Best Potatoes for Zone 8b ?

[headfullofbees]

I was under the impression that the idea of growing in containers was for there to be less work...
I also noted that you are basically leaving fallow the equivalent of 30% of my plot.
That's a huge amount out of a small plot...
One more point: most of those who grow in containers do so because they don't have access to a big plot to replenish their soil from.

 

[headfullofbees]

Meadowlark, I'm going to post a few videos which give a different opinion to yours.
You should definitely not think that I value their opinion more than yours; it's just to show that there are a variety of views.
I would, however, very much value your input, what value you see, if any, in any of those videos, bearing in mind that people have different circumstances.

 

[Meadowlark]

Moving the goal posts...that's what it is called when someone keeps changing the argument they have lost.

Your argument was that the techniques of soil replenishment and crop rotation I practice would not work on a small-scale. I demonstrated how it works on one container. Can't get much smaller than that....but you move the goal posts.

1) "I was under the impression that the idea of growing in containers was for there to be less work..."

Less work than what? The top soil in one HK container can be changed out in 5 minutes...perhaps less if one rushed. 4 shovel fulls of dirt.

2) "I also noted that you are basically leaving fallow the equivalent of 30% of my plot." That's a huge amount out of a small plot..."

I haven't tested for the minimum space required for soil replenishment...but it is about 5 sq. ft., maybe a little more maybe less. That's for one HK container which is the smallest I can think of.... about the size of the footprint for the container. Of course, for one container, one could easily just purchase a small bag of topsoil when needed every year and eliminate the need for soil replenishment space. I suspect millions of people Worldwide do just that. That is indeed one of the beauties of the HK container...minimum soil required.

3) "One more point: most of those who grow in containers do so because they don't have access to a big plot to replenish their soil from."

5 sq. ft per container...or purchase a bag of topsoil when needed.

 

[headfullofbees]

That's not the case: the crux of my argument was regarding the efficacy of crop rotation on pest & disease management in a small area.
Soil replenishment is soil replenishment, whether you grow the plants on your soil, whereby requiring the soil to be unproductive while you do so, or whether you add the plant material harvested elsewhere.

This is my first post on the topic, & it is plain that the main thrust is about pest/disease management on a small plot, with nutrient replenishment being an afterthought. It is you who has ignored the main point of my post, concentrating on the after-thought, which, in my view, we have different methods of achieving the same thing.
I have never had my soil analysed, as it has been evident that my practices leave no requirement to do so :

"Since it is the case that nasties can be carried around a plot by wind, by your footwear & tools & by water running or splashing, it really isn't worthwhile practicing crop rotation on small areas; you have to forego growing certain crops for three out of four years.
The best way to ensure against disease on your plot, is the quality & assurance of what you plant in it:
DON'T:
Buy in plants or sets if you can avoid it.
Seeds have very few diseases, & you won't get onion white rot from seeds.
Garlic: I grow my bought seed garlic in tubs first year, so I can be sure there's no visible fungal diseases, & only if it's safe do I plant it in my plot.
I grow my onions in the same two 12x6 beds beds every year, without trouble, because I keep trouble away.
Potatoes, similarly, I grow certified seed potatoes & my own saved seed potatoes only.
Brassicas, again, clubroot affects ONLY the roots of brassicas, so seeds WILL be free of that.
I grow all of them in the parts of the plot best suited for them (light, drainage etc.) year after year
The only proviso with this is that if you get carrot or onion root flies, or other pests like eelworm, you have to abstain from growing the affected crops for a couple of years, however, if you have a small plot, you'd have to do that to eradicate them anyway, as they will very quickly sniff out new sources of food.
You also have to be very careful about maintaining soil nutrients, especially in the case of potatoes, which are heavy feeders.

Meadowlark is an excellent food gardener, but his plot is like a small farm, almost, & rules which he will benefit from do not always have the same value for smaller plots.
I fully intend to grow two successive crops of first-early potatoes in the same ground this year, just re-layering with seaweed & comfrey in between."

