse them gently after harvest and let them dry in the dark garage before taking them to the cellar. You have to monitor them for rot and eyes as best as you can throughout the winter/spring. We plant out about 50 pounds and get a good yield and we're able to take a few hundred pounds to the local food pantry and family/friends. Potatoes are easy and rewarding to grow - probably the most maintenance free veggie of all (along with onions)!

TomA in CA · Mar 28, 2011

I got a pleasant surprise. The local feed store got in seed potatoes the other day. There were about 8 different kinds, some I had never heard of. I got a few pounds of each, went heavy on the russets and the Yukons. They were all .79 per lb. I have a catalog from Potato Garden who evidently bought Ronnigers, their prices run from $1.20 to $2.90 per lb. plus shipping Maybe I will go back and get some more.

I won't be able to plant for a while, it has been raining here. I am planning to plant with a 3-14" plow and cultivate with a horse.

Bartt · Mar 28, 2011

I grow and store Red Norland here in Northern Vermont. Red skin and very white inside. Picked last Sept.. Still very fresh and hard, almost first of April. Don"t wash until used, store in cool dark place. Cover them up if necessary. Let them sun dry before storing. Don"t put away wet. Nothing beats a good potato. Best of luck with them.

El Toro · Mar 28, 2011

When I grew potatoes I raised the Kennebec and the Red Bliss. My basement is too warm to store them so I buried an old freezer in the ground and the spuds kept very well. Hal

ohiojim · Mar 28, 2011

try canning a few, makes them real handy for a quick meal or stew

larry@stinescorner · Mar 28, 2011

I had good luck with yukon gold,and they really taste good, I dont know how good they are at keeping,because I take a lot of the produce from the garden for my mom to hand out to the people at the nursing home that take care of her.I hope nobodys sick of seeing these pictures before,but you did ask lol

Unruh · Mar 28, 2011

I appreciate this thread!
Question: do you plant the cut potato with cut side down or the eye down?
And, do small potatoes cut for seed also produce small potatoes? Is it better to choose a large potato for seed?

rustyfarmall · Mar 28, 2011

(quoted from post at 07:11:14 03/28/11) I appreciate this thread!
Question: do you plant the cut potato with cut side down or the eye down?
And, do small potatoes cut for seed also produce small potatoes? Is it better to choose a large potato for seed?

Just throw the potato in the ground and cover it up. Makes no difference which side is up or down because the potato KNOWS which way is up.

Incidently, we always seem to have plenty of potatos that went soft before we got them all used up, and those potatos will still grow just fine. We don't even cut them. Just throw the whole potato in the ground. We haven't bought any new seed potatos for about 5 years now.

teddy52food · Mar 28, 2011

The eye of a potato sends roots down & a shoot up. So it makes no differance. If the eye is up, they may come up sooner than if it is down.

tjdub · Mar 28, 2011

> And, do small potatoes cut for seed also produce small potatoes? Is it better to choose a large potato for seed?

Nope, it makes no difference. Those small potatoes have the same genes as the big ones on the same plant. I save all of my small ones for seed so I don't have to spend much time cutting the bigger ones at planting time (or spend time peeling the little ones to eat).

I suppose if I dug up a hill that had ALL small potatoes, I would probably not save those for seed. I don't recall ever seeing that happen though.

supergrumpy · Mar 28, 2011

some nice black soil, almost looks volcanic

chevytaHOE5674 · Mar 28, 2011

Grow about 1700-2000 lb of taters ever season just for our extended families use. We store them in a root cellar that maintains about 40-45* and stays relatively dry. We have had them keep until the next years harvest but usually they are all used by the middle of the summer.

Haven't bought a tater in many years. :lol:

* Potatoes *

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