Planting Taters

[hunterridgefarm]

I will be planting potatoes for the first time in 20 years. In the past my FIL alwasy planted enough for the family.

This year I plan on planting 3/4 to 1+ ac of potatoes. I do not have time to make a hiller. In the past for pumpkin, watermelon and such I have always raised the front of the disc where only the rear gangs touch. Increase the tractor speed and this makes a decent hill to plant. I think however I will need more hill than what this method will produce.

My next option is to use the rear scrap blade turned at a share angle to create the hills. Any one tried this? Or do you have any pics of your hilling attachment.

A couple of other questions: The seed potatoe; when cutting the seed potatoe with a couple of eyes on each section, I have read where you should let them sit a couple of days to "scab" over before planting...?

I plan to fertilize when planting and side dressing once the plants are up 3-4".
Does anyone add lime when planting?

Do you increase the hill once the plants are growing?

I have my new tiller that I will till before hilling. I hope to get them in the ground by the end of Feb or first of March.

Most of what I plant will go to the local soup kitchen to distribute to needy families. So I basically plan to give 80-90% of the harvest away.

 

[2manyrocks]

I'm glad you started this thread. My Mother was the gardener in the family, and my efforts at growing potatoes just haven't worked. I'm wondering if I am not having good results because of not hilling the potatoes enough or if it is hard ground, improper fertilizer or I don't have the right PH balance in the soil.

Oldmech posted this picture of his hiller/furrower attachment for his tiller in the 2wheeltractor forum here. Looks like a real labor saver to me.

If someone will set me straight on the right methods, I'd like to try raising potatos again.

 

[Chuck52]

Hunterridge is way past my potato experience....I typically plant two 50' rows of two different potatoes. 2manyrocks, if you're talking about garden potatoes, like me, you might want to look into growing them under hay. I did real well a couple of years ago by planting my potatoes in about a six inch trench, and then "hilling" them up with grass clippings. I have lots of grass clippings from mowing too much lawn. I let the clippings dry and then sweep them up with a lawn sweeper. The dry clippings worked great for covering the potatoes. Last year I used the clippings for other stuff and didn't get nearly the yield of potatoes I got the year before. One of my friends decided to try growing his potatoes in some round concrete forms he had. He just put a couple of seed potato pieces in each 12" deep piece of the form and covered them with some loose compost he bought from the city. Everytime green showed, he's cover it with more compost. At the end of the seson he just pushed the forms over and picked up the potatoes. The bottom line is that it is fairly easy to grow potatoes even if your soil is hard.

Chuck

 

[kthompson]

hunterridge, not the best picture but see you have cultivators. If they are the old standard style you can buy "hiller blades" such as these and will tell you not the best image. Be sure you have your stablizers tight. (Picture reference is to the link, not of your cultivators.)

HILLER DISC BLADES - Agri Supply

Yes let the potato scab over before planting or they will rot. Some use sulfur to help with that. Realize the potatoes grow above the seed potato so it must be deep. Have been told if the potatoes are green from sunlight that is poison. You can use a large sweep or small middle buster to open up the furrow and plant the cut potato and then run the hillers to cover them up. That should give you straight plantings you can plow. You don't want to cover them more than maybe 3 inches but will want to keep bedding them up more and more as has been mentioned.

Hay or straw coverage can be a problem with mice which if they show up draws snakes which means not the best place to run your hand down to check how things or growing. We don't fertilizer them much and too much nitrogen is not good for them.

If you are going to plant much garden and of different types "stuff", look for an old style tobacco setter, they are around. You probably can find one for $100 or less. You can use that to plant the potatoes, or any seed. Just need tractor driver and person on the setter to drop what you are planting.

 

[greenmule]

Don't know about the scabing over theory,,,its not flesh you know,but...?

Been planting tators since I was crawling,but never no acre.

I have cut them leave 2-3 eyes per bit,,planted that same day,they growed,but generally don't cut them,,only plant maybe two 50 lb bags of whole ones,don't cost much,less chance of rot.

Think the main reason tators rot,is people plant them to early and dirt is to wet.

