According to cropwatch Yukon Gold is determinate. I am no expert, but I think you didn’t get a big harvest biggest your plants were too warm. They had plenty of drainage holes but because of all the rain that year the plastic held the moisture and they rotted. I’ve seen them on Craig’s list for $20 – $50. With the left over mashed…she’d make potato cakes….nothing like the real home grown foods…..Betty. here we use what we can, and its old tires instead of wire! I like this design for people with small yards, but still want to plant potatoes. is ones u did not plant but came up on it’s own from seeds from last year or bird droppings etc. I have been eagerly awaiting your potato tower results. NY 136) I could also be off on how much the full buckets of potatoes weight, because I didn’t actually weigh those either. I’ve always had wonderful luck just hilling them up as they grow with grass clippings, hay straw, weeds, newspaper, compost, anything organic to keep the stem covered so more tubers could grow. What you also have to remember is that the towers only took up a percentage of the ground area against planting the same ammount of potatoes traditionally, so for a small garden they might be a more effective use of your growing space. I planted 2 seed potatoes per bag except the bag I dug up yesterday only had 1 plant. Final Harvest – about 12 pounds of spuds. These affiliate links help support this site. I would like a clear list of which potatoes are indeterminate so I can plant those! Think I’ll be looking for another bed liner on Craig’s list for Russian fingerlings for next year. I would go on quality, not quanity. I have had volunteer potatoes grow from just peeling in my compost heap! I did get a nice crop of night crawlers tho! I think the method in the article works better for determinate. What USDA zone are you in? Add a few marigolds, to keep the aphids away and make sure you close any holes so the carrot fly doesn’t come visiting. He also nipped out the blossoms if any occurred. I water mine twice daily and feed once a week. Some were volunteers from last year. I don’t want to be harvesting rats! My favorite potato is “Yukon Gold”, an early variety. Wasted less dirt that way. This makes them excellent for use in salads, soups, roasted or boiled. We put 30# or red pontiac seed potatoes in the ground, traditional rows with potatoes planted 10-12 inches apart and probably 5-6 inches deep. I grown potatoes in 75 litre black bags, – anything larger and the crop doesn’t increaser I just use more materials and water and get no extra crop. Other potato varieties are indeterminate. Then I get some free tomatoes without the work of growing seedlings! As you pile more bedding in, pull all the plants back into the middle. Texas was HOT! When the plants would shoot up 12″, I’d add 6″ of more Tagro. Now the question is, should I try this again next year, and if I do, how am I going to change things up so I get a bigger yield? In some parts of North America, sweet potatoes are called yams. I don’t have a yard to grow anything in, and vegetables are not my first choice when it comes to food…but I love watching your blog and seeing everything you grow. I am going to dry out or do you have to wait for a layer to start growing, direct the plant out the side & then layer more seed potatoes, dirt & straw? Your tip on taking the tower into The garage for the winter is awesome! I looks to me from your early pictures your potatoes need more water. I’m worried my towers will be less than this. Also what is your planting zone? Some favorite Indeterminate varieties… I tend to like bi-colors like Mr. Stripey, Chocolate Stripes, and Paul Robeson for their rich taste sliced or chopped into a salad. I’m interested to see how your compost pile potato tally comes out. someone said they grow better in towers on here? What is a volunteer potato…..I have never tried growing potatoes so I’m just wondering. I grew the … You just move the straw over to harvest clean potatoes as you need them. Indeterminate. I wish I had tried your methods years ago when I was able to garden. I used red norland seed potatoes I purchased at Walmart. They keep their lovely color when cooked as well as their shape. I have been reading your stories on the potato towers and decided it will give them a try this year. Antioxidants make the spuds more nutritious and a diet rich in antioxidants helps to lower your risk of cancer. I tried that and had poor results then I read this which may be your problem. I did dirt at the bottom, covered with a light layer of compost and PACKED in straw. yup. Anyway, I am going to attempt a tower #3 as that seemed to give you the best results. I have 2 large shade trees in my front yard that have white blooms and black cheeries that were volunteers. Also it will give your hills more room for the growing spuds to come. I sure am curious how they will turn out! Well it was a lesson that’s for sure. I have the best