Potatoes

Potatoes are tubers (underground stems). There are two kinds of potatoes: regular or Irish potatoes and sweet potatoes. Irish potatoes are grown from seed potatoes. Seed potatoes, unlike potatoes from the grocery store, have not been treated and are certified disease free. To get more plants out of fewer seed potatoes cut the seed potato into pieces where each piece had an eye or two. Irish potatoes are a cool season crop. As the potatoes start to grow mound soil, straw, or compost around the plant. Tom talks about the pH and fertilizer requirements for potatoes. It is time to harvest when the plants start to turn yellow. Dig them with a garden fork instead of a shovel so you don’t damage them. After they are out of the ground they need to be cured for several weeks, do not wash them off. The biggest pest for potatoes is the Colorado potato beetle. Sweet potatoes are a warm weather crop from the tropics. They are frost sensitive, so they should be planted after the chance of frost. The Beauregard sweet potato is the kind you most often find in the store. Sweet potatoes are planted from slips which are a stem with leaves. Be careful what fertilizer you put on a sweep potato. A high nitrogen fertilizer will cause them to vine all over your garden but not produce many potatoes.

March 24, 2018

Related Resources:
Potato
Growing Irish Potatoes
Growing Sweetpotatoes at Home