121 lbs of new potatoes from 12 lbs grocery store potatoes.

[gary350]

I planted 12 lbs of grocery store potatoes. I selected the smallest potatoes with the most eyes. I want 1 oz cuttings with 1 eye each cutting. I planted cuttings 8" apart, 3 rows spaced 8" apart. Cuttings were placed on soil so eyes are laying on their side. Place cuttings on soil surface then cover with 4" of dry dead pine needles. We have 20 pine trees along 1 side of our yard. Red & White potatoes are both a 3 month crop.

I dug up 121 lbs of new potatoes. Plants were dead, soil is soft from many days of rain. Easy digging in soft soil. I pulled away pine needles new were laying there ready to pick up.

I pulled up several dead plants and was very surprised to learn Red new potatoes pull up out of the soil with the dead plants but White potatoes will not pull up with the dead plants.

Investigation shows white potatoes grow out like spokes on a wheel. Red Norland potatoes grow in a bundle around the seed potato. With all the Red potatoes in a bundle there is much less soil to pull new potatoes up through. I would have never guessed this with out seeing it.

Boards around beds are levees to hold in water. When soil gets dry plants get 90 gallons of water = 60 cents according to our water bills. We had enough rain this year I only used city water 2 times all summer.

We have,
68 lbs of Red Norland new potatoes.
53 lbs of white Kennebec new potatoes.
121 lbs total new potatoes.

 

[Meadowlark]

I've been waiting on the predicted 400-pound harvest from 10 pounds of seed

"I am claiming 16 Red Potato plants will grow 64 lbs of new red potatoes. Sometimes a seed potato only has 1 eyes but I have seed seed potatoes with 6 eyes and everything in between. It makes no difference to me how many lbs of potatoes I need to get the number of plants I want. I bought 10 lbs of grocery store potatoes and got 100 plant from it. 100 plants should grow 400 lbs of red new potatoes."

How did that turn out?

 

[gary350]

I've been waiting on the predicted 400-pound harvest from 10 pounds of seed

"I am claiming 16 Red Potato plants will grow 64 lbs of new red potatoes. Sometimes a seed potato only has 1 eyes but I have seed seed potatoes with 6 eyes and everything in between. It makes no difference to me how many lbs of potatoes I need to get the number of plants I want. I bought 10 lbs of grocery store potatoes and got 100 plant from it. 100 plants should grow 400 lbs of red new potatoes."

How did that turn out?

I wish I could do that. Several YouTube videos people get much better harvest than me. I keep trying new things and keep getting better but still no 4 lbs of new potatoes from each plant. I think people that live in cool wet climate grow big crop and don't need to try. Our TN weather is hot dry 100° desert June to Sept usually 1" of rain per month.. I do have much better luck with Red Pontic potatoes they like hot weather but we don't like the flavor of Red Pontiac. I found a video that show Condor potatoes are very large producer probably because them are 4½ month crop according to the YouTube video. I have never heard of condor potatoes. Cobbler potatoes are 4 month crop.

All long season crops are larger,

Melons 70 days, 90 days, 120 days.

Corn 72 days, 90 days, 120 days.

 

[Meadowlark]

I wish I could do that.

The thing is the 64 pounds you first claimed from one pound of seed is simply unheard of and no commercial growers I have talked to have ever seen even 40 pounds you claimed. Some have said that 20 is possible...and in fact I have approached that myself on occasion when conditions were perfect.

That's why I was interested in how that turned out. Thanks.

 

[Susan BBPM]

My question is - what will you do with them?
New potatoes don't last long. I try to stagger my planting in order to get a steady supply but I still haven't

I wish I could do that. Several YouTube videos people get much better harvest than me. I keep trying new things and keep getting better but still no 4 lbs of new potatoes from each plant. I think people that live in cool wet climate grow big crop and don't need to try. Our TN weather is hot dry 100° desert June to Sept usually 1" of rain per month.. I do have much better luck with Red Pontic potatoes they like hot weather but we don't like the flavor of Red Pontiac. I found a video that show Condor potatoes are very large producer probably because them are 4½ month crop according to the YouTube video. I have never heard of condor potatoes. Cobbler potatoes are 4 month crop.

All long season crops are larger,

Melons 70 days, 90 days, 120 days.