success growing an a bed and hilling. I got a total of 6 potatoes. Home-grown potatoes are so delicious! did u hill them? I am eager to try it just so long as I find the right variety of potato! I’m going to be interested to see what the yield is like from your compost pile. we have been planting tower taters for years! My blues are the fastest to harvest and produce the biggest yields of any of the varieties we’ve tried. Yukon Golds, and all early varieties set fruit once and do not do well in towers. Potatoes with red skin are not only pretty, but their bright color makes them extra nutritious as well, and those aren’t the only reasons for growing red potatoes. Let me know your your sweet potatoes do. Determinate tomato plants grow in a bush form. Are they right around where you planted the seed potatoes, or are they distributed throughout the towers? So with potatoes, if you leave a tiny potato in the ground, the following spring, it will grow and produce more potatoes, with no work on your part. nothing like fresh potatoes. Before planting and after they blossom add fertilizer about every 2 weeks but only if not too hot and you water every other day with lots of water. Learn how your comment data is processed. I had no idea potatoes came in determinate and indeterminate varieties. Being in stacks high above ground was probably just too high a growing temperature. May 10, 2014 - Late Season Potatoes - 90-110 Day Maturity Varieties offered by The Maine Potato Lady: Island Sunshine (NEW! of soil, making them excellent for gardeners will little space Because they grow fast, these potatoes tend to be a bit smaller than their indeterminate counterparts, … For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Then put them somewhere dark, dry and cool, but don’t refrigerate them. Other types of red potatoes to try growing include: Red potatoes are grown just like any other type of potato and will yield plenty for you and your family to enjoy. I think I cooked more potatoes in my towers than i grew! A volunteer is any plant that pops up serendipitously. I planted potato tower #1 with 6 inches of dirt and added additional dirt {but no more potatoes} as the potato leaves began to pop through the soil. cover with straw stack another tireand do the same as high as you want! What variety did you use? The blue and purple generally don’t do as well because they require a longer growing season. I read that you need a mix of compost, peat, and vermiculite to grow the potatoes in. We had one row devoted to the potatoes but only had about 25 lbs too mostly small ones. I plant mine in raised beds (like yours) and get an average of 10-12 pounds for every pound planted. I might also try tossing a few seeds into a pile of damp leaves then keep it watered and fertilized. Thanks for that info. I had wound the end of my soaker hose up from the bottom of the tower thru the middle of the compost, so it received plenty of moisture. They are so juicy, you can eat them raw in the garden. The plants will only grow to a certain size and will only grow up to a certain amount of potatoes. They are generally described as short season, medium season, or long season rather than determinate or indeterminate. The garbage can method could prevent that, but I’m trying to use a system with a lighter footprint. But I don’t. Information On Iceberg Roses: What Is An Iceberg Rose? They potatoes have grown allot and are looking great. My problem was too much nitrogen…wonder if yours is too? Make sure there is an eye in each section. We will be growing potatoes in our garden next season. I planted five pounds of seed fingerlings in five different bins (one pound of eyes in each) and did the layer method of dirt, straw, dirt, straw as the plants grew. This was on my bathroom scale, which is pretty accurate for humans, but I don’t know if it’s equally as accurate on low weights. However, if the plant’s stems just keep growing up and up, it’s indeterminate, a fact you can confirm by mounding the stems and checking to see if new tubers form in the added layer. All the varieties described below are technically sweet potatoes, though they’re often called yams. Each of our varieties is field-tested by our research team and selected for flavor, texture, vigor, yield, and disease resistance. If you plant a seed potato, plant with the eye facing up in a trench dug 4 inches deep. I’ll tell you what I know… not a suggestion though. They were even on the skinny side compared to some carrots. I tried a tower with sweet potatoes this year. to keep it from blowing away. maybe people are having such bad luck cause of the soil they are using with the straw? I think the key was that they were at the bottom of the pile, where the ground was still really cold (I live in New England). Potatoes, like their cousins the tomato, come in determinate and indeterminate varieties. The tubers harvest clean too. My Dad used to “hill” the potatoes. Assume that you get