house fries , potato chips , haschisch browns , and potato salad … does any of that sound good to you ?
Potatoes are a staple food for many Americans . They practically go with every meal . There ’s nothing ill-timed with a storage - bought spud , but there ’s nothing better than an uncommon variety pulled sweet from the dirt .
Do n’t be intimidated : growing potatoes is totally deserving the effort and gives you so many more options than just the sunbaked Idaho . Nothing against Idaho , but there are a lot more pick out there . permit ’s get started .
BestPotato Varieties
Potatoes add up in several coloring , shapes , and size . They are typically part by length of growing time – so early , midseason and late types .
Early Season Potatoes
other season potatoes mature in 65 - 80 days . Notable motley let in :
Mid-Season Potatoes
Midseason potatoes mature in close to 80 - 90 days . sort include :
Late Season Potatoes
These potato take prospicient than 90 day to mature and are usually good for stash away in a rootage cellar or other cool location .
Potato Types
you’re able to also categorize potatoes by type . Here are the six most common :
Russet potatoes are some of the more rough-cut , bigger potatoes . They ’re outstanding for broil and urinate French fries , haschisch browns , or latkes ( aka potato cakes ) . It ’s one of the most democratic type to make mashed spud with .
These are medium - sized Irish potato that have a smooth physique . They ’re ideal for frying , simmering , steaming , and using in salads . They have a low simoleons content with a meek sweet smell .
Waxy potatoes are potatoes like Yukon Gold and Red Potatoes . They hold their shape well , so they ’re unspoiled for boiling , using in chowder , potato salad , and escallop potatoes too .
These are less coarse Irish potato and that not everyone i as intimate with . They have a blue outer skin and purplish inside and are filled with different vitamins in equivalence to other white potato .
Check out : All - blue , royal Peruvian , and Congo
Fingerling potatoes are a favorite around our household . I utilize them in potato salad since they hold their flesh moderately well .
Fingerling potatoes are humble , narrow white potato that resemble fat fingers . They are popular with chef because they ’re sweet and pantry .
Fingerlingsare very prolific and disease - tolerant . They are considered former murphy .
Some multifariousness to try are Austrian Crescent , Banana , and Rose Finn .
New white potato are basically baby potato that are glean in the spring . They ’re democratic for boiling and using as a side dish because they ’re tender and groovy savouring .
Planting Potatoes
What ’s fun about potato ? There are many ways to grow them . You should be previse that this approaches a competitive athletics for some gardeners !
Growing Zones
Irish potato do best in USDA zones 1 - 7 .
Sun Requirements
white potato vine need full sunlight , at least 6 or more hours a 24-hour interval .
Soil Requirements
Irish potato call for loose , sandy , well - draining soil . They want full sunlight and aslightly acidpH between 5.4 to 5.9 .
Planting Potato “Seeds”
You do n’t need seeded player to plant spud . You just postulate another potato , so long as it has n’t been chemically treated . You ’ll start by placing an ample amount of compost and manure in the area where you design to plant .
Next , you ’ll need to reduce up a spud with eyes on it . Slice them up at least a daylight or two in rise so the tater has a chance to develop a protective covering . This finish avail continue wet while also protecting the potato from rot .
Be sure each piece of the potato you ’re planting has at least two eye on it . Be sure that you plant the potato with the center level up .
Some Farmer just bury the whole potato rather than chop it up because they feel it gives the flora more energy to get off to a potent start . I engraft this style because I often have topic with cold rains and rot in the spring and this consecrate my potatoes the best prospect to expand .
Methods for Planting Potatoes
There are legion ways to institute your potatoes :
The traditional way to plant Solanum tuberosum seeded player is to savvy a long trench . The trench should be about eight inches rich and six inches wide . deep should be three groundwork apart .
Place the seeds in the oceanic abyss 12 inch apart . Cover them with three in of soil . When the plant reach eight inch tall you will fill in with another four in of dirt .
The vantage of this method are that the potatoes make good contact with the soil , are more drouth - resistant , and have good base middleman to gather nutrients .
Disadvantages are that early motley may rot in saltation rains , they are more prone to grunge disease , and they are harder to glean . You need to employ a forking or garden spade and moil them out .
Just because you do n’t have a large garden sphere , do n’t get that deter you from raising spud . Build a few garden bed and start growing your own potatoes .
If you ’ve never thought of growing plant now in your compost , now ’s the time . The stubble mulch helps to protect the potatoes and the footing is at large enough to allow the veggies to spring up fully while making harvest a cinch .
Straw mulch also wee-wee them less prone to pests and diseases like the dreaded Colorado potato mallet .
determine the white potato flop in the compost 12 inches apart . Cover them with chaff . Add more layers of straw as they grow .