Corn 72 days, 90 days, 120 days.

I had a google to see what kind of yeilds people get in the UK from a single seed potato. Potatoes grow quite well in our climate. Unfortunately everything is specified in tonnes per hectare. However, I found this post about a popular allotment competition (an allotment is a place where veg growers rent a plot of land on a site to grow their veg) where the goal is to see who can get the most potatoes from a single seed potato.

I'm going to give it a try next year as I've never yet focused on yield.

Anyway (and I find this hard to believe) 112lbs from a single seed potatoes was often acheived? (Am I misreading??)

Largest Yield from One Seed Potato Competition - Allotment Garden Diary

An old allotment competition is to see who can grow the biggest yield of potatoes from just one seed potato. This article explains how it is done.

www.allotment-garden.org

 

[gary350]

My question is - what will you do with them?
New potatoes don't last long. I try to stagger my planting in order to get a steady supply but I still haven't

I had a google to see what kind of yeilds people get in the UK from a single seed potato. Potatoes grow quite well in our climate. Unfortunately everything is specified in tonnes per hectare. However, I found this post about a popular allotment competition (an allotment is a place where veg growers rent a plot of land on a site to grow their veg) where the goal is to see who can get the most potatoes from a single seed potato.

I'm going to give it a try next year as I've never yet focused on yield.

Anyway (and I find this hard to believe) 112lbs from a single seed potatoes was often acheived? (Am I misreading??)

Largest Yield from One Seed Potato Competition - Allotment Garden Diary

An old allotment competition is to see who can grow the biggest yield of potatoes from just one seed potato. This article explains how it is done.

www.allotment-garden.org

College is out for the summer we have 2 grand sons living with us for a few months they both eat more food in 1 meal than the both of us eat in 2 days and they love potatoes any way they are cooked.

I have good luck keeping potatoes for a year. I keep new potatoes inside the house 73°f AC until weather turns cold then potatoes go inside a shed in back yard for the winter. If freezing weather is too cold potatoes come in the house again. New potatoes are easy to keep inside the house until Oct. Don't let potatoes lay on there side more than 2 day stir the pile or they will rot. Every time you get potatoes to cook stir the pile. If potatoes lay on the same side very long they develop a wet place that rots.

I watch potato competition too there is a man in UK that grows an amazing about of Red potatoes in 10 gallon pots. He plants 4 seed potatoes in a pot then harvest 30 lbs of new potatoes. I wanted to plant 20 pots of potatoes this year but pots are $300 for 20 pots. I hate watering plants it would take too much time to water 20 pots of potatoes.

I do lots of experiments every year to see what I can learn. I see people growing large amounts of potatoes on YouTube videos, I think I can do that to but so far I can't. Our spring weather is rain every day Jan to May 1st then 100°f and desert with almost no rain June to Sept.

I plant potatoes year round every month. I planted a row of yellow potatoes 2 weeks ago. I use the small 1 oz new potatoes as seed potatoes. Wash new potatoes then leave them outside under a shade tree for a few weeks until eyes will start growing. So far I only get about 1 lb of new potatoes per plant but I dream of getting much more but I seldom do. LOL.

There is a lot of conflicting information online. I read if potato plants don't blossom that means plants are not getting enough water. I also read plants that blossom will produce 4 times more new potatoes than plants that don't blossom. I also read some potato plants never blossom and some plants very seldom blossom. I read too much nitrogen you get very large plants and very few new potatoes. My experience with potatoes too much nitrogen does make very large 6 ft tall plants and very few new potatoes. I also know, what works for you may not work for me and what works for me might not work for someone else. We all have different soil and different weather.

I have learned that I can often grow several times more Red Pontiac potatoes in our hot dry desert summer weather than white potatoes because Red Pontiac potatoes love hot weather. We don't like the flavor or Red Pontic so I don't grow them.

Long season 4 month potatoes will grow a larger harvest than 3 month potatoes. Same thing for melons & corn. 120 day corn is larger than 90 day corn and that is larger than 72 day corn. 120 day melons are larger than 90 day melons and those are larger than 70 day melons.

Don't wait until next year to grow more potatoes. I am going to pick about 100 small 1 oz potatoes from my new potato harvest, wash them, then put them in full sun to see how many will grow eyes, then plant more potatoes soon as I know which potatoes will grow. I put 100 tiny potatoes out to sprout and maybe 50 will grow quick.