on average 4 potato seeds per pound of potatoes. The sweet potato is named after French-Louisiana Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard as Rolston was a fan of the Civil War. Dang, it sure got tall though. I was looking forwRs Determinate potatoes rarely grow very tall and are often early to bloom. Determinate crops, tend to mean bushy in nature but restricted somehow, such as in height or cropping (single crop of a specific size). I planted some russet potatoes in a flower bed with the drip irrigation sprayers on a timer. I then planted tater towers using only leaf mulch for the bedding. Do you think a soil amended for cactus would work well for potatoes? I would suggest loosening the soil a bit with a digging fork before setting the seeds but it’s not necessary to turn the soil. As time went on, I threw my grass clippings, weeds, and kitchen scraps in the compost. When it died I dug it up (for the funny of it) and the original tuber was 3x the size and we had sweet potatoes coming out of our ears! I did the burlap sacks this year….. ugh. First, I’d like to thank you for all the great information you provide on your site. thanks. Potatoes with red skin are not only pretty, but their bright color makes them extra nutritious as well and those aren’t the only reasons for growing red potatoes. I haven’t harvested my tower yet because the leaves are still a healthy green, and I’m hoping they will yield larger potatoes. Recently I learned that potatoes are either determine or indeterminate. We just planted them in the ground. The late variety will set fruit multiple times as the plant is buried. I’ll try the towers this year. I watered 1 to 2 times a week and applied some Miracle Grow Miracid 3 times throughout the growing season. 82 Comments. Types of Sweet Potatoes. Why Potatoes? Table 1. Of course if I knew what varieties those actually WERE, I’d tell you. So far my best results stemmed from using the “old fashioned” tried and true methods of hilling. I’ve used the black fabric potato bags and garbage cans. Potato Plants. When I first did sweet potatoes, I never saw a flower and had an enormous amount of potatoes. The best year I had success wise was when I used split firewood to form a circle and hold up the sides so I could pile the dirt high and it wouldn’t just slough down. A friend who grows potatoes traditionally says my 11 lbs. Of course, you can find out if a potato is indeterminate or not by growing it! we ordered the seed potatoes in a 50#bag from the local hardware store in my farmboy’s hometown in northwest ohio.we get those and onion sets every year from them. Who knows. It is by far our favourite for mashing, but they don’t mash well until late September.” ... these varieties have the ability to continually produce potatoes due to their indeterminate growing habits. The farther north in the state you live, however, the later you will need to plant your crops. Take your potato peelings and bury when ever u peel and u will be surprised. . It really is the best way to go – you always know what you are eating. That’s above average. ONE with purplebluesomethingigotatthefarmersmarket. Storage: Store sweet potatoes in a cool, dry spot. I think it’s amazing how much we can subsist on stuff that we are able to grow ourselves instead of being dependent on grocery stores. Seed Count: 2 lbs. They were small but wonderfully sweet!) This year I planted an old truck bed liner (we had swapped out for the spray on type). Placed 6″ of Tagro in the bottom & planted blue potatoes every 12″ or so. As you stated: they don’t like real dry growing conditions either. Copyright © 2020 One Hundred Dollars a Month - Disclosure Policy - Design by Sharon Hujik, North Central and Rockies Region Planting Guide, How to Find Vegetable Starts for Your Garden In October - Steal Them From Your Neighbor. http://cropwatch.unl.edu/potato/yukongold_management, http://ipcm.wisc.edu/download/vgu/Vegetable%20Crop%20Update%20%2316.pdf. hope this helps someone! I so wish it worked better because I live in a city and don’t have the space to plant them traditionally. Filled the entire bed liner (which I had originally dug DOWN into the ground so the top was @ ground level), & ended up harvesting about 48 lbs of potatoes! Did the plants all find their way out the wire cage? 25lbs isn’t bad when you consider how little space the towers take up. I haven’t weight them, but I would guess that a full bucket weighs at least 15 pounds, maybe more. Maybe some seeds carried in w/ your dirt. They do really well planted in really dense plots though. Thanks for checking. Our best results are planting in deep raised beds that have been amended in the fall with leaves. I got beautiful plants and lots of leaves but no spuds! Indeterminate, but behaves like a determinateƚ: Russet Norkota, Gold Rush I will try again next year, perhaps using more straw mixed into the compost. Never had any luck because of soil diseases, even using