Awesome taters, John! I bet it's great doing taters the SFG way. Thanks for sharing.

~Angela

That IS neat. Did you guys use the multi square technique from the sfg site? Errr...you know, like building them up in a high rise style?

how are the taste?? i had seeds for them that never turned out! errr. those do look awesome!! way to go!! i am curious how exactly you planted them :') ~Medo

I planted one seed potato per square the size of a golf ball, I prefer not to quarter large seed potatoes. They are planted about 6ins deep in homemade compost not MelÂs mix and I am finding the spuds about 3ins below the surface. I did not hill them or add to the height of the box. The Yukon Gold is our favorite potato and we think our potatoes taste great but that is a biased opinion.

John

Here is a link that might be useful: Johns Journal

john - so, you just planted them in your regular sfg box? How deep is it? I hate to ask so many questions, but also - how many squares did you plant, and what was your yield numbers? Thanks

EG

EG, the box is 4 X 5 and made with 2 X 8s. I planted all 20 squares. I will only dig the spuds as I need them. I plan to store them in the SFG all winter. The three spuds that I picked weigh two ¼ # so if I am lucky that should be about 60# total.

John

Here is a link that might be useful: Johns Journal

John - that's an excellent idea! You have inspired me, to try this with my garden. I'm going to have 8 squares free in my box this fall, and I may just do the same thing. John, you're the man! Thanks alot...

EG

You used seed potatoes? You didn't try cutting up regular store ones? I'd love to do this, too. We go through 15 lbs a month.

Ok John, now you really have me curious what's inside my bins. Those are some whoppers you've got there. Nothing like the tiny ones in the store. I hope I can have some that size!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure!

carolynp don't try planting "store" potatoes they are treated with a chemical to delay sprouting. Organic potatoes would sprout ok.

John

Here is a link that might be useful: Johns Journal

ok, dumb question, but where did you get your from? somtimes we go thru alot of potatoes, and i'd love to order some of these seeds! :') also, wont' they freeze over the winter in there? or how will you keep them from doing that? just curious! that is the smartest idea i have heard though!! ~Medo

I'm going to buy some organic potatoes today! I couldn't buy seed potatoes this year. I tried to find some and the folks at the local garden said it was illegal to bring them into our state this year (I was like, ok, how do farmers have them?) I guess once you have some, you just keep cutting up the small ones. If we plant now, like bulbs, do they overwinter?

I'm going to call the local co-op, and see if they have any seed potatoes today. If they do, i'm gonna get them in the ground this weekend.

EG

I do not think you will find them this time of year. Your best bet is organic potatoes from the store. I am not familiar with zone 7 but count backwards from your first killing frost date to determine if youns have enough time left this year.

John

Here is a link that might be useful: Johns Journal

Ok, thanks John. I'll try both.

EG

i think i read that if you do something like that, its better with plants. at this time of year. beings so close to the frost date. ok i'm not going to elaborate, you guys know what your talking about and i'd just be doing the mommy thing!! LOL ~Medo

I dug up the rest of the spuds today. The harvest is 34# total for 20 squares or 1.7#/square. It was common, to get 2#/ ft of row in my conventional garden so I think it is reasonable to expect 2#/square using SFGing techniques. The two spuds in the photo below weigh 2# 6ozs, there were about 6 or 7 like these. Many are like the previous photo and some small and very small. The small ones will make good home fries.
{{gwi:1283299}}

John

Here is a link that might be useful: Johns Journal

John, you totally rock!!
I'm really excited about this because the kids love tiny potatoes, too. This week's assignment in science for the little guy is to sprout a potato, lol. What are the odds? I actually bought a couple of organic potatoes to try a week ago or so. I know I don't have enough time for a fall harvest, but I think I can overwinter them because our winters are so mild. And if I can't, hey, I just created more compost, oh well...

John, Yukon golds are a great variety for SFG because they only set fruit once. They only use about 6 inches of dirt that way, which is perfect for SFG. Don't use early varieties in deep bins or cans because you'll only have 6 inches of potatoes and 2 feet of dirt. Late season varieties are perfect for hilling or bins/cans/tires.

Excellent work John! I wish I had the space for potatoes in my bed. I think some day I'll use a kiddie pool with holes poked in the bottom for yukon golds!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure!

I am SO tempted. SO tempted! But gosh, I can buy freshly dug Yukon Gold and the loveliest reds at that farm stand a mile up the road, for only .59 a pound. I mean FRESH...with the dirt still clinging to them. And I can pick out whatever sizes I want. They are wonderfully delicious. I guess I'll have to sleep on it all winter to see if I want to give up the space (Mr. H might just balk at MORE boards for a bin!) I do, however have a bunch of those blue plastic storage boxes.....maybe I will ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

John - thanks for sharing your experience with us. Those pictures are amazing! I think there will be lots of taters grown in many different ways next year. I'll probably reserve a few squares in my big box for planting as you have done.