I see videos of people in Vietnam put 200 potatoes on the soil then cover them up with soil to force them to grow. 2 weeks later they uncover potatoes to see which ones are growing. Then they plant the potatoes that grow.

Red Norland 70-90 days.
Yukon Gold 80-95 days
Kennebec 80-100 days
Red Pontiac 90-100 days
German Butter Ball 110-135 days

 

[Susan BBPM]

Some great info there - thanks.

I've read that new potatoes only last 2 weeks. But for sure my experience (i.e. my utterly chaotic life) has proven to me that they taste fine to my uncultured palette many months later.

You've also answered a question I have about whether I can replant potatoes from this harvest for a second crop. I have some first earlies called 'McCain Premier' that are excellent for roasting, chips etc. We didn't get much of a harvest as our spring has been SO dry and hot. I think I might just re sow them in the hope that they'll yield a much bigger autumn crop. They taste amazing.

I'm pretty new to this - this is my 4th season IIRC. I'm doing very well with lots of things (all sorts of complements from neighbours etc) but it's still at that luck stage where you're not really sure WHY things worked so you don't know if you can reproduce!! LOL

 

[Ruderunner]

Regarding the greens, I've been under the impression that one should bury the plant as it grows, leaving 6 to 12 inches exposed. Have you tried this technique?

 

[gary350]

Regarding the greens, I've been under the impression that one should bury the plant as it grows, leaving 6 to 12 inches exposed. Have you tried this technique?

I know 2 people that do grow potatoes in big hills. I tried that a few times many years ago but no good results in TN hot 100°f desert summer weather. I need to try that again. Only way I can get water inside a large hill of potatoes is bury a soaker hose next to the seed potatoes. How will I get fertilizer inside a 12" tall potato hill? I found a YouTube video where a man grow potatoes in large hills, he puts a plastic PVC pipe vertical between each seed potato. Once a week he fills the PVC pipe with water and a little fertilizer too. Video showed how to plant but not the harvest.

 

[Meadowlark]

Regarding the greens, I've been under the impression that one should bury the plant as it grows, leaving 6 to 12 inches exposed. Have you tried this technique?

Yes absolutely. Sometimes I don't get it done but normally I try to hill them up several times during a growing cycle. IMO and in my hot/humid/wet/dry climate, hilling up protects the new potatoes which are largely grown above the seed from greening and aids the seed plant in growth. May not be for everyone, but it works very well for me.

 

[YumYum]

There is a lot of conflicting information online. I read if potato plants don't blossom that means plants are not getting enough water. I also read plants that blossom will produce 4 times more new potatoes than plants that don't blossom. I also read some potato plants never blossom and some plants very seldom blossom. I read too much nitrogen you get very large plants and very few new potatoes.

My Kennebecs didn't really bloom. I saw maybe 2 or 3 blooms out of a 20 foot row. They are just now starting to lean over and yellow so it wont be long before I dig them up.

Come to think of it the Walmart Russets didn't bloom either. Same thing about 2 or 3 blooms but those potatoes didn't do too well and died earlier. The potatoes were smaller than what they should have been I think.

 

[gary350]

My Kennebecs didn't really bloom. I saw maybe 2 or 3 blooms out of a 20 foot row. They are just now starting to lean over and yellow so it wont be long before I dig them up.

Come to think of it the Walmart Russets didn't bloom either. Same thing about 2 or 3 blooms but those potatoes didn't do too well and died earlier. The potatoes were smaller than what they should have been I think.

None of my potato plants had blossoms this year.

I give up trying to grow Russet potatoes TN is too hot and dry in summer. I might be able to grow good Russets if I plant them Sept 15 it is a 105 day crop, harvest Dec 30.

Have you noticed that grocery store 5 lb bags have smaller potatoes than 10 lb bags. The reason for that is, sorting machines have better accuracy putting small potatoes in small bags. If you want larger grocery store potatoes by 10 lb bags.

I put my potatoes on a potato table today to dry a while, maybe 1 or 2 weeks. My potatoes have best storage inside the house in 73° low humidity. When weather gets cold potatoes go outside in the shed. When it gets too cold potatoes come in the house again.