Or, Potato Fail? A True Blog. Last updated on March 22, 2023.
Entry date: February 25.
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Ah potatoes. I want to grow red pontiac and yukon gold potatoes. But! Daggum taters have so many problems.
Have you ever had tiny holes in your tater leaves? Flea Beetle. Plants looked chopped at the soil? Daggum cut worms. Grubs. Leaves all mottled and crinkled? Mosaic Virus. Probably from Aphids who do their own damage. Then there is bacteria and fungus issues. It's a long list!
So, what can I do? Well, I am shooting to do one thing, well two but more on number two later. I am shooting to control the moisture!
So why is this a true blog? Because I have no idea how this will all turn out. None. But we are going to track it here in this one blog. It will be updated until we reach the end of our latest experiment. And that experiment is using a new raised bed technique and planting early.
The Bed
Well, firstly, I built two beds adjacent to one another on top of a weed barrier. The bed is 9 inches deep. It is only 9 inches deep because we are growing determinant potatoes. Hilling is not necessary.
Sand on Left, No Sand in this picture, yet, on the right. Copyright, Jamie Slate. Feb 05, 2023
First we used sterile compost from the vendor. Why? No grubs and other soil borne problems waiting to attack. This is their cow manure compost, which is aged cow manure, fine pine bark, heated and rated at 0.5-0.5-0.5.
Then we added sand. Each bed consists of 75/25 lbs of compost-to-sand. Why? I want to get that water drained. Wet soil can directly rot the tubers but also invite bacteria and fungal problems. These beds are approximately 2'x3'.
75 pounds of compost and 25 pounds of sand per bed. Copyright, Jamie Slate. Feb 05, 2023
The Taters
We planted 6 red pontiac spuds on February 09 (yep) and 6 yukon gold spuds on February 14 (yep.) Is that not Romantic? And this is experiment number 2. My lady likes peas and taters. I must say fresh peas and taters together is dang tasty. So I planted a bit early for our area to get - I hope - bigger potatoes when the peas are in their prime.
And I am already prepared to cover the crop in case of frost.
Tools for frost protection; cloche, hot water bottle, hoop with cover. Copyright, Jamie Slate. Feb 25, 2023
In addition to covering it with hoops, we plan to use the cloche cover for each plant exposed and place a hot water bottle on the bed before the final cover. That should do it, right?
Tools for frost protection; video short. Copyright, Jamie Slate. Feb 25, 2023
Will this approach work? Well, we will see and update this as we go, so please stay tuned.
Entry date: March 03.
It is a sunny day after a morning storm. The red pontiacs are thriving, which is a good sign for the soil mix used. (75 lbs aged cow manure / 25 lbs sand per bed.)
Red pontiac potatoes on March 03, 2023. Copyright, Jamie Slate. March 03, 2023.
Our ten day forecast includes frost and light freeze temperatures from March 10 until March 17. So we will cover the crop and see what happens.
Entry date: March 13: Here Comes The First Challenge! FREEZE COMETH
Well here we go! We have 5 projected freezes over the next 8 days! Tuesday-Wednesday- project to be 26 and 27 degrees fahrenheit respectively. And then Sunday-Monday-Tuesday project to be 31, 28 and 31 degrees respectively; all just before sunrise.
Full potato bed on March 13, 2023. Copyright, Jamie Slate. March 13, 2023.
So the plan is to warm and protect the potato plants with cover and warm water bottles. For the yukon gold (left) the first covers are plastic cloch bells. We will add hot water bottles and then cover again with row fabric and then plastic over the hoops just before sundown.
Yukons under cloch bells on March 13, 2023. Copyright, Jamie Slate. March 13, 2023.
As you can see the yukon golds are behind compared to the red pontiacs. The pontiacs did have better eyes to start. We will cover the pontiacs with a row crop cover, similar to tulle, after adding two hot water bottles. We will then cover it all with more plastic.
Red pontiacs, doing well, on March 13, 2023. Copyright, Jamie Slate. March 13, 2023.
Potato tomb on March 13, 2023. Copyright, Jamie Slate. March 13, 2023.
Will it work? We will report back on or before March 20. I hope it is ON March 20 because if we report back earlier....it failed. See you soon with more news! Thanks for keeping up.
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Entry date: March 22, 2023.
So, the projections were true. Temperatures for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday mornings were below 28 degrees, a true freeze.
So, Tuesday to Tuesday included the 5 overnight freezes! Did we make it? You bet.
And it now looks like we are frost and freeze free until April 05, which is really close to our last frost date (70th percentile.)
And not only did the taters make, they have shown stellar growth since March 13. Please take a look at the pictures below.
Red Pontiacs on March 21, 2023. Copyright, Jamie Slate. March 22, 2023.
Potato bed morning of March 20, 2023. Copyright, Jamie Slate. March 22, 2023.
All-in-all we beat the freeze. No damage whatsoever. But the pontiacs are now 18 inches tall so we might get a slightly different outcome if another freeze comes. But I suspect it would be limited damage if any.
So now we are on to the soil. So far the 75% aged manure with 25% sand is working fine. There is no sign of pest presence as of now and given the plant growth, the drainage seems fine! We will be back in a week or so with another update. Thanks for following along.
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Awesome Jamie