1-How to grow thenm in GA,(When to plant , when to harvest)
2- What variety you are growing, or grows best in GA
3- How do you care for your potatoes?

DID YOU KNOW:
--- potato (pound per pound) is more healthy and nutitious than rice? and has less starch/calories?

---- potatoes are from the same family (night shade)as tomatoes
---- they are both native to American continent.
---- they are both some of the top vegetables eaten throughout the world.
---- if you like tomato, you should like its causin, potato.
---- steam them together, mash them to gether, add salt/pepper/chopped chives/ some butter/margerine/olive oil.
ENJOY it any time, breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Cyrus

True. growing potatoes is not difficult at all.Actually it is much easier than growing tomatoes.

There is one thing about potatoes that is different.
Potatoes like acid soil. a PH of 4.5 to 5.5 is a favorable range. In Georgia soils are generally more acidic. To lower the PH further you can add a lot of organic matter, like composted leave taken from the woods under the trees. Wood ash, rich in potash is also very beneficial for potatoes.
Before planting or shortly after sprouting you can give them all purpose fertilizers or mixture of cow manur and compost. keep fertilizers away from stems and cover it with some soile. as you water them, the fertilizer will reach the roots.
But do not feed them too much nitrogen during growing. Too much Nitrogen will produce lots of healthy looking green top but not potatoes in the ground which you want.

Potatoes grow on the stem in the ground ,above the roots.
So the longer the stem (buried) the greater the potential of potatoes. For this reason keep piling soil ( mixed with a lot of organic matter) around the stems. Or as Marvine does, pile straw. Remember that the root/leaves are responsible for growing potato on the stem. So the root should get right amount of nutriens and water. But the medium around the stem should be soft and fluffy to allow potatos get biger with ease.For this reason clay soil is not good, because it gets hard.and also,has poor drainage.Poor drainage can also cause rotting of the root and potatoes.
Water them thouroughly once every week to 10 days. All potato needs is moist soil not soggy;like most garden vegetables.

One more thing about potato plant,
Although potato can grow in warm weather, if watered, but it will stop producing fruits when soil temperature gets over 70F. Ideal tem is 55-65F. so when it gets hot, koop their roots cool by mulching. For this reason, in our area, potatoes should be planted as early as possible so that when it gets hot (around mid july) you harvest them I planted mine in early march. (some in mid march) now they are up and bushy and ready to be hilled(packing around stems neck)

You can plant a second round in early August, to be harvested before fall frost or when their top get woody, yellow, or simply die.

About seeds:
I got mine some frome last years crop and the rest from store bought ones. With the latter I let them green and grow sprouts before planting. Some store bough potatoes may not sprout because they treat them with some chemicals to inhibit sprouting while on the sheles and at home.

OK! lets here more from others.
I am here to learn more and share my experience.

Cyrus

This is the last chance to plant potatoes in zone 7-8 in Georgia. The foliage of potato plant is so beautiful. It looks like tomato but shorter, no need for staking or trelis whatsover. All you have to do is, during firt two months to hill around them and water (not as frequently) and fertilize once (or twice) depending on the soil condition.

Ther are many varieties of potatoes. Most of us are familiar with Idaho potatoes (baking, ..) but there are more: White, red, purple , yellow.

Give it a try. Gardening is fun.

I wanted to plant potatoes this year, looks like I am late. I've been keeping an eye out for seed potatoes at HD/Lowes and hadn't seen any so I though I was probably early. Looks like I'm not. Maybe I'll try in August. Looking online though, most of the seed potato growers only ship in Jan, Feb. Any good sources locally?

Yes, wood ash is a bit alkaline but it is a good source of potasium (pot-ash?) that potatoes like. I just learned from somebody in Idaho that the reason for having acid soil for potatoes is to prevent scabs. For home gardener having scabs is not that crucial since they use them themselves and peel it.

About seeds:
I grow mine mostly from store bough potattoes. They sprouted fine. I let them green in the chichen before planting. This way I can be sure that they will grow and also come up faster. I find seed potatoes too too expensive.
They claim that those are certified to be virous free. But where do the virouscome from? Potato farmers plant their own potatoes all the time. Secondly, the virous does not affect us when we cook potatoes and eat. They only may cause bad or poor crop. I take chances with that.

I read here somewher that they bought seed potatoe from walmart. I have also noticed they sell them at pikes.

It is not to late to plant now. With milder temperatures they will come up fast.

Cyrus

while you are preparing your potato bins, You can put your seed potatoes, on a damp towel, in a dish, in the kitcen. This way as if they are planted and begin getting green and sprouting. Then when your bins are ready, plant them.