 

[gary350]

Red potatoes out produce white potatoes 4 to 1. Red Pontiac are hot weather potatoes they grow very well in Nashville TN area 100°f June to Sept. We like Red Norland best. 1 eye cuttings will grow 4 lbs of new red potatoes per plant. 2 eye cuttings will grow 4 lbs of new smaller potatoes it is 2 plants with same root system as 1 plant. 3 eye cutting is 3 plant with root of 1 plant you get much smaller new potatoes. Kennebec claim to be hot weather potatoes but I think TN is too hot for them. I grow potatoes year round. I often plant 15 new potato plants very month. I planted 16 potato plants Jan 7 this year and harvested 3½ lbs of new potatoes from each plant. Our soil never freezes more than 1" deep 6" of soil over the cuttings does good in TN. Often potatoes plants have no plants all winter but still produce new potatoes.

 

[Meadowlark]

Red potatoes out produce white potatoes 4 to 1. ...

I just don't find that to be the case here...see my recent experiment results. This year my average red to white production ratio was about 1.5 to 1. I'd say that is typical.

In my HK containers it was even less running about 1.2 to 1 on average.

My top producer, Red Pontiac, produced 13 pounds of new potatoes from one pound of seed potato. The top white potato producer yielded 7.8 pounds.

In HK containers, those numbers were 8 pounds of Red Pontiac and 7.2 pounds of Elba.

 

[gary350]

I just don't find that to be the case here...see my recent experiment results. This year my average red to white production ratio was about 1.5 to 1. I'd say that is typical.

In my HK containers it was even less running about 1.2 to 1 on average.

My top producer, Red Pontiac, produced 13 pounds of new potatoes from one pound of seed potato. The top white potato producer yielded 7.8 pounds.

In HK containers, those numbers were 8 pounds of Red Pontiac and 7.2 pounds of Elba.

I don't count seed potato lbs because 1 lb of seed potatoes can be 16 eyes from 4 medium size potatoes. I count plants. Make 16 cuttings with 1 eye each you have 16 plants from 1 lb of seed potatoes. 16 Red Pontiac plants will grow 16 x 4 = 64 lbs of new potatoes. I can grow Red Pontiac so easy in TN they love our hot 100° summer weather. We don't like the flavor of Red Pontiac potatoes very much, I grow Red Norland and Kennebec. Sometimes I grow yellow potatoes too. Kennebec is a hot weather potato too. I'm not sure about Red Norland, I know they are grown in Michigan and Florida.

 

[Meadowlark]

So, you grow 64 pounds of new potatoes on just one pound of seed potato? Did I get that right?

That would be remarkable, remarkable indeed.

So, do you buy plants or like most of us buy seed potatoes? And you figure 64 pounds of new potatoes for each pound of seed potato?

Remarkable.

 

[gary350]

So, you grow 64 pounds of new potatoes on just one pound of seed potato? Did I get that right?

That would be remarkable, remarkable indeed.

So, do you buy plants or like most of us buy seed potatoes? And you figure 64 pounds of new potatoes for each pound of seed potato?

Remarkable.

Forget about lbs. Think about plants. 16 Red potato plants will each grow 4 lbs of new potatoes each. 16 plants x 4 lbs = 65 lbs. This is easy to do in TN with Red Pontiac potatoes because TN is hot as desert and Red Pontiac loves hot weather full sun all day.

Russet will not do 4 lbs per plant I be very lucky to get 1/2 lbs of new Russet potatoes per plant.

Yellow grocery store potatoes did 3½ lbs of new potatoes per plant.

Kennebec do about 2 lbs of new potatoes per plant.

If your growing Tomatoes how many lbs can you grow from 1 plant? I get about 35 lbs per plant for the whole summer?

If you grow sweet potatoes how many lbs do you get form 1 plant? I get about 25 lbs.

How many watermelons can you grow from 1 plant?

I learned a few tricks to have a good potato crop. Potatoes need soft soil. Heady hard soil prevents potatoes from growing large. Not enough water prevents potatoes from growing large. Too much nitrogen you get very large plants and small potato crop. If potato plants do not blossom you will have a small harvest. Plants grow best in warm temperatures 65 degrees and up.