The disadvantages of this method acting are the need for frequent lacrimation and lower yields . Also , the roots may not get undecomposed grime contact and are not able-bodied to draw up as many nutrient .
This is my manner and I intend it combine the better of both worlds . Dig a shallow trench about three inch abstruse . aim the Solanum tuberosum seed in the trench and cover them with soil .
As they grow I then cover the plants with husk .
This gives the plants good contact with the ground ’s nutrients and moisture . It also mean they are light to supervise and to harvest .
I know this method . It is as bare as using a large outdoor ice udder , layering it with dirt and tater , and watching them uprise .
Some hoi polloi prefer to plant in a wood boxful full of dirt because it helps keep your potatoes devise . You set everything in a somewhat wooden corner filled with soil and then allow your potatoes do their affair .
If you live in an orbit without much yard infinite , then you plausibly adjudicate to rise a lot of your food in container . I care container gardening because it is concentrate and organise .
Pick a container that ’s at least 24 - inches unit of ammunition and 24 - inch inscrutable for each plant .
Drill holes in the base of your container . Place three in of pot soil at the bottom . Place in two or three seeds . Next cover with an additional three inches of soil .
As they grow add straw or ground around the plant life . Harvesting is well-situated : just ditch them out !
When To Plant
There is some Fannie Merritt Farmer ’s lore about murphy . Many say to plant when the dandelions start to blossom . Others have the custom of planting on March 17 . That ’s me , I shoot for St. Paddy ’s day !
You require to aim for six to eight weeks before your last frost engagement for former variety show . Mid - time of year plants go in the primer about a calendar month before the last frost date . Late Solanum tuberosum typically should be found around your last frost day of the month .
This will give you a full time of year of fresh eating white potato and mass to can or lay in for wintertime .
Caring for Potatoes
Potatoes take the common care : fertilizer and pee . But they also need hill if you want a healthy crop .
Hilling
The purpose of hilling is to check that the grow spud spud are always insure up with soil or chaff .
Tubers that are exposed to the sun will sour green and produce solanine . Solanine is toxic and gain them taste bitter . The chemical substance can cause you to feel nauseate .
When your potato plants are about 6 inch tall ( but before they bloom ) start make hill of dirt around the tubers in gild to protect them . You will need to do this every few weeks as the plant grows .
Water
tater necessitate one to two inches of water supply per hebdomad . They prefer to have consistent water versus all at once . Water from the ground with a souse hose or drip irrigation to facilitate invalidate disease .
Fertilizing
Apply well - rotted compost manure when planting , side garb with a balanced fertiliser every 2 to 3 weeks after the first hilling .
Common Issues And Solutions to Growing Potatoes
The hardest part of growing tater is deal with the numerous pests that assail the plants .
Late Blight
Late blight is a fungus . It strikes when your potatoes were planted during an unusually wet stop and when the temperature are still cold .
There are both early and recent blight . Both induce the plant to lose its leaves . In some cases , they induce wound on the tater .
Then , the disease progresses as the temperature heat up up . You ’ll bed you have it when your leaves begin to deform black and dark-brown and the plants start to die off .
To stave off it , do n’t water potatoes from overhead . Use a soaker hosiery or drip mold irrigation . divertimento or copper - establish antimycotic can also be used for prevention .
If you have this disease in your garden , all you could do is pull up all infected works and murder them from the garden . This will help oneself to keep the fungus from spreading to other plant .
Mosaic Virus
The mosaic virus causes potato plant leaves to coil and have splotchy green spots on the leaves . The good news is this virus will not kill your white potato plant life . However , it will seriously stunt your harvest .
you’re able to debar this disease mainly by opt works motley that are repellent to it . Plus , you may expend insecticides to assist keep this virus under control as well .
Potato Yellow Dwarf Virus
This disease is spread by nasty little bugs called leafhoppers . Potato yellow dwarf causes your plant to be stunt and the plant ’s leaves to curl and turn yellow . Then , the tubers will break through and lose their shape .
Pick varieties of potatoes that are tolerant to this disease . However , if you germinate this disease in your craw of potatoes you ’ll need to get disembarrass of all septic plant . Do n’t compost septic plants because the disease will spread .
Potato Blackleg
You ’ll usually encounter this disease during a rainy period . The leaves will become yellow-bellied and light green , while the stems change state sullen brown and pitch-black justly at the soil spirit level . This disease will probably kill your plant , and the tubers will moulder either before or after harvesting .
The easiest elbow room to void contract this disease is to plant your spud in well - drain soil . Do n’t plant your potatoes during an passing wet period .
Potato Scab
you may contract this disease through the soil because it ’s a bacteria that is cultivated within the soil itself . There are many types of scab , but all of them cause dark spots to develop on the tubers . Depending on the type it may be just on the Earth’s surface or going into the flesh .
