We Grew Potatoes 7 Different Ways, Here's What Happened 🥔

Comments · 2.4K

• EP

  @epicgardening · 2 years ago (edited) · pinned

  We'll do this grow again guys! In a much more Epic fashion. Read all the comments and AGREE. Comment on this if you'd like to suggest an improvement for next time. Not my best showing but still wanted to publish the results! - Kevin

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• LO

  @louishagene3332 · 1 year ago

  I think anytime you want to make a method comparison you have to use the same type of potatoes for all of them if you want a true comparison

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• KE

  @keithramsdell2691 · 2 years ago

  We volunteer for a gleaning organization and at no point have we ever planted whole potatoes. The potato farmer told all of us to cut the potatoes, leaving “at least one eye.” We let them dry out for 3 days, then trench plant a foot apart. Hundreds and hundreds of pounds of donated potatoes.

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• TH

  @ThatTorieGirl · 1 year ago

  Please continue to show the “embarrassing” “fails” 👏🏼 as a hobby gardener, it’s nice to know that I’m not the only one that sometimes fumbles a plant, forgets about it, or let’s it rot out. It’s very comforting as a viewer!

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• AM

  @americanflika1311 · 1 year ago

  My parents planted potatoes for most of their lives.  Cut the setting potatoes to have at least 3 eye/sprouts each, planted at 6" deep BUT would bury the new stems every other week to promote more roots thus more potatoes per vine.  They always had a bumper crop! 🎉❤😁

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• NO

  @nochannel-949 · 1 year ago

  Drainage holes are necessary and those cant get enough sun due to the bucket sides.

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• MS

  @MS12-u5p · 2 years ago

  The people who lived in this house before us planted fingerling potatoes. No matter what we plant, no matter how many potatoes we pull out, more will just pop up. They are incredibly resilient!

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• AS

  @ashleyyancey8806 · 2 years ago (edited)

  There was a second issue with your bucket potato beside the lack of drainage holes. That plant needed more dirt. That&apos;s a tall bucket, so putting it so deep in the bucket like you did prevents it from getting adequate light while its young, stunting its growth and potential potato production.<br><br>If you&apos;d like to try the bucket potato again this is what I&apos;ve tried and recommend; add drainage holes, then fill the bucket most of the way with dirt. Plant the potato 4-6 inches down and mulch the top if you feel like it. no earthing up, just watering and fertilizing as needed.<br><br>side note: in the future for a more fair trial comparison, do the same number of plants for each method. the results of 1 bucket potato or 3 grow bag potato plants are not a fair comparison to draw against an entire row of traditionally trenched potatoes. The results you get from which will not yield conclusive data. Furthermore, use the same variety for each test, or if you want to see what method works best for which varieties devote the space to trialing several plants of all the varieties all these different ways.<br><br>for example; if you want to trial 1 specific variety, plant 5 plants for each method of that 1 variety. If you want to trial multiple varieties like a red, a gold, and a russet and you have 5 planting methods to try out, do five plants of each variety for each of the 5 methods. You&apos;d have a lot of potatoes at the end of the trial, but too many potatoes is a good problem to have. Best of luck to your future experiments.

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• SC

  @scottcromwell3387 · 2 years ago (edited)

  A great upper-body exercise routine for us older folks. Find a room where you can comfortably stretch both arms out. Grasp a 5-pound potato sack in each hand and slowly lift, then lower your arms. Repeat ten times. Do this daily. After a couple of weeks, try it with 10-pound sacks. After a month, move up to 25-pound sacks. When that becomes easy, upgrade to 50-pound sacks. Then, when you feel confident, put a potato in each sack...

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• TH

  @thryfang · 1 year ago

  Bucket grower here. I cut up sprouty potatoes and plant a couple pieces in each bucket. I use a greater depth of dirt and I think it gives the root structure more room to produce and more nutrients. I also have drain holes. &nbsp;The plants are also closer to the top so they get more sun. I came up with yields more like the trench in the last 2 years I&apos;ve planted. I really enjoy your content :)

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• RE

  @research903 · 1 year ago (edited)

  When I was growing up on our farm, we planted Irish potatoes using what I guess is an eighth method. Preface: our home garden plot (1.5 acres) was fertilized with chicken house &quot;renderings&quot; that I had the duty of mucking out and spreading. We used a mule drawn disc plow to mix the manure into the soil during the off-season. Those same mules were used to make rows before planting. This is how my great-grandmother taught us. We would gather what she called &quot;seed potatoes&quot;, medium to large with pronounced &quot;eyes&quot;. We would cut the potatoes into segments with one eye in each segment. We would create mounds about one (1) foot in diameter and 8 to 10 inches inches deep spaced about 4 to 6 inches apart on the garden rows. We would plant three segments &quot;Planting stick&quot; (about 8 inches) evenly spaced in each mound. We would water using a soaker hose laid along the rows. They always produced very abundant yields.

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• PR

  @prezzle208 · 2 years ago (edited)

  Some insight from an idaho potato farmer. A cut potato is going to have less vines meaning less numvers but the the spuds will get bigger.<br><br>Also variety matters. How we water reds and russets is completely different. Also how we plant reds and russets are different.<br><br>Also if you do this again you should try a regular mound. As well as the straw mound. That&apos;s how we grow commercial potstoes. We mound our rows 6 inches deep 12 inch spacing or 9 inch spacing if your going for reds and for numbers.<br><br>Last your friends advice is great advice. We go through and mechanically kill our vines since our season is too short for letting the vine dry out in its own. So if your season is too short you can always just cut the vines to start the hardening process. &nbsp;You just cut them then wait like 2 weeks.<br><br>Last just an explanation of why you had some rot is that it looked like your soil was quite wet. If the soil is too wet after the plant dies it csn cause the spuds go rot.

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