|
XUL
OTD Janitor
Registered: 03/16/05
Posts: 28,261
Loc: America
Last seen: 4 years, 4 months
|
Starting Large Potato Field?
#20727727 - 10/20/14 06:13 AM (9 years, 5 months ago) |
|
|
Hello everybody.
I am no farmer, but one day - with the help of my family, friends, and internet friends - I hope to become a decent farmer. I would like to yield enough food to make it through winters without having to buy too much food.
Next spring I am planning on starting up some potato fields. I will be planting the potatoes in two fields which are both about the size of a football field.
I have a tractor (old, just used for tilling), I can get fertilizer, and I have other equipment that is needed.
My main inquiry is about starting so many potatoes at once.
How can I get two fields worth of potato 'eyes' (roots that start growing off the potato) for to plant with?
I am wondering if I need to go to some kind of farm and buy a bunch of potato eyes -- or should I grow the eyes myself near a window? But how could I ever grow the amount of eyes I need for two fields? Is there a good way to predict how many eyes I will need?
Here is my tractor. There is a 'brush hog' attached to it now. I have a plow to attach to the back of it.
--------------------
TRUMP 2020
Edited by XUL (10/20/14 08:36 AM)
|
Diethylamide
Stranger
Registered: 08/31/14
Posts: 114
Last seen: 4 years, 7 months
|
Re: Starting Large Potato Field [Re: XUL] 1
#20727817 - 10/20/14 07:13 AM (9 years, 5 months ago) |
|
|
|
Dr.Dankhead
Uhh...doctor gonzo?
Registered: 03/29/13
Posts: 5,187
Loc: Breathing down your neck
|
|
My life is potato
.. I dream potato.
I cook potato.
.. I fuck...potato
That video didn't help much.. Either did my post. I hope you get your answers
-------------------- **need a check up?** **im a Doctor** i sometimes wish I was a wormy, wiggling all in the cold dirt...tickle tackle pickle dickle think a mackshift thought of broken words broken gears and words of conundrums..I'm not a weiner doctor so take that shit to dr. Gonz free boob inplant consultations.. Photo required
|
leschampignons
Biochemistry + Mycology
Registered: 08/30/13
Posts: 1,584
Loc: NY/NJ/ME
Last seen: 16 days, 20 hours
|
Re: Starting Large Potato Field? [Re: XUL]
#20962470 - 12/11/14 03:19 PM (9 years, 3 months ago) |
|
|
Perhaps you want to start from seeds or by culturing small plants on agar... (more reading material here) until they are big enough to get transplanted into greenhouse and eventually outside. Keep in mind there are many many types (hundreds I believe) of potato varieties. I grew a bunch of purple potatoes this year. very pretty and tasty. You might want to mix it up with varieties so that your eggs aren't all in one basket genetically speaking.
I would get your soil tested (and I personally wouldn't use synthetic fertilizers/pesticides but that's your call). That way you will know what your soil requires in terms of nutrients so that you aren't wasting money on the wrong additions.
|
XUL
OTD Janitor
Registered: 03/16/05
Posts: 28,261
Loc: America
Last seen: 4 years, 4 months
|
|
Cool, thanks for the input.
--------------------
TRUMP 2020
|
The Librarian
The Accountant
Registered: 01/03/15
Posts: 393
Loc: Hiding under a Mushroom
Last seen: 8 years, 8 months
|
Re: Starting Large Potato Field? [Re: XUL]
#21062767 - 01/03/15 06:32 PM (9 years, 2 months ago) |
|
|
Growing enough food for yourself is a good thing to aspire to do.
I only garden for fun. But would like to go bigger one day.
-------------------- Spore prints or it didn't happen. Consolidate is a fancy word for: "If you touch it some more any time soon you'll kill it all." Great Scorpions Song
|
SleepAid
me gusta
Registered: 03/08/06
Posts: 1,139
Last seen: 7 years, 6 months
|
|
If your conditions are all and well you get a return of 10-15 lbs of potatoes per lb of 'seed potatoes' (where you're getting your eyes). A lb of seed potatoes makes a row about 8 feet long. I would start from there to determine how much output you should expect so you know how much to plant in the first place, along with how much space you have available to you. Tall raised beds (like barrels) are also a great way to grow potatoes but it sounds like you have ample space.
you should be able to find a good variety of seed potatoes online- the ones you get at the grocery store sometimes are treated with an anti sprouting agents to extend shelf life.
-------------------- Signature this, ho
|
jboredone
Money-The root of all evil....
Registered: 01/19/12
Posts: 4,793
|
Re: Starting Large Potato Field? [Re: SleepAid]
#21064173 - 01/03/15 11:55 PM (9 years, 2 months ago) |
|
|
the potatoes you seen in the stores are all the "good" potatoes....your gonna get all different sizes of potatoes...a lot the size of grapes and small oranges...I hate trying to grow them and just end up buying them...
-------------------- Peace Pot Micro-Dot God Loves You High or Not!!! In order to grow old and wise, you must once have been young and dumb!
|
The Librarian
The Accountant
Registered: 01/03/15
Posts: 393
Loc: Hiding under a Mushroom
Last seen: 8 years, 8 months
|
Re: Starting Large Potato Field? [Re: jboredone]
#21067550 - 01/04/15 07:09 PM (9 years, 2 months ago) |
|
|
Last year, I harvested maybe 10 pounds of nice red potatoes out of my sister's garden. In 2013, we planted some red potatoes and I guess we missed a few. So those were a nice surprise coming out of the ground in the yellow bean patch the following year.
I washed them all the same day and cooked them all and served them with butter for my family. Fresh potatoes are by far the best. The skins were peeling off as I washed them.
-------------------- Spore prints or it didn't happen. Consolidate is a fancy word for: "If you touch it some more any time soon you'll kill it all." Great Scorpions Song
|
demiu5
humans, lol
Registered: 08/18/05
Posts: 43,948
Loc: the popcorn stadium
|
Re: Starting Large Potato Field? [Re: XUL]
#21072307 - 01/05/15 05:24 PM (9 years, 2 months ago) |
|
|
for that scale, i'd recommend "nuclear" potatoes
they are 1st generation seed potatoes, and typically yield more than planting eyes.
you DO NOT need fertilizer for potatoes. a little compost (~1" at the base of the trench) in naturally rich soil is enough. potatoes DO NOT need nitrogen-rich fertilizer.
While many people swear by "hilling" their potatoes, it is not necessary, and would be a 24/7 job if you are trying to grow two fields-worth
mulch. mulch. mulch. 6-12" of mulch. potatoes DO NEED consistent water.
the biggest pest you will run into are potato bugs, but there are other, less significant pests that can damage the tops, weakening the tuber production.
dig (or plow) a trench 12" deep. place the inch of compost in, gently place the potato, and cover to ground level with soil.
if you do decide to plant "eyes," i highly recommend ashing the exposed side(s) to prevent them from drying out or allowing in contaminants
-------------------- channel your inner Larry David
|
leschampignons
Biochemistry + Mycology
Registered: 08/30/13
Posts: 1,584
Loc: NY/NJ/ME
Last seen: 16 days, 20 hours
|
Re: Starting Large Potato Field? [Re: demiu5]
#21089097 - 01/08/15 07:09 PM (9 years, 2 months ago) |
|
|
by ashing do you simply mean covering the wet potato surface with ash?
|
|