Lots of growers in California with ground gophers put their plants in large pots, and bury the whole thing. This protects the tubers, and makes it SWEET popping them out in the fall. You can overwinter them right in the pots in your cellar, and divide all or just the ones showing roots outside the pot. This can be anywhere from a five inch pot to a five gallon pot, but the gallon or two gallon sizes are the most common for the purpose you are talking about.

Burying the pot allows feeder roots to get to moisture and nutrients, giving you stronger and self-sustaining plants with less fertilizer and water then if you left the pot out of the ground.

i thought about just doing the pots..but had some concerns about the depth ( mainly with the smallerish/smaller medium sized pots) not being enough for tuber planting depth and the depth needed for the root, and also about whether there may be added drainage problems when compounded with soil on the outside... but now I'll definitely look into that as an option! I didn't see anything on dropping the whole pot into the ground during my searches so I worried a bit about killing the lot of the tester-plants and didn't dare try.

Thanks!

When I was looking up old discussions about wireworms for someone, I came across this series of comments from 2013 that you might find interesting...

• Hmm if you were concerned about brittle tubers you could make a modified bulb cage , maybe deeper than the one in the photo but with a cutout on the top for the stem , going to build some myself next year to make lifting bulbs easier

• Cici Vacation Hamari Accord and Light Accord both have very long thin tubers that are really easy to break during digging. One grower uses open-bottomed pots around the starter tuber to encourage new tuber growth to point down, allowing safer digging in the fall.
• Interesting
• That's an idea. I think with the wire bulb cage you'd end up with the wires in the tubers as they expand through a hole. Rather like a tree trunk or branch growing around fence wire.

Bulb Cage....THAT IS THE KEYWORD I WAS MISSING! when doing internet searches for something like this. so very helpful!! thanks!

Glad to help.

I'm doubtful that a bulb cage would make lifting 'easier,' as the tubers might develop on both sides of the wire.

Check out 'water plant baskets.' Growers in the UK use small/medium ones for their cuttings. It constricts the tuber growth while allowing free access to the soil's nutrients and moisture. You'd still have to trim out lots of feeder roots, though.