I sprouted and grew some Walmart Russet potatoes this year. I'm not exactly sure of the variety but I am assuming they are Burbank. Harvested some today (83rd day from planting) as the vines are dead. I don't think these grow well here or something. 14 plants averaged 7.14 oz of potatoes each for a total of 6 lb 3.95 oz. Most were small and there were a few medium ones but it was not what I was expecting. Certainly doesn't look as good as a bag of Walmart taters. I have Kennebecs that were planted at the same time and were treated the same way and they still have big lucious leaves so I'm not sure why the Russets died first as Burbanks have later harvest days.
Anyways I'm figuring I turned 3 lbs of these potatoes into 18 lbs if the averages hold up which isn't bad I guess. I remember someone calculated up what they grew and got out of each plant but cant find it now. Maybe
@Meadowlark or
@gary350 . Would you point me to the information? I'm interested in comparing data. Does that seem like a reasonable harvest considering the days of growth?
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I don't have very good luck growing russet potatoes about 1 lb of new potatoes per plant. I don't think russets like our 100° hot summer June to Sept with only about 1" of rain per month. Russet is a cool weather crop nothing I try does very well to get a good crop of russet so I stopped growing the, Russet is one of our favorite potatoes.
Red Pontic potatoes grow very well for me they are hot weather potatoes. I don't need to try very hard to get 4 lbs of potatoes from each plant.
This year I planted Red Norland they are red potatoes that taste like white potatoes. I found Red Norland at Aldi's grocery store, I bought 10 lbs cut them up to make cuttings with 1 eye per cutting. I planted April 5 and dug up 1 potato yesterday just to look se what is there. Wow this 1 potatoes is about 3/4 lb. Need to wait 1 more month to see what type harvest I get.
I bought Yellow potatoes at Aldi's grocery store also and planted several of them. Wait and see what we harvest in another month.
I planted Kennebec potatoes also these are suppose to be hot weather potatoes harvest is 3½ months. Some times I get 1 lb of new potatoes per plant. Best seed potatoes seems to be golf ball size with 1 eye. I often buy large seed potatoes that is all there is too choose from and get 5 cuttings with 1 or 2 eyes. I think TN is too hot for most potatoes.
When we lived in Illinois 45 years ago potatoes were very easy to grow 60 plants would produce 400 lbs of new potatoes. I have tried for 45 years I can not grow good crop of potatoes in TN compared to Illinois. I try new things every year, I am irrigating my potato plants this year to see if that helps. 120 gallons of water cost me 61 cents. So far this summer is not as hot and dry as past years I have only irrigated my plants 2 times this summer we are getting lots of rain that we typically never get.
The trick to a good potato crop seems to be growing the correct potatoes for your geographical location, weather, soft soil, lots of water, & fertilizer. I have learned too much nitrogen fertilizer you get very large plants & very few new potatoes. I also learn not enough nitrogen is bad too. 15-15-15 fertilizer worked in Illinois but that is not good in TN. Wow go figure??? I think we grew cobbler potatoes 50 years ago but I can't find cobber seed potatoes anymore.
Kennebec is suppose to be a hot weather potato.
Look at our weather for this week. I have never seen this much rain in TN summer. My garden is always desert June to Sept. Look at the temperature it should be 95° to 98° already.
