Bad spots in center of potatoes

[Onatah]

http://durgan.org/URL/?ARLGN 28 May 2009 Watering Plant Roots.

This method gets water to the root area of the plants. The hydraulic effect of the water makes pushing the wand into the ground effortless. The device is made by cutting off the end of a typical water garden wand as sold in most hardware stores.

Thank you for the suggestion. I like this idea. I also happen to have an old watering wand that may just work.

 

[Chuck]

Makes sense. Thank you. I got notice on my phone that the electric company is going to be in our area the first week of November doing tree work. When they do this, it usually results in piles of shavings being dumped on the power lines down the road from us. I happen to have a long drive on my property that we take to get out to where the garden is located. Semi's have used it for turning around, etc. so I know it's plenty big enough for their trucks. I'm thinking maybe asking them if they would like to just dump there instead of the power lines, which would be easier for them and potentially beneficial to us? I was already tempted by doing it so I could use it for mulch in my memorial garden. If my vegetable garden can benefit as well, all the better.

Question: We have been cutting a lot of firewood since late last winter. We burn the brush. I keep eyeing our piles of ash... would it be valuable to add?

A limited amount of wood ash is fine in areas where you will not plant potatoes as potatoes like their soil on the acidic side. Wood ash increases the Ph making the soil more alkaline. If your potatoes are showing scab you need to add sulfur. Knowing the Ph of your soil would benefit your efforts in growing vegetables as some of them like it on the acidic side and others on the alkaline side and then some like their soil neutral. By knowing the Ph you can amend the soil for each. Adding lime or wood ash for alkalinity and adding sulfur for acidity or anything in between.

 

[headfullofbees]

A limited amount of wood ash is fine in areas where you will not plant potatoes as potatoes like their soil on the acidic side. Wood ash increases the Ph making the soil more alkaline. If your potatoes are showing scab you need to add sulfur. Knowing the Ph of your soil would benefit your efforts in growing vegetables as some of them like it on the acidic side and others on the alkaline side and then some like their soil neutral. By knowing the Ph you can amend the soil for each. Adding lime or wood ash for alkalinity and adding sulfur for acidity or anything in between.

Sulphur will take care of the alkalinity, but because woodash does raise the pH, add woodash to the trench and use 2 handfuls of sulphur per sq yd on your potatoes to counter it.
Woodash is, other than its raising of the pH of your soil, wonderful feed for potatoes, and ALL fruit, as it slow releases available potash to your soil.

 

[headfullofbees]

Add the sulphur a minimum of three weeks before you plant your potatoes.
NOTE: potatoes like quite acidic soil; there is no substantiated need for sulphur on the rest of your veg plot.

 

[Onatah]

Thank you so much for all this information. We go through so many potatoes that they are one of the main staples of our garden. I'm excited now to see what my garden can do next year!

Do you have favorite varieties of potatoes? I love the Yukons for flavor but hubby fears they would not keep long enough due to their thin skin. Is there a similar potato type that would keep better? We are in a cold winter climate (Michigan, USA).

 

[headfullofbees]

Thank you so much for all this information. We go through so many potatoes that they are one of the main staples of our garden. I'm excited now to see what my garden can do next year!

Do you have favorite varieties of potatoes? I love the Yukons for flavor but hubby fears they would not keep long enough due to their thin skin. Is there a similar potato type that would keep better? We are in a cold winter climate (Michigan, USA).

If you cut the haulms off potatoes, the skins cure whilst they are under the ground.
Having said that, I am unfamiliar with potato varieties of N. America.

 

[headfullofbees]

We have four distinct groups of potatoes:
1st earlies: Epicure, Foremost and Pentland Javelin are my favourites.
2nd earlies: Kestrel and Maris Peer are best, but because Maris Peer are susceptible to slugs, which is a huge problem here, I restrict myself to Kestrel.
Maincrop: I like potatoes which have good all-round cooking ability and flavour, and the ones that best suit my heavy soil, with good slug resistance, are the redskin variety, Desiree. Lovely potatoes.
Salad: They tend to be waxy, and neither I, nor my wife, are too keen, so I don't grow them.

I first took part in growing potatoes with my parents when I was four years old, half a century ago.

 

[Onatah]

What are the haulms?

I love the redskin potatoes as well. Nice flavor. Here, red Pontiacs are the most common reds you find but we didn't find any in seed this past season. Of course, we shopped locally and got stung on many things. I think next time we will order from a garden catalog for better choices and reliability.
Mostly my husband and I use potatoes for fried slices or boiled for mashed or soups. We LOVE making potato soup.

 

[headfullofbees]

What are the haulms?

I love the redskin potatoes as well. Nice flavor. Here, red Pontiacs are the most common reds you find but we didn't find any in seed this past season. Of course, we shopped locally and got stung on many things. I think next time we will order from a garden catalog for better choices and reliability.
Mostly my husband and I use potatoes for fried slices or boiled for mashed or soups. We LOVE making potato soup.

Foliage.