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Post by clarkfoodfarm on Feb 14, 2009 16:52:31 GMT -5
I've read a few interesting articles/posts over the years on cultivating potatoes in bins or bags. The purported yields seem quite high. I'm going to have a surplus of seed potatoes this year and would like to try container cultivation alongside a more traditional row planting & hilling. Anyone have some advice or a good story to share on their experience with growing potatoes using this or a similar method? Thanks!
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Post by utopiate on Feb 14, 2009 18:12:33 GMT -5
I've been growing some native edible tuberous wetland plants in containers set in pans or trays of standing water. The soil was kept much wetter than you would have in mind for potatoes, but this was variable by absorbancy of soil media used and water depth the base was set in. I kept it at about two or three inches for fairly wet sand or soil based growing media, and containers were three to five gallons, but these were marsh plants. Quite a few large pots could be set in a children's wading pool, and automated timer kept the depth replenished daily to the drainhole depth cut in the side.
What I noticed was that the plants produced much more vigorously and growth was exceptional compared to growth in their native habitat. Fertilization was much greater of course, but also I think growing medium was much warmer and moisture levels were more consistent.
Hey noticed your location. Do you have wapato growing nearby?
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Post by clarkfoodfarm on Feb 14, 2009 20:08:24 GMT -5
Very cool stuff. My wife is a wetland scientist. She'd really dig your set up.
I know of several nearby areas where Wapato grows.
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Post by utopiate on Feb 14, 2009 20:42:37 GMT -5
You should check out the Chinese arrowhead thread if you havn't yet. Have S. cuneata here which may be better flavor than S. latifolia since it seems non-bitter, but its small. Anyway interested in cross breeding attempts here but dont have any local S. latifolia. Alkapuler seems to be interested in this too.
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Post by utopiate on Feb 14, 2009 20:50:56 GMT -5
Mainly I've been growing two native Lycopus, the water horehounds. L. asper and L. uniflorus. Very delicious and nearly unknown wild edible foodplants. Was curious if your wife is familiar with them. Its great shes a wetland scientist. Ask her if she knows Stachys pilosa. I think it grows where you are at fairly commonly in the wetlands, has edible stolone tubers too, but might be rank tasting. The European invastive Stachys palustris is supposed to be similar to that one, but I wonder if ours is better eating. I'd like to grow some or get some tubers to sample.
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Post by alkapuler on Feb 15, 2009 21:35:58 GMT -5
-became interested in wapato last year, i purchased fifty tubers each of S. latifolia and S. rigida from Wildlife Nurseries Inc, Oshkosh WI, planted in tubs either in pots or directly in the 20-40 gallon tubs, using sand and pea gravel with some humusy compost in different pots; results were uniformly poor, most latifolias died, some from the Wisconsin company were fist sized, very nice -the we went on a road trip and collected two plants, one from southern Washington, the other from northern Oregon, one with red stems, one with green -i will check out the thread about Chinese Arrowhead -developing a breeding system is of interest for its great potential -in solanums, there has been work using cell fusion to overcome breeding problems, and the Sagittarias all have 20 chromosomes if i remember correctly, where saline tolerance, alkali tolerance, extreme heat tolerance can be conveyed to productive foodplant cultivars -thanks for communicating your interesting and valuable work
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Post by clarkfoodfarm on Feb 16, 2009 13:07:09 GMT -5
Very interesting stuff, utopiate and Alan. I wish I had something to contribute to the discussion of native, aquatic edibles. Unfortunately, other than my infrequent wild-crafting forays I have no other experience. Fortunately, I'm getting a great education following your threads and doing some web browsing to get more in depth info on the subject matter. Good stuff!
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Post by ottawagardener on Feb 16, 2009 14:31:12 GMT -5
I don't have experience with wetland tubers (though I'd love to experiment someday) but I do have a potato in container growing experience.
I have used the tire tower technique and found the yield was, in my case, lower than the traditional hilling up. In fact, I only mulch my potatoes a couple times a year but the yields are quite good. That year, the tower potatoes had a bit of scab but my garden grown ones were unaffected. I wonder if that had something to do with the higher heat?
I will be growing some potatoes in containers this year so I'll get back to you on that one.
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Post by clarkfoodfarm on Feb 17, 2009 18:15:31 GMT -5
ottawagardener
I look forward to hearing about your potato container adventure. Are you planning on using tires again?
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Post by Alan on Feb 17, 2009 18:17:53 GMT -5
When I was in high school, we used the tire growing method in one of the advanced ag classes that I was in. We used one half compost to one half pro mix and fertilized with composted cow manure. Yields were pretty high and over time the columns consited of five and more tires at a time which creates a culture similar to "hilling up" potatoes. I was pretty impressed with it but have not experimented with it since then.
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Post by silverleaf on Mar 27, 2009 7:55:25 GMT -5
I've grown potatoes in large pots with ordinary peat-free compost and chicken manure pellets, and it worked out fine.
I can't compare yields to the ones in the ground as the ones in the pots went in later and were spaced more closely.
I just added maybe 6 inches of compost to the pots, then seed potatoes, then 6 inches of soil. As the plants grew I added more compost, up to the top of the pots. Easier than earthing up anyway. Once the tubers were a good size I just tipped everything out and threw the old compost on the soil.
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