Sunday, August 17, 2014

potatao project 2014

the containerized potato plants in the top two photos were pretty much done with their seasons and august is not too early to start on a winter potato growing project that will require another planting in january sometime to have a second generation ready to plant in spring...so i harvested the spuds ( more on that in the next post...three altogether..lots of photos )...you're supposed to rotate potato plantings in the field on at least a three year basis to avoid a build up of pests and pathogens...the containers had just grown potatoes so i dumped the soil out into one of the raised beds out back where winter and sun will help reduce the pathogens ( if any ) and i thoroughly cleaned the containers...then i put in a layer of pea gravel for better drainage ( i was using natural charcoal last season and will probably invest in some directly...before another planting ) and had a container ready for a red pontiac spud that i had already cut and calloused.

2 comments:

  1. You might find this interesting (on drainage layers in pots):
    http://puyallup.wsu.edu/~linda%20chalker-scott/Horticultural%20Myths_files/Myths/Container%20drainage.pdf

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  2. okay Bill...the coarse material in the bottom of the pot is a necessity...but only for pots without drainage holes...it isn't too late to unplant the spud and knock some holes in the bottom of the pot ( which i will do since it's plastic and i have several drills )...i was trying to re-purpose the pot and since i think i watered the potatoes i grew in the basement a total of three times over last winter it didn't seem like to huge an issue...thanks for the link and the interest in the blog...you aren't really a murderer of unusual plants are you? i am trying to do in some mashua this season myself.

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