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Post by steev on Feb 17, 2015 21:29:47 GMT -5
Why aren't you sticking them in the ground? Is it frozen?
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Post by philagardener on Feb 18, 2015 6:38:41 GMT -5
My strategy for sprouting potatoes is to get them into an area that is well lighted. And let them sit there until it is time to replant them. But not in directs sunlight. I actually had them in almost complete darkness, checked on them and found that a lot of them were around four inches already. Ahhh! I (quickly) put them in pots just now before the sunlight was completely gone. I don't mind using a headlamp to garden... but it doesn't fit right! As Joseph Lofthouse suggested, the light keeps the sprouts compact so they don't grow long and floppy.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Feb 18, 2015 10:12:24 GMT -5
Potatoes grow fine when long and floppy... As taken out of the pit: Recently planted: A couple weeks later: Typically though, I store potatoes -- before planting -- in a brightly lit closet: They still form sprouts, but not long and floppy.
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Post by ottawagardener on Feb 18, 2015 12:13:58 GMT -5
Love it Joseph.
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Post by 12540dumont on Feb 18, 2015 13:00:34 GMT -5
Joseph, you have closets! Boy am I envious. My fall planted field potatoes are up. They had about 4 inches of growth on them, but I completely buried them. These have not been hilled yet as I still have to put in irrigation lines.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Feb 19, 2015 0:24:55 GMT -5
12540dumont: Great looking potatoes. My crocus are currently flowering, so I'm months behind you on potatoes. The crocus however typically bloom the third week of March, so they are 4 weeks ahead of average. Seems like a year when there will be plenty of volunteer potatoes in my garden. The queen mother has a closet with a window, and since I grow potatoes for her...
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Post by philagardener on Feb 19, 2015 6:59:58 GMT -5
My crocus are still under snow and ice - it's going to be a long time before I can get my potatoes into the ground . . . It is great to see things growing (somewhere else!)
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Post by bunkie on Feb 19, 2015 11:58:51 GMT -5
Caught a Sundog this morning at 24F...snow or rain coming in later today...
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Post by reed on Feb 20, 2015 6:04:43 GMT -5
It is -15 F right now -22 C, I guess, pretty darn cold in any case. Supposed to warm up to the 20s above and snow / rain. That should be interesting.
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coppice
gardener
gardening curmudgeon
Posts: 149
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Post by coppice on Feb 20, 2015 10:44:45 GMT -5
Low today of -19°F (its 0°F now). A 100 year record for SE-OH.
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Post by synergy on Feb 21, 2015 1:48:31 GMT -5
Crocus, daffodil, violets and dandelions blooming now , hazelnut catkins giving off pollen since January. The grass is high enough to mow. . Mint and swiss chard and rhubarb coming on now . All north of the 49th parallel west coast. A little confusing but I think I better jump into starting the garden early .
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Post by ottawagardener on Feb 21, 2015 10:11:37 GMT -5
We have snow and ice. I'll report back when this changes
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Post by reed on Feb 21, 2015 15:05:15 GMT -5
We have snow and ice. I'll report back when this changes Guess we won't hear from you for awhile. We do too, ice, rain, sleet, snow but 40 degrees warmer than it was. Big giant wet flakes, the kind you can take your hat off and play in. The colder stuff underneath is softening up and packing down, it grabs your feet when you walk. It will be a six inch layer of ice when the temp goes back down. What fun that will be.
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Post by steev on Feb 22, 2015 19:11:51 GMT -5
I was awakened, in the pump-house, ~3:30AM, by roaring gusts of wind; really weird: quiet a while, then crashing blasts; I asked myself several times in the next few hours "Should I get up and see what's blowing away?" and I answered an equal number of times "Hell, no; too cold!" When it got light, I got up to find little damage, but it continued; a harsh, blustery, drying, cold North wind. It is suggested that there may come rain Friday; one hopes so, as this sucks so much water from the ground.
Still, "it is an ill wind that blows no good"; think I got great gas-mileage driving home, with that wind whistling up my tail-pipe.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Feb 23, 2015 2:05:30 GMT -5
Windy here, and COLD! Finally some seasonal weather. Last time we had a weather pattern like this the door blew off the greenhouse. I didn't have anything that mattered inside so it was fine. This time I have tomatoes planted in the dirt, and I've got a few other things growing already, so I bolted the door of the greenhouse to the frame. That sucks because I can't check on things during the night. I aught to come up with some kind of quick release fasteners. Tonight's fix was a make-do from available materials.
I also made some hoops out of PVC pipe and threw a blanket over the tomatoes. The Jagodka tomatoes in the greenhouse are forming flower buds already. Some of the hybrids in the basement are currently flowering.
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