The best means to deter this disease is to use more or less acidic filth when plant your tater . This will help insure that this disease does n’t have the right education ground to form and take over your murphy .
Bacterial Ring Rot
This disease causes your white potato vine leave will curl and turn yellow . Then the stem will be take with blank gook and will rot on the interior . sound endearing , does n’t it ?
If you actualise that your potato plant has contracted this disease , you ’ll need to get rid of every part of the works . Do not compost septic plants to ensure that the disease wo n’t spread via your compost the next year .
Then , you ’ll need to verify that you are rotate your crops each year to keep from cultivating more disease in the same area .
Colorado Potato Beetle
This is a infamous pest that also bothers many other crops besides potatoes . The larvae feed on the leaves of plants . Larvae have a soft organic structure and can be controlled with diatomaceous earth .
Fall cleanup position is important as they will overwinter in your soil . you could also handpick them or useneem crude .
White Grubs
livid chuck survive in the stain and eat the roots of eatage . They will also jaw on roots and growing potatoes . One bar option is growing white potato in husk . Another is fall till and get your chickens forage in the garden .
Potato Leafhopper
Potato leafhopper are tiny , active greenish insect . They suck on the undersurface of the leafage to remove sap . These insects can fly and are very roving .
The revealing augury is a triangular dark-brown smirch on the bakshis of the leaf . They spread the spud yellow dwarf virus .
Various Bugs
There are a spate of other glitch dear tater . Flea mallet , aphids , wireworm , cutworm , sluggard , spider mite , potato psyllid , and leafhoppers all enjoy to make a meal out of your white potato vine plant .
You ’ll need to keep a secretive oculus on your plant to see if you have any of these pests hanging around them .
you could apply mulch to protect the flora from cuss . Keeping dirt off of your tater leaves is always a effective idea because it helps to keep pests and disease at bay .
you could habituate insecticidal soaps to keep pests off of your flora as well .
Companion Planting for Potatoes
If you ’re want to hear the ‘ buddy organization ’ in your garden , then try growing your potatoes with :
The worst companion plants for potatoes admit :
You believably notice that some of these items are vines . They ’ll choke potatoes out . Others block sunshine and attract sure pests that will kill your tater craw .
How to Harvest and Store Your Potato Crop
Potatoes are actually moderately sluttish to glean . bar watering your crop for a few week before you are contrive on harvesting . This helps the plant dry out up .
Then you ’ll want to check that that the plant is completely dead . Look for dry out leafage and the vine to be completely dried out all the way to the radix of the plant . When you see this , then you cognise that the tater have reached full maturity .
Unsure ? Check outour guideon when to harvest spud .
Your next step is to poke the Solanum tuberosum out of the ground . you could usually do this by paw or using a tool like a nigger or fork . Be careful not to damage the peel . If you accidentally nick or cut one in half , put it aside to eat first .
Finally , you ’ll bring the harvested crop inside to prepare it for store . You ’ll want to clean the potatoes off with a cloth or soft brush . Do n’t utilize water .
Next , put the white potato in a dark coolheaded placement for a twain of weeks . Store potatoes in a root root cellar , cellar or another dark-skinned domain that stay around 40 ° F and no high than 65 ° F . You want an arena with 90 % humidness , ideally .
Keep them aside from apples .
How to Use Your Potato Crop
Depending upon the sizing of your crop , you might be rust a lot of potatoes over the next few month . So we wanted to render you with a few yummy recipes to help you to use them .
I have sex potatoes , but I love recipe that grant me to not waste my leftover mashed Solanum tuberosum ( because you know every sentence I make them , I make enough to feed a pocket-sized army . ) Thischeesy leftover mash potato cakesrecipe does just that .
Thisloaded broil white potato saladrecipe looks so adept ! I am actually not a huge buff of even potato salad , but this formula , I could eat .
You ca n’t grow tater and not havemashed white potato vine . I am a mashed potato missy , and I ’ll be honorable , when I cook them I lend enough butter that I ’d probably put Paula Deen to shame !
To me , spud soup is a catchy thing . Either it is creamy , fertile , and dilute with lots of great flavors . Or it is basically ointment and spud and tastes like blah . Thisrecipeseems to hit all of the right notes of flavour .
Anything that involve both cheese and white potato sounds fantastic to me . However , I ’m kind of a snoot about myscalloped potatoes . This recipe tastes as upright as my mom ’s .
Get Growing Your Potatoes
We ’d love to hear your thoughts on acquire white potato vine . Do you have a specific joke or bakshish that hike up your potato crop each year ? Do you grow your potatoes with a specific method ( Sir Henry Wood box , trash bagful , etc . ) and you ’d wish to apportion your experience and how you made it work well for you ?
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