EG

John - Tater planting time for my location is in February, and here's what I'm planning on doing.
In February, i'm gonna plant 36 squares of seed potatoes that is an early variety, and of course i'll go with whatever type is most common for the area. If I'm not going to move summer crop transplants to the garden before May 1st anyway - I should have enough time to get a decent crop in. Probaly....75 to 90 days.
My question is - some say that soil used to grow potatoes in is useless afterwards. Are you planning on trying to re-use the soil that you grew these in? I would hope that the soil could be amended by adding something to it.

EG

Tell that to the potato farmers, EG. I wouldn't follow the potatoes with tomatoes, raspberries or strawberries (they share diseases), but surely bush beans and/or peas would be a good followup crop. Potatoes probably don't deplete the nutrients any worse than corn would.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

Granny - ok, thanks. I'll probably follow the potatoes with okra.

EG

EG, I donÂt know how many there are in your family, but how quick will you consume 36 to 72 # of potatoes. I imagine the late spring, early summer, temps in Bama get pretty warm and storage may be a problem. If you have a spring house or root cellar it may not be a problem though.

John

Here is a link that might be useful: Johns Journal

John - My wife and I don't eat them very often, but Mom and Dad eat alot! They easily eat 10 lbs a week, just between the two of them. They gotta have them fried taters! Anyway, between them and my sister's families - I don't think it'll be a problem. We don't have a root cellar. I remember once when I was only a kid, Dad grew some and after harvesting them - put them under his house.

EG

Ooh, that reminds me of the Great Potato incident of the 1970's in my childhood. Our neighbor was quite the excentric bargain hunter, and back then Idaho baking potatoes were something special that we didn't get too often in South Carolina. So he arranged to buy a traincar load of them. You have no idea how many potatoes are in a traincar load! Every garage in the neighborhood was piled to the ceiling front to back with burlap bags full of potatoes. And that is AFTER he donated as much as they would take to the local schools and hospital. And let me tell you, nothing smells like rotted potato. That smell is burned into my brain. So listen to John and don't plant more than you can eat! :)

All, I am a new member and I have a few questions about potatoes in a sqft garden. If they have been covered in another area please let me know. Last spring after seeing Sinfonian potato box idea I decided to try it. I was not happy with the results and would like advice for 2009

I planted four boxes 2 x 2 the fill was 50/50 blend of compost and peat moss.

1 type of potato in each box.
Yukon Golds (Early), Red Thumb (Mid-season), All blue (Mid-season) & french fingerling (Late). All seed potatoes purchased from an organic company online. I left them whole when I planted them.

All of the plant where healthy except the Red Thumbs. They turned brown in July. We dug them after they wilted and only the bottom layer of a 3 layer box had potatoes

We just dug the All blues and yukon golds yesterday and again we only had potatoes in the bottom layer and only ended up with about 10 lbs of potatoes.

I plan to dig the French fingerlings next week.

I am trying to determine what to do differently next year to increase yield. I saw from an earlier note that early potatoes only set once. So I plan to plant more boxes and only layer them once (Yukons, Reds & Blues).

What else could I do to increase yield?
Do you think my soil mix could be too rich, keeping the plant making too much leaf and not setting potatoes?

Thanks for any advice.

Garden chef - welcome to the forum! If sinfonian, granny, or jbest123 will chime in, they will give you the info that you are looking for. Sinfonian has researched the problem with the bins, and has found out why the yields for everyone were low. Visit his blog, and he wrote a post about it. Otherwise, if you don't want to go with bins, jbest and granny are the professors of growin taters in the sfg.

EG

I will repeat here what I said in another forum, but with additions, so I hope it's OK to do so.

1. The optimum depth for planting a seed potato is 4-6". Deeper planting results in lower yields. (That was from memory, mine not being so good any more...I have since found 3" is the acceptable depth)

2. When the plant reaches a height of 6", you hill it. This isn't so much for providing more room for the tubers to form, but rather for keeping them from turning green.

3. Most of the potatoes grow near the seed, not higher on the buried stem.

OK...so what happens when you keep adding board and soil and board and soil and board and soil? Are you providing more space for the tubers to grow (remember, they are going to form down there around the seed potato), or are you stressing out a plant that WANTS to form tubers, but has to expand all of its energy pushing up through all that soil to form those leaves that it has to have to provide the energy to form the tubers?

So...in my opinion, the bins are a good idea, but the high-rises are not. Why not try filling it with soil to the top of the first board, lay your seed potato on that, add one board and fill with soil to a depth of 3-6". Let your plants grow to 6" high. Add ONE more board and fill with soil. That's all. You don't need a high-rise.

Alternately, try a second level of potato seeds when the first has reached 6" of growth and top them with 4-6" of soil (effectively hilling crop one while planting crop two). Go one more board and soil when all the growth reaches another 6-inches.

sinfonian has corresponded with some who pooh-pooh what I've said, and insist they get high yields from the high-rises, so I guess it's each man/granny to his/her own!

I'm also going to chime in here with some potato growing advise found in "Crockett's Victory Garden" by James Underwood Crockett (my personal garden bible, it has served me well for thirty years).