My grandfather in southern Illinois would never plant potatoes until June and everyone else planted potatoes 2 month sooner. He planted a 100 ft row of potatoes with plants 8" apart = 150 plants his harvest was about 600 lbs of new potatoes. He had better sandy soil than I do in TN. I have a 190 of Red and White potato plants this year I hope to have 500 lbs. Red potatoes should be 400 lbs and white potatoes about 100 lbs. I hate to water plants they need 30 gallons of water every 3 days and 1-10-10 fertilizer about every 2 weeks. So far it has rained almost every day in 2 months I have not watered potatoes yet. My potatoes are covered with pine needles and dry tree leaves. Our soil is too heavy. I only buy seed potatoes if I can't buy grocery store potatoes I want. Kennebec potatoes are not sold in grocery stores so I have to buy seed potatoes. I found Red Norland & Yellow potatoes in grocery store.

Its never too late to plant potatoes. I planted potatoes year round last year. Not doing that this year. Here is a photo of the day I planted seed potatoes I think is was April 5th or 7th about 2 months ago.

The other picture shows plants about 28" tall. This is a ground level bed. Boards are a levee to hold in 30 gallons of water so it soaks in.

I have 500 candy onions in the other ground level bed. My water hose does 5 gallons per minutes.

 

[Meadowlark]

This is what you wrote, Mr. Gary350 "Make 16 cuttings with 1 eye each you have 16 plants from 1 lb of seed potatoes. 16 Red Pontiac plants will grow 16 x 4 = 64 lbs of new potatoes".

Next post you say "Forget about lbs." My question is based on what you wrote first "64 lbs of new potatoes" from one pound of seed potato. Is that what you are claiming?

I have never seen one pound of seed potatoes with 16 eyes, each capable of becoming a plant. Where does one find these seed potatoes with 16 eyes that can be cut separately into 16 pieces each with one eye? Do you have a special method to get that many eyes from one pound?

 

[gary350]

This is what you wrote, Mr. Gary350 "Make 16 cuttings with 1 eye each you have 16 plants from 1 lb of seed potatoes. 16 Red Pontiac plants will grow 16 x 4 = 64 lbs of new potatoes".

Next post you say "Forget about lbs." My question is based on what you wrote first "64 lbs of new potatoes" from one pound of seed potato. Is that what you are claiming?

I have never seen one pound of seed potatoes with 16 eyes, each capable of becoming a plant. Where does one find these seed potatoes with 16 eyes that can be cut separately into 16 pieces each with one eye? Do you have a special method to get that many eyes from one pound?

I am claiming 16 Red Potato plants will grow 64 lbs of new red potatoes. Sometimes a seed potato only has 1 eyes but I have seed seed potatoes with 6 eyes and everything in between. It makes no difference to me how many lbs of potatoes I need to get the number of plants I want. I bought 10 lbs of grocery store potatoes and got 100 plant from it. 100 plants should grow 400 lbs of red new potatoes.

 

[Meadowlark]

You originally claimed 16 plants from one pound of seed (Make 16 cuttings with 1 eye each you have 16 plants from 1 lb of seed potatoes)....but your picture and text clearly show an average of 10 plants per pound of seed (10 lbs of grocery store potatoes and got 100 plant from it)

In this new data, you stated you are expecting 400 pounds of new potatoes from those 10 pounds of seed potatoes...right? That isn't 64 pounds of new potatoes per pound of seed potato, rather it is 40 pounds per. That still is a remarkable number to me....not as much as 64 which was first claimed but still remarkable.

I have never experienced that before, nor have I ever heard of anyone producing 400 pounds from 10 pounds of seed. Remarkable.

Maybe someone else has?

 

[gary350]

You originally claimed 16 plants from one pound of seed (Make 16 cuttings with 1 eye each you have 16 plants from 1 lb of seed potatoes)....but your picture and text clearly show an average of 10 plants per pound of seed (10 lbs of grocery store potatoes and got 100 plant from it)

In this new data, you stated you are expecting 400 pounds of new potatoes from those 10 pounds of seed potatoes...right? That isn't 64 pounds of new potatoes per pound of seed potato, rather it is 40 pounds per. That still is a remarkable number to me....not as much as 64 which was first claimed but still remarkable.

I have never experienced that before, nor have I ever heard of anyone producing 400 pounds from 10 pounds of seed. Remarkable.

Maybe someone else has?

I don't try to see how many lbs of new potatoes I can grow from 1 lb of seed potatoes. Some potatoes only have 1 eye then other potatoes might have 6 eyes. When I bought 10 lbs of grocery store potatoes eyes were sprouting already I picked potatoes with the most eyes per potato to get the maximin number of plants.

A potato with 1 eye, 2 eyes, 3 eyes, will all grow 4 lbs of new potatoes because they are basically 1 plant with the same size root system. If you cut the 2 eye potato in half I get 2 plants that that grow 4 lbs of new potatoes from each plant. I try not to plant 2 or 3 eye seed potatoes. I only want 1 eye seed potatoes.

My soil is hard and heavy. I till in lots of dry dead tree leaves to soften the soil so roots can grow much easier. Soft soil also helps potatoes grow larger. Hard heavy soil prevents new potatoes from growing large. I place potato cuttings on the soil surface in there correct location 6" to 8" apart then push them into the soft soil only deep enough that eyes make contact with soil. Then I cover potato cuttings with 6" deep dead dry pine tree needles and more dead dry tree leaves. Pine needles and tree leaves blocks sun from making green new potatoes.

Every Saturday evening plants get 1 empty kitchen food can of fertilizer = about 1 kitchen measuring cup of fertilizer. This year we are having rain every day I have not watered my potatoes with the garden hose. Soon weather will be 100° every day and 1" of rain per month all summer. My garden will be dry as desert and no potatoes if I don't water plants, 30 gallons of water every time soil gets dry.
If my plants don't blossom that means plants are not getting enough water. No blossoms and there will be a very small new potato harvest. Potato plants like full sun all day.

 

[Meadowlark]

I just got off the phone talking with a long-time trusted commercial potato grower and seller of seed potatoes. I asked him to describe what they see as the productivity of potatoes. He immediately said if you get 10 pounds of new potatoes per pound of seed potato, you are doing good. Average is about 7, and 10 would be good. Matches my experience also.

Next, I asked him, have you ever heard of or experienced 64 pounds of new potatoes per pound of seed? Or how about 40 pounds per pound of seed? His response was that the highest he had seen in many years of doing this, was 20 pounds per pound of seed potato.

40 pounds is remarkable.

 

[gary350]

I just got off the phone talking with a long-time trusted commercial potato grower and seller of seed potatoes. I asked him to describe what they see as the productivity of potatoes. He immediately said if you get 10 pounds of new potatoes per pound of seed potato, you are doing good. Average is about 7, and 10 would be good. Matches my experience also.

Next, I asked him, have you ever heard of or experienced 64 pounds of new potatoes per pound of seed? Or how about 40 pounds per pound of seed? His response was that the highest he had seen in many years of doing this, was 20 pounds per pound of seed potato.

40 pounds is remarkable.

Why do you keep talking about pounds. I am talking about getting 4 lbs of new RED potatoes from 1 plant.

I only get 1 lb of new WHITE potatoes from 1 plant. RED potatoes grow 4 times more new potatoes than white.

If you watch YouTube videos commercial grows say, we don't cut seed potatoes into cuttings we are planting 100 acres of potatoes, we plant 100,000. whole potatoes per field then harvest 1 million new potatoes. Commercial grows talk about lbs because they sell potatoes by lb, grocery store potatoes are in 5 lb and 10 lb bags.

Have you ever noticed grocery store 5 lb potato bags have smaller potatoes than 10 lb potato bags. The reason for that is the sorting machines do a better job putting small potatoes in small bags and large potatoes in large bags. Bag weight is accurate to plus or minus 2 ounces per bag.

Do you ever save real potato seeds? I have seen those little 1/2" diameter green balls but never planted any of the seeds. Cut open those green balls they have several seeds inside. Those seeds should grow a potato plant. Now you can grow new potatoes with no seed potato. I might try that this year just to see what happens. If you plant a Red potato plant next to a white potato plant then save real seeds you have a hybrid potato.