Re :Spuds. Ive used Kristy's procedure, and covered with straw..6". Mice got a little. but they were sure clean. Most migrated upwards a little into the straw. I'm assuming you use the method known in some bd circles : that of cutting a square plug (about an inch square +/- )around the individual eyes of the seed spud, and tapering decreasingly towards the centre of the spud, thereby trimming the bulk of the tuber to a minimum. Apparently, the less of the original bulk is accessible, the more the sprout seeks surrounding nutrient source. Also, this minimizes rot potential. And there is the leading end of the spud to consider for preference. I don't always have time to do them all that way, and i have not been able to determine conclusively yield/quality differences because of other variables year - year. If your round haybales are the same size as the straw ones, 2,3 people should be able to manage after determining the machine-rolled direction by peeling a layer or 2.
If not,: I made a spear out of 1-" pipe, a foot longer than the balewidth, with a solid welded point in the one end, and a hole drilled through it to pin-retain a larger diam. pipeflange. On the other end, threaded a 1" flange onto it. Spear/drive this thru the centre of the bale. Over these flanges i looped a rope's-ends by which to pull the bale with the tractor. It just helps to have someone back there monitoring/ raking off the right thickness of the peeling layers. ......manfred ----- Original Message ----- From: "Allan Balliett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, March 11, 2002 5:55 AM Subject: Planting Spuds - How do you do it? > Mind sharing how you plant and manage your potatoes? > > I've been very disappointed with my crops the past two years. Doing > great on the freedom from bugs and pretty good on the freedom from > blight (last year I mis-identified a fungal attack for sunscald and > lost a whole row of a variety by responding two late. For whatever > reason, an application of equisetum tea brought the others through, > however. > > > Hugh tells me that he doesn't hill any more. He mulches with old hay. > (Anyone got good tips for unrolling big bales??) I've got lots of old > straw, but straw holds so much water, it kind of worries me to have > it around the spuds. I did lose a crop of spuds one year by apply hay > after the tops had come up: they melted away with fungus withing the > week. > > Woody's suggestion of dipping the cut pieces in a slurry of local > clay and BC has worked very well for us. I don't think we ever have a > cutting that doesn't result in a plant. > > A good geek question for me: my Albrecht report suggests two tons of > lime an acres. The area I want to put the spuds in has not been limed > (the pH is 6.8) and I'd like to lime it after I put the spuds in but > most sources say to not lime a spud patch because it leads to scab. > For myself, however, I can easily suspect that my low yields could be > attributed to not enough calcium-based lime in the soils (Ideas?) > > How do you do your spuds? >
