Dear Hugh,
You wrote:
My experience is give them a good solid boost from the chunk of potato
behind them and you can rely on getting a good yield...And I can't
afford hauling out compost
Hugh, are you farming on moderate to high clay % soil? I am growing in
sandy soil (15 - 20%)
Stephen,
Yes, I'm growing on clay. Great stuff once you get some life into it.
Compost needn't be much on these soils any more, though once I was using
huge quantities of it like you seem to be.
Best,
Hugh
Dear Hugh,
You wrote:
My experience is give them a good solid boost from the chunk
Dear Gil,
Good stuff.
But I'm not nursing potatoes on high compost stuff. I plant them direct in
spading machine spaded soil and no fertilizer whatsoever. So they have to
get off to a great start on their own. My experience is give them a good
solid boost from the chunck of potato behind them
Thanks Hugh, all points taken and agreed.
There is of cause a great difference between a financially serviving crop and a
smart arse unbelievable and possibly non repeatable one. I am very interested in
your use of Corn as a soil builder. There was a feature on someone in Mexico, in
the old
Hugh,
In your post on potatoes you stated that you soak the potato sets in
peroxide - is this just to ensure that the cut surfaces do not become
infected, or do you do this with whole potatoes as well? If so, does it
help in keeping the potato plants healthy?
Thanks
Stephen Barrow
Dear
Hugh -
thanks for the good post on how you manage your spuds.
Questions come to mind.
How deeply do you mulch with hay?
Allan,
About whatever comes off the bale, But thats a couple inches.
How do you unroll the bales?
I get it in the right direction and roll (downhill).
Your
Planting Potatoes--A Few Tips
With smaller potatoes one may plant the whole potato, but with larger ones
it is good to cut them up into sets. Be sure to cut these up so there is
a considerable chunk of potato as an energy source to kick off the new
plant. Anything smaller than about the size of
Hugh... a couple of quick queries.
On 13 Mar 02, you wrote:
---8---
After that I do nothing, other than mowing the paths between beds
while the potatos are young, until I dig potatoes.
How wide are the grass paths and what type of mower do you use?
From the photographs in 'Acres USA' the
Hugh -
thanks for the good post on how you manage your spuds.
Questions come to mind.
How deeply do you mulch with hay?
How do you unroll the bales?
Your harvesting sounds like you are using a harrow to pull the spuds
of the soil but if the seed potato is only under the mulch all the
'new'
The Organic Gardening encyclopedia say 30# per 1000 sq ft on sand to 80# per
1000 sq ft on clay will raise the ph one unit. Having put about 4 tons to
the ac of quarry siftings about 9 years ago I would say that their unit
would be a raise from lets say 6.1 to 6.2. I would be a little more
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
It's a little bit of work but less than mulching by hand.
I dig a shallow trench with a potato plow, then put abut 11/2 of well aged
compost in the trench and lay the seed on top of that. Then I cover them up
with a cultivator. I think they respond well to the slightly more acidic
nature of the
Allan -
Gypsum increases calcium w/o introducing lime or changing the ph. Also
colloidal phosphate is a good source of calcium. Aragonite is a great
low-mag source of calcium, but it will also raise the ph. Finally, a
serving of Azomite never hurt anything. Eh?
Best,
Essie
At 08:55 AM
It's a little bit of work but less than mulching by hand.
I dig a shallow trench with a potato plow, then put abut 11/2 of well aged
compost in the trench and lay the seed on top of that. Then I cover them up
with a cultivator. I think they respond well to the slightly more acidic
nature of the
Allan -
Gypsum increases calcium w/o introducing lime or changing the ph.
Also colloidal phosphate is a good source of calcium. Aragonite is
a great low-mag source of calcium, but it will also raise the ph.
Finally, a serving of Azomite never hurt anything. Eh?
Best,
Essie
Always use the
Hi Allan,
I am harvesting my third crop of organic spuds and busy planting the fourth,
that means spring and autumn plantings over two years. To summarise my
experience:
1 First planting (spring) did not have compost, but went into soil which had
been under weeds for almost 6 years.
-
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
No mulching. I've done both and find that loosening up the soil with
cultivation to give better results.
Chris
It's a little bit of work but less than mulching by hand.
I dig a shallow trench with a potato plow, then put abut 11/2 of well
aged
compost in the trench and lay the seed on top
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