Any Gardening Experts re Spuds?

[gbk]

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.

[Bushmoose]

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.

[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.

[mosquito]

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