certified seed potatoes. I actually had MORE yield on my volunteer potatoes (which I have been harvesting all summer)- thank goodness there were some left in the ground from last year- otherwise I would have had a very poor harvest. We don’t get many, and if you don’t find all of them they will come up again from the unfound ones. For those who don’t know, you need late-season potatoes for towers or bags to do much. But plant one tube only gold’s with 6 or 7 layers and water more add chicken compost to your mix as well. Slicing Tomato seeds - Paul Robeson [Solanum lycopersicum] Indeterminate. Red Bliss is probably the variety that most people are familiar with but by no means the only variety. Both the man and the tomato deserve more recognition. here it comes!!!! rooster. For all my effort and plenty of watering I got about ten pounds total of fingerlings. Sadly, I didn’t weigh them first. So, one fall I gathered a ‘ton’ or two or three of leaves (the city does not mind this). And you’ll just have little bitty potatoes if at all. Each branch ends in a flower cluster and fruit tend to ripen over a 3- to 4-week period. Lots of work and little yield. Read on to learn more about growing these potatoes. for us. Georgia's climate is well-suited to growing most varieties of potatoes; you can start as early as February in the southern third of the state. I did a 4×4 section and planted according to directions (I bought the seedlings) and they grew, but they were long and skinny, like misshapen carrots. I did three sacks. Adirondack red potatoes have mottled pink blushed flesh and red skins. Vines are relatively compact and bear their full crop in a period of one to two months. ƚ From a nitrogen management perspective, these varieties will respond to late-season N, as they are indeterminate, Our compost is made using dry maple leaves and fresh grass clippings. And always tomatoes where they fall, rot and I ignore them until spring. Them up and mix them with the soil you use for Red potato varieties are also a good source of vitamin B6; are fat, sodium and cholesterol free; and (this was a shocker) are an excellent source of potassium – even more than a banana! I hear that they’re fond of straw and we have plenty of them around. Do not refrigerate or store below 50°F. I have a relatively large garden with every square inch accounted for but with these towers having such a small footprint you can put them just about anywhere. Hello all, I am from England but just wanted to share some tips with you that my grandfather told me way back: Veggies are like children, they need food, lots of water and good weather. Learn more about red potatoes varieties in this article. There are a ton of different kinds of sweet potatoes from Beauregard to Regal, but it’s hard to find most of them in the store. But this year, I gave them plenty of water. Late season alternatives to yukon gold are Yellow Fin and Binjte. However you need a multicrop potato in order to do this – there are some good books on Amazon which detail which potato for which situation or google and choose which potato(s) are good for you. Indeterminate: Russet Burbank, Snowden, Bancock Russet From what I’ve read, determine varieties don’t work well in a tower because they set one batch of tubers. All our plant tags identify whether a variety is determinate or indeterminate (bear longer, on long vines). Yukon Gold is an early variety that only sets potatoes once; hilling or boxing them does no good and in fact lowers yield. Agreed. I cheated and used sweet potato starters that I spaced evenly around the tower. But it was a fun idea to try. • 3rd in world food production, after wheat and rice. Once the plant got tallish he would add dirt up to the leaves – not over the top of them. That is the kind you want to use in a tower. The determinates will NOT produce well in towers and do not like being hilled up more than a few inches. If I have extra seeds I share w/ them. And item that I view as labor intensive. I’m interested in using more straw. I waited and waited…. I think I also read somewhere on the internet that they like a more acidic soil? But perhaps it really is just too good to be true. Our reds though, SO MANY!!! I tipped over my little russet tower and red potato tower and it was a small total (less than 5lbs total) but it was a hoot searching for them like little eggs! Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month. Apparently, potatoes (like tomatoes) come in both determinate and indeterminate varieties. • Consumption: − Processed as french fries, potato chips, dehydrated products − Fresh potatoes are baked, boiled, put in … With the sweets-I planted “Vardaman”. I’ve also tried these alternative methods of growing and found them to be a bust. ( new method could prevent that, but on no sack of seed potatoes ’. “ the potato bag i tend to fruit all at one time, and vermiculite to far. 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