You don't mention anything about feeding them. Did you? If so with what and how much and how often?

Dave

To get a big potato yield you need lots of top growth for as long as possible. That means a good fertilization program and plenty of water. Get the top growth and the spuds will follow.

As above, potatoes require lots of nutrients. You underfed them. Commercial potato farmers use 2000 pounds per acre of 13-13-13 fertilizer to get a viable crop. From your description, you were low on nitrogen and probably on the other macro nutrients too.

DarJones

i am not sure what you mean by black clay,, does it have a real strong organic odor or is it pretty nuetral.. If it has a mild smell, then you probably need to feed them more.. either way. typically, when you add sand to clay, it equals cement, or really hard soil, which tubers have a really hard time growing in. Especially if the chunks of limestone are dispersed prolificly.. any way, get more organic matter in the soil. be it compost, manure, leaves, grass clippings.. remove as many rocks as you can.. roto till the ammendments in before you plant again.. Soil test kits are pretty usefull tooo.. Good luck.

I agree that besides looser soil that they need some real feeding and not unrotted material.

Yep, loose fairly fertile soil. Not a good crop for hot, dry conditions or climate, and in such climate I would hill, not mulch. Sometimes I do both, hill them up good and then mulch between hills.

Did the "march freeze" kill or knock back the above ground growth?

I recommend hilling with dirt (not mulch) To that end, I would not plant a Fall crop...instead I would use this time to prepare the ground for next year. I prefer the "lasagna method" which you can learn about by googling. Also recommend rotating crop, so that you are not planting potatoes on the ground they grew in last.

I have been experimenting with a potato box with mixed results (you may want to google this also) This might be an answer to your poor soil.

lonmower said:

Also recommend rotating crop, so that you are not planting potatoes on the ground they grew in last.

I have been experimenting with a potato box with mixed results (you may want to google this also) This might be an answer to your poor soil.
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lonmower, do you plant in your box year after year? Or is planting in a box different than in the ground?

I have been reading this with interest, as I am growing potatoes for the first time this year. I have four diff. kinds growing and one has gotten fairly tall and started flowering.

the rest are smaller. I have "hilled" them once, when they were about 6-10 inches tall.

I haven't dug in yet, can't wait to get some true babies, but after reading this I gave them all a good deal of feeding this past weekend.

Any other recommendations?

Also, lonmower - I was going to do a potato tower of some sort for my august planting....is that what your potato box is and can you talk about your "mixed results".?

thanks!
Dana

I'm in the same boat. First year growing potatoes so I planted them where lawn used to be. I have alot of difference in height of the various plants so my hilling is not really consistent. I fertilized mine with worm cast tea as soon as read this thread and again a couple days later. I'd sure like for my first attempt growing potatoes to yield something.

pjames....have yours flowered yet?
when did you plant them?

obviously, the days to ready really do mean something with potatoes, becaues the growth difference is quite amazing.

i am going to fertilize the whole bed again this weekend, but I think i will also reach in to the bigger plant and see what I find! can you hear the excitement in my voice!??!

another question - i heard to cut back on watering once the plant flowers....but i did give it a good soaking with the fert. Any suggestions on that?

Posted by neohippie . . . Once they sprouted, I started piling on mulch . . . I probably buried each potato patch three times over. . .

What does that mean? Did you cover the foliage so that there was only a few leaves exposed to sunlight and do that repeatedly?

As with any green plant, sugars and starches are made by the potato plant through photosynthesis. The tubers are stored starches. Green chlorophyll must be exposed to sunlight for photosynthesis to take place.

Most of the potato plant's chlorophyll is in its leaves. If the leaves are covered, no photosynthesis takes place, carbon dioxide is not turned into starch, and tubers are not formed.

digitSteve

I know we are in two different worlds, you being in Texas and me in Indiana, but I tilled in some 12-12-12 into my garden before planting potatoes this year and the results are amazing. The first pics was taken a little over 2 weeks ago and the second pic is maybe 2 days old. So there is basically 2 weeks between pics. The tallest plant in the second pic is about 2 feet tall.

This too, is my first year planting potatoes so I am by far not an expert. Just sharing some of my $.02

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Here is a link that might be useful: The Pepper Guy's Blog

I do believe that potatoes should be hilled with good soil, once when they are about 10"
and the second time when they are 14" or so. Then you can mulch them with hay or straw.
Also, you would want to let them stay as long as possible, ie, as long as the tops are green.

It is challenging to grow good potato crop in the south. When the soil temps gets over 70F, they will stop producing.
Mines are ready to retire already.I also experienced stem rotting and dying. I will try again fall planting.

Of all the varietie I have, yukon gold is the best and most rot resistant.

When you harvested your potatoes, was the foliage still green? or had it died back and turned brown? if ti was still green, you harvested too early.

Everyone is different and it is quite possible that I am just blessed with nutritious soil, but I have never fed my potatoes anything but water (drip) and I always get above average yields, check out my video link below to understand how and when to "hill" your plants..

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Here is a link that might be useful: Hilling Potatoes

We always have great potatoes here in Kansas.

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Ok, so I am on my knees, but the point is you have to feed you spuds, keep them moist and hill, hill, hill and Mulch, Mulch, Mulch.

We plant about 225 pounds of seed potatoes each year. We till our garden, then we till in our rows. Work in fert and compost and then we make trenches 6-8 inches deep. We plant the potatoes at the bottom of the trench and cover them up. When they get bigger, we put in drip, then hill up another 10-12 inches of soil. We do this by running a tiller down the row and then shovel it up. We do this again if time allows. Then we mulch with wheat straw.

Keep in mind, we dig most all our potatoes at a new potato size, very rarely do the plants actually die before we dig them. We average 10-15 pounds of potatoes per each pound of seed potatoes planted.

When did you harvest them?

On the potato box...

Much has been written on this subject...here is what I have learned. USE LATE VARIETIES! If you use early varieties, the plants only set tubers once and you lose the tower effect.

I am filling the box with a mix of 1/3 compost, 1/3 sand, and 1/3 peat. As the box fills, the force of gravity on the soil will compact the soil at the bottom...so this year after four "tiers", I am using wheat straw for the next 3-4...which should not compact.

I have moved my box in the garden...but that point seems to be mute as I am filling the box with fresh compost mix each year. After harvest, I take the soil and distribute it over my raised beds.

I also grow hilled potatoes, and have never fertilized them growing in good soil, as too much nitrogen can promote foliage growth at the expense of tuber formation and vigor

lonmower
is your box made of wood or metal? (i was going to use fencing)
did you make it yourself?
any pictures?

Thanks for the tip about using late varieties.

One side of the tower I would use would not get that much sun. Could I just not put the seed potatoes on that side? but on the other three sides? the goal for me is going vertical to save space and still get a nice yield.

dgbeig...
I haven't figured out how to post pix on this forum (am I hopeless in that regard?)
The box I made is 2'x 6' and at its' maximum will be 4' tall.
The sides are 1X6 #2 cedar fencing, and are screwed into 2x2 fir corner posts. If you google "potato box" you will get many hits, including many long threads on this forum. All that I have seen suggest using 2X6 for the sides but I think that this is overkill...the 1X6 works fine for much less $$$$

I do not understand your question about the "sun side" The box is small enough that if it gets sun on one side that will do it. You know that you are starting at the bottom tier and working up as the potatoes grow(?) You will not be using that many seed potatoes as the space is is small. In my 2X6 space I use about 8. Good Luck...check out what has been written in other places