Potatoes do well in a light, sandy soil that is slightly acid.

You can plant the whole potato, but you get more for your money and a larger yield by cutting the potato into sections the size of an egg, making sure each section has 2-3 eyes. Leave these sections exposed to sunshine and air for 3-4 days to dry the cut surfaces.

Plant the sections, cut side down, and cover with about 3" of soil.

Crockett didn't wait for the growth to reach 6". He began adding soil as soon as, and each time the plant showed growth, until it had been "hilled".

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

What I found out is that early varieties do best in single layers of 6 inches deep as Granny suggested. I too got very disappointing results from my yukon bin. Who knew? Sorry you had to find out the hard way also.

Yellow Fin and Binjte are good yukon like late-season varieties. I would stick with late season ones to be safe in towers.

My soil is a mix of compost and vermiculite with a bit of peat moss thrown in. Vermiculite and peat moss aren't very nutritious, but both hold water great and drain better. That helps to keep the soil moist but not wet, perfect for potatoes. In other words, your mix should be fine.

I'm going to do the Build-As-You-Grow-Bins again because I have very very limited space to grow potatoes. If you have more space then by all means use it. I'm going to stick with bins or not grow potatoes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure!

I cleared out a spot behind the garden shed that I hope will get enough sun to grow a bin or two or three next year. I'll probably just go with some large plastic storage containers, with holes drilled in the bottoms for drainage, since I already have those on hand. If they don't work, I can always recycle them into SWCs. I plan on trying a mixture of 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss (for the acid) and 1/3 plain sand. This will be an "iffy" attempt, considering the containers and the possible lack of sunlight. I've never grown potatoes in any type of enclosure.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

Thanks to everyone for your responses. Based on your comments I am holding out hope for my last box. The french fingerlings I planted are a mid to late harvest type. I will keep everyone updated.

For my early potatoes I think I will have to add another 4 x 4. I will also have to work on my rotation. Too bad tomatoes and potatoes can not follow one another.

Thanks!!

Good luck Granny! I find it odd how some plants do fine with iffy sunlight. My neighbor's got two mature blueberry bushes that get hardly any sunlight and produce like mad! You may find your potatoes do fine.

Garden Chef, I too am holding out hope for my russett bin, it's a late variety and just now showing signs of dying back. I'm not sure if I'll do a bin of yellow fins next year or just use my kid's kiddie pool and do yukon golds in 6 inches of dirt, hehe. Good luck with your fingerlings! And yes, I agree, I've got tons of dirt used for my potatoes that I won't be able to use for my tomato bins next year. Good thing I've got two bags left to use if I keep them separated, hehe.

The potato dirt will be used for augmenting my blueberries and garlic planting this fall.

For my early potatoes I think I will have to add another 4 x 4. I will also have to work on my rotation. Too bad tomatoes and potatoes can not follow one another.
I agree, I've got tons of dirt used for my potatoes that I won't be able to use for my tomato bins next year. Good thing I've got two bags left to use if I keep them separated, hehe. The potato dirt will be used for augmenting my blueberries and garlic planting this fall.
I think that is only a myth. The people that tried it either hat some other reason or did not amend the soil properly.
The photo below shows toms planted in the same place that spuds were grown the year before. You can only see app. ½ the toms, I could not get a pic from behind. The tom in the insert has a quarter setting on it.

John
{{gwi:1283300}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Johns Journal

I don't know, John, but I think it's more about tomatoes and potatoes sharing the same diseases so it isn't good practice to plant one where the other has grown. The same as rotating your crops, which I now hear isn't even a very important thing for the home gardener to do. There are also those who say to never plant tomatoes in the same spot twice, but my cherry tomatoes have only one place in my yard and have been planted in the very same spot for probably the last 15 years. My father had the best tomatoes ever, and planted them in exactly the same spot year after year. So, if it were me, I'd not worry about using the same soil for a tomato plant or two, but I wouldn't put my entire crop into that potato soil...just in case!

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

I had a bad experience when I planted tomatoes in the same area two years in a row. It may have been a coincidence but I move my tomatoes every year now.

I may try layering the potato dirt in my compost pile and hope that gets hot enough to kill any disease. I am composting my tomato and potato plants anyway.

I have also decided to skip the 4 x 4 and add a 4 x 12 instead. Less lawn to mow and more room to grow tomatoes.

Sinfonian - Speaking of garlic, I am planning to dedicate 25 sqft this fall. At 9 per sqft I am hoping to be Garlic independant next year.

I'm planting 2 more blueberry bushes this fall, meaning I'll have tons more room to plant garlic. I figure ten rows of five is 50 garlic plants. That should last us all year if it stores that long.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure

Well I dug my final potato box, french fingerlings, only got 8 lbs. The highest potato was about 20 inches from the bottom of the box. The french fingerling is a mid to late potato. So I plan to only build the box 3-4 layers high next year.

I learn something new every year from the garden.