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crawfordjohn66

Potato boxes

Crawfordjohn66
10 years ago

Not sure if this is the best site ... But ... If not please forward ,,,, . Tx

2013 was my second year as a potato farmer.
Year one I put my seed potatoes too close to the clay base on my property and (I believe) that the watering and rain created a pool around the potatoes and essentially drowned them � 4X8X2 feet raised boxes yielded less than two handfuls of harvest.
This year I made two 4x4 boxes and put the seeds higher up on a bed of good earth - Ozette and purple somethings.
Vigorous growth. Added five layers of boards each 6 inches high. Almost three feet of 4x4 growing area.
Curious harvest. The top layer of both boxes had potatoes. The bottom layer had potatoes. The middle three layers � almost two feet � had zero potatoes.
As the plants grew, did I cover them with new soil too soon? Thus not giving the new root systems to form? Each time the plants got seven inches high I added another layer of 6 inch boards and added dirt leaving about an inch or so of the tops showing.
Cannot think of why I would only have potatoes at the top and bottom of my boxes.
Your thoughts and suggestions are most welcome as I plan the same for 2014.
Thank you.
john

Comment (1)

  • theforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)
    10 years ago

    There have been many discussions about growing potatoes like you describe. The link below is just one of those and it has many more links in it. Sorry I can't help you more directly, potatoes don't grow well for me and thus I have very limited experience with them.

    Rodney

    p.s. This forum seems quite slow so in the future if you want quicker answers you might want to post in the Vegetable Gardening, Square Foot Gardening, or Organic Gardening forums.

    Here is a link that might be useful: How high do you build potato boxes

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