I always make a furrow,scatter 10-10-10 down the furrow,,drag a hoe down the furrow to cover up fertilizer so's it don't touch potatoes[also supposed to make them rot?],furrow is about 6-10 inches deep,plant tators eye side up[if cutting them],maybe 10 inches apart,cover furrow and put 3-6 inches on top of that[cover very heavy,as opposed to covering corn],,than scatter 10-10-10,or 5-10-10,over hill,,,don't fertilize again but next is to till between rows and hoe,,when I hoe I just pull alotta dirt up on each side of hill making hil 4-8 inches higher and covering weeds.

Now for as much as your planting,,yeah you need some power equipment to furrow,hill,etc,other wise,its going to be a long two-three days,they make hillers I think for backs of tractors,,but the hoeing part?

 

[hunterridgefarm]

kt,

That is what I plan to make. I have an old 3-pt attachment that would work just don't know if I will have time. I'll try the disc this time after I till. I tkink the back blade will work just may make my rows a little wide.

green,

Thats about how we used to plant. But I don't wantto use the hoe on this big of a plant

 

[radioman]

When i plant taters, I cut them up in the morning so there are 2-3 eyes each piece. I leave them out on the grass so it can dry out better. I put them on a concrete porch once and had poor results that summer. I usually plant them, the same same in the evening but I seem to get better results with 24 hours "scabbing" . The other thing when planting, you dont want to plant it in wet soil, going to rain same day(heavy rain). When hilling them, since i am not planting 1 acre worth, i just run the tiller between rows to soften up the soil with rear tine tiller then use a portable tiller that connects to weedeater to move dirt up to cover 75 percent of the plant.

 

[Stimw]

I've never grown taters before so I googled how to plant them. I put them in about mid november and they are doing great!
First I didn't have seed taters so I used store bought, I like the red varriety. They say not to use store bought because they are treated so they won't start growing but these came up ok.
I cut them with 1-2 eyes, let sit inside (low humidity) for 24 hours, planted 3" deep with eye up. They took almost a month to break through the ground. (I thought they failed) You should look at planting early because of how long they take to come up. You will avoid the cold by the time they come up.
Sites said to cover any roots or taters that appear above ground.
I was told I'm too early so I'm trying to keep them from the cold. I have them tented now and more cold is coming tomorrow night. The plants are about 2' tall now!
My soil is well tilled. I also read that they don't like too much water. Potatoes like 4.5-6 ph according to a chart that I got with a soil test kit so lime depends on your soil.

 

[schmism]

Ive been planting my taders in tires. Keep stacking on the tires as the plant grows.

Ive had mediocre results but thats mostly due to mediocre care. Not wheeding and no extra water durring the dry periods.

The ones we have harvested have been really good. Its a shame i haven't put more energy into them because its one of the few garden veggies that we eat a lot of and keep really well for long periods.

 

[greenmule]

We are still eating our potatoes we grew last summer,Plowed them out in sept.]got a potato bin down in my basement/celler,not cool enough there but we can eat on them till about march,after that they are so shrunk up and the eyes have grown 10-12 inches,we start buying store bought than.Just 3 of us but we eat potatoes almost every day.Plant red and kenabec every year.

 

[kthompson]

hunterridge, there are sweeps for bedding also. Never used them but they may work fine. Would think you could also use two middle busters for cultivators and get good results. Also "buzzard wings".
If you have a Agri Supply neay by good price compared to most other stores. Also they stand behind what they sell.

 

[WayneB]

You might want to check out Agi Supply for the items they have for cultavating and hilling?

3-PT KEULAVATOR FRAME (FRAME ONLY) - Agri Supply

 

[charlz]

You are going to want to hip the soil onto the plants as they grow, this provides more soil for more potatoes to grow in. Around here everything is flood so they add hippers to the 'toolbar' when they cultivate for weeds and to maintain the furrows. You can do it by hand with a hoe but for an acre of spuds it might take a while

Maybe grow an alternate crop this year like winter squash until you get set with the right stuff to make 'taters easier?

 

[DUMBDOG]

I plant an average of six acres of potatoes per year.

I use a machine to cut the potatoes, but the theory is the