Store bought seeds should be fine, especially organic; which means they are not treated with chems to inhibit sprouting.

Gardening is fun.
Cyrus

Some of my seed potatoes had also sprouted in the bag ( with no light) I broke them off and let the potatoes grow healthier sprouts, which they did barely. Then I planted them. I did not trust those long leggy shoots which looked like bean sprouts for stir fry (hehe)

This thread that I have started was being buried. So I had to bring it up.

My potatoes are doing great. They have lush green stems about 12 inches high(some maybe higher)

They seem to love this cool spring weather. After all, potatoes love cool nights and that is what he've been having. But they will do much better if the high low range is 80 to 60F.
I am hillinmg them with lots of leaves/pine straw combination. Today I fertilized them with just potasium and phosphorus. This should provide them a good rooting power and desease resistans and fruit production. I think my soil is already rich in nitrogen.

I expect to reach in the ground and pick fresh young potatoes in late jun/early july at the latest.
I love potatoes . They are so versatile as food source and tasty too.

Cyrus

By the time I be able to taste my first ripe tomato, I will be reaching in and picking potatoes as well.

To me growing potato is much easier than tomato and requires less care and maintenance; No polination problem, no cage or staking, no worry about birds eating them. What is more, potatoes can be stored for months, Just afew days ago I cooked my last potato from last falls crop. I know this because it was a purple potato. This year I have planted 4 differen varieties; common Idaho bake, White, red, and purple.
RECEPE
potato -tomato mash:

steam fresh potatoes (ABOUT 1LB).
When half done, take them out, peel the skin, cut them into big chunks , put them in a pot or pan.
Cut 2 tomatoes(equatorially) in half, squeez the seeds out, add on top of potato chunks.
Add just a little water, cover, simmer at warm/low until potatoes are well done.
Chop some gree onions/chive, a touch of thyme/ parsley(finely chopped)and MASH.
Add salt/pepper/butter/marg to taste.
You may substitute fresh peppers for ground pepper.
I always add some turmeric for aroma, taste and color.

I share your enthusiasm for potatoes, but we are beginner potato growers, so your tips are of great help.

When you mulch small potato plants, like a few inches tall, do you only cover the lower part of the stem or some of the lower leaves also?

Will composted horse manure work for mulching potatoes?

Thanks a lot!

Growing potatoes is easy.

When potato plants are shorter than a foot, I pack around and between the stems with soil, not straw/mulh. Because the roots need some cover, the stem need good support and also they need to have moisture.
After that stage I continue to mulch them with pine straw and sprinkle some soil on them to keep straw down a bit. At the third stage I just pack straw around and between stems. Potatoes do not mind hot weather as long as the roots are kept cool (unde 70F)
You can continue packing soil all the way, if your soil has a lot of compost/organic matter and it is fluffy. This way the potato tubers can grow and get bigger with ease.
Today I did the final packing, after All the rain the stems were laying down. Now my potato plants are in bloom.
Hopefully they have started growing tubers underneath. In anothe month or so I will try to pick some young pottatoes. Like the saying goes, tiniers are tastier.
I will get my camera ready and take some pictures and post them here.
Cyrus.

When plants are that small, you try not to burry or pinch off any leaves. So basically you just leave them alone for a while to grow some stems first. Then you pack between stems/around then. Even then I would not pinch or burry the lower leaves for the time being. Much later in the process that stems are about 18-24 inches, you pinch the lower leaves that otherwise will be hidden in the mulch/hay/stray/soil mound.I would then even pinch off any skinny/new stems, if there were any.

If your soil is not clay and sticky, one heavy rain shouldn't do much harm in the way of roting, especially when the seeds are new.
. If I remember it correctly, you plant potato seeds about 6 inches deep. So they should be out of rain water fast.

Does potatoe and sweet potato grow the same way. I am not sure what the potato "seeds" are.

Some of my potato were sprouting...so I plucked the sprouted part and stuck them in ground...they seem to be growing.

I did same with sweet potato last year...some creature ate it by next day (deer/moles/rabbit...god knows). So won't try it this year.

Thanks!

And to answer your question Jessil, I think from what I understand is that you plant them in early spring and harvest in the summer, and plant again in the late summer and harvest again in the late fall.. Two plantings.

And about the sweet potatoes. YES they do take up a TON of space, but I recently discovered a method where you let the sweet potato vines grow UP instead of out! It's an amazing method, space saver, and crop producer. Sweet potatoes literally do vine out like pumpkins or watermellons, so grow them UP instead of out... Take that three foot space and make it all that more productive!

Can't wait to plant potatoes this year though, I've been watching a lot of youtube videos and reading up, but this thread has inspired me!

COme quickly spring!