Small space potato growing

[zigs]

I beg your pardon, are you calling me a liar?

Please see the photos in post #36 and try it for yourself before you draw conclusions.

 

[Durgan]

I beg your pardon, are you calling me a liar?

Please see the photos in post #36 and try it for yourself before you draw conclusions.

Picture 36 are garbage, they depict nothing. You are propagating a view which I have refuted and also have never seen potatoes growing along the main stem. My evidence is solid and if this makes you a liar so be it.

 

[Durgan]

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May 21, 2013 #1
Durgan

Tomatovillian™

Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Brantford, ON, Canada
Posts: 896

Potato Theory of Growing
There is much mis-information published in garden books and on the internet about growing potatoes.Potato growth along the stem has been debunked. A potato is a forgiving plant and anybody can grow them. But growing for perfection is another matter. My objective is to grow the plants for maximum production and quality, under the best conditions available.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?NZXFE 2 May 2010 Planting Potatoes

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?EBGHM 12 June 2010 Potatoes. Growth from 2 May until 12 June 2010.
New tubers of the potato plant grow about six inches above and around the seed stock in a circle. The new tubers must be covered to prevent light turning them green indicating solanine, which is harmful if ingested. This is the sole and only reason for hilling.There still persists an irrational belief that potatoes grow from stolons along the stalk, and often high hilling is undertaken to encourage this imaginary growth. This practice hides the leaves of the plant, which is forced o produce more leaves for survival, which is self defeating.My method is to plant the potatoes in a small trench, and when the plant is six to eight inches high to fill the trench with soil to a depth of about six inches above the seed potato. Potatoes need constant moisture, so the hilled potatoes are heavily mulched after a heavy rainfall to prevent moisture evaporation. The vegetation is allowed to flourish, generating food for the new tubers. Hiding the vegetation by unnecessarily concealing by hilling is bad culture practice.Commercial growing or a very large patch required mass hilling due to the effort required. But the small home gardener can produce ideal conditions.

Production should be measured by the weight and useful size produced by each plant. There are other criteria mostly subjective, texture, no hollow centres, no knobs, eyes not deep, nice shape, and probably others. Comparing the seeded weight to the harvested weight is utter nonsense, particularly in a small patch. I have rather unscientifically estimated that anything above four pounds per plant is acceptable. Carefully tabulating to get a realistic weight value per plant over several years will give a realistic figure.

The seed potato produces suitable vegetation if two or more eyes are in the planted portion. Even one eye is suitable with a bit of body attached. Planting a fist sized seed or a suitable cut piece produces identical sized new tubers.

Most of the potato nutrients are within an annulus about half and inch from the skin of a potato. Peeling without cause removes a lot of nutrients.

 

[zigs]

Picture 36 are garbage, they depict nothing. You are propagating a view which I have refuted and also have never seen potatoes growing along the main stem. My evidence is solid and if this makes you a liar so be it.

Picture 36 is a genuine picture,be prepared to be proved wrong, just because you have never seen it doesn't make it non existant.

It depicts potatoes growing along the main stem.

Your evidence only shows you are growing a low yield potato and have no other controls to back up your experiment.

I'm posting this in the capacity of a member rather than staff.

I say again, try it yourself and stop trying to tell me what i've done can't be done.

You are really getting on my nerves tonight with all your high horse blinkered views.

And thanks for calling me a liar, why on earth would I lie about potatoes of all things?

 

[clueless1]

@Durgan, you are hard work my friend. I had tried to abstain from posting here simply because I spend too much time on line and I'm trying to cut down, but you my friend are an idiot.

Or more specifically a troll.

Your evidence is not solid. Your evidence shows that YOU can not grow potatoes. Your evidence shows that you are resentful of those that can grow potatoes.

Why can't you grow potatoes by the way? They have got to be the easiest crop of them all.You give them some rich soil, a bit of water and a bit of time, and you get a crop. You give them a bit more time and you get a better crop. You might want to try it sometime before you start slating those who have clearly tried to offer advice that people like you could benefit from, if you were intelligent enough to pay attention, stop wasting time trawling the internet to support your extremely weak argument, and get outside and actually try growing stuff.

