Any Gardening Experts re Spuds?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JoePa

Here is why you want to grow your own potatoes - years ago I was in a barber shop waiting for a hair cut - the guy in the chair was a potato farmer - we got talking about raising potatoes and the bugs that attack them - he tells us he uses systemic type sprays to kill the bugs - in case you don't know systemic type sprays actually get into the plant structure and kills any bugs that eat the plant - we told him that the poison got into the plant and the potatoes - he shrugged his shoulders and said that this type of spray was the best that he ever used - after he left the barber and I talked about how we eat stuff that we have no idea what chemicals are in our food

I live in the country - my place is surrounded by fields - the farmers generally grow either corn, soybeans, potatoes or wheat - when they plant potatoes I watch how much they spray - first before they plant the potatoes to kill all the weeds - then a couple times during the growing season - then at the end to kill all the foliage so that it all dies at the same time - then when the potatoes go to the processing plant they are spray again to keep them from sprouting - when you sit down to have a big dish of mashed potatoes your also eating a pile of chemicals

---

Same reason i stopped eating ginger. I liked it a lot.Ginger being bi annual plant,and prone to fungus.......they spray it more then a dozen time with fungicide in 2 years...........alas i can get by without ginger,but not without potatoes.

Its interesting to hear that I'm not the only one who's potato plants are yellowing up and dying. This is the first time I've ever tried growing them and I did so in buckets and half barrels. I was under the belief that they would last until early fall as opposed to mid August? I've emptied 4 buckets and one half barrel so far and ended up with 22# of spuds. Nothing significant in size, but man o man, are they tasty! It was just a fun type experiment on my part and I'm satisfied so far. I did have 2 buckets that the potatoes were covered in the white spots longpointer mentioned. They cleaned up well and tasted just fine.

It doesn't surprise me that they've started yellowing already since we had an early spring. One thing I did find interesting....usually when digging up my potatoes in the fall I always seem to miss a few. Two years ago in the spring when I first tilled my garden I found one potatoe that I had missed the previous fall. It looked OK after being frozen all winter so I tossed it into the microwave for a bit. That thing was as white and fluffy as any potatoe that I had ever eaten.
Anyway, thanks guys for all the replies. Guess I'll pass on any more fertilizer and wait for the skins to thicken up.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sawbill

It doesn't surprise me that they've started yellowing already since we had an early spring. One thing I did find interesting....usually when digging up my potatoes in the fall I always seem to miss a few. Two years ago in the spring when I first tilled my garden I found one potatoe that I had missed the previous fall. It looked OK after being frozen all winter so I tossed it into the microwave for a bit. That thing was as white and fluffy as any potatoe that I had ever eaten.
Anyway, thanks guys for all the replies. Guess I'll pass on any more fertilizer and wait for the skins to thicken up.

---

For the best potatoes I have grown in the fall I dig a deep big hole, fill it with leaves, the old potato plant and anything that would make a good compost then pile the dirt back on top, makes quite the mound but if I do it early enough in the spring most of the mound is composted down. No need for fertilizer and a good soil