Why does Zigs have to prove anything to you? Zigs has proven plenty to himself through years of research and actual practical experimentation, and he's been good enough to share his knowledge. If you think he's wrong, that's entirely your choice, but please don't waste everybody else's time by trying to convince those that know better than you do that he is wrong and you are right.

Just in case I've not made it absolutely clear, Durgan, You are wrong.

Good night.

 

[Durgan]

Picture 36 is a genuine picture,be prepared to be proved wrong, just because you have never seen it doesn't make it non existant.

It depicts potatoes growing along the main stem.

Your evidence only shows you are growing a low yield potato and have no other controls to back up your experiment.

I'm posting this in the capacity of a member rather than staff.

I say again, try it yourself and stop trying to tell me what i've done can't be done.

You are really getting on my nerves tonight with all your high horse blinkered views.

And thanks for calling me a liar, why on earth would I lie about potatoes of all things?

Produce some evidence instead of empty rhetoric. Seems to me you just want to beat your gums.

 

[zigs]

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May 21, 2013 #1
Durgan

Tomatovillian™

Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Brantford, ON, Canada
Posts: 896

Potato Theory of Growing
There is much mis-information published in garden books and on the internet about growing potatoes.Potato growth along the stem has been debunked. .

Total misinformation. Please stop misleading the members with your incomplete conclusions.

 

[zigs]

Produce some evidence instead of empty rhetoric. Seems to me you just want to beat your gums.

I have, you just keep ignoring it.

 

[Chuck]

I sure hope that those pics of you potato box were actually taken in 2009 and not lately. I would hope that you have learned in the past 5 years how to grow a decent potato plant because that plant shown in the pic is just about the sorriest excuse for a potato that I have ever seen. I don't know how you grew it and don't want to know. I posted some pics of my potato plants and yes I know that they are garbage because I didn't take pics when I dumped them out a month later. It must be terribly frustrating to know it all, telling people who have been doing what you say is impossible for years, and with success I might add, and not be able to grow your own. Do you actually think Zigs photoshopped that pic or that he went to the trouble to dig up a bunch of potatoes and then cram them into what ever that is in post 36? As Clueless stated, start growing instead surfing the web. There is always that old saying "If you can't do it, teach".

Oh and BTW we are not saying that tubers are growing off of the stem. What we are saying is that the tubers grow up and by the side of the stem when soil is added, not that the stem suddenly starts growing roots and new tubers

 

[Durgan]

Silly little man.

 

[zigs]

Please refrain from calling members names, Chuck is neither silly or little.

Why oh why would anyone even consider faking pictures of potato growing?

Please don't bother responding anymore on the subject until you've tried it yourself with the variety i've mentioned.

 

[Ian]

Silly little man.

Durgan, have a time-out for a week. Name-calling and childish behaviour like this isn't tolerated on the site. Disagree and discuss, fine... but don't do that over a minor disagreement.

 

[headfullofbees]

Apparently, from what I've been able to find, only late season potatoes will grow up the stem.

 

[zigs]

Now that would make sense Bees, think it was Rocket that I tried and failed with, which is a first early.

 

[ChanellG]

I really like the look of the foliage just by itself- and I would be happy with little potatoes. They do charge more for those at the store.
I have some 1/2 inch wire cloth - maybe I'll try making a cylinder out of that in the spring.

Thank you for bringing this back up.
Lori

LOL, so true, Lori! They've turned tiny food into a delicacy and now charge more money!

Oh and BTW we are not saying that tubers are growing off of the stem. What we are saying is that the tubers grow up and by the side of the stem when soil is added, not that the stem suddenly starts growing roots and new tubers

I guess I am going to have to do some more reading on potatoes. My plans have been waylaid anyhow for now. I'll have to try and take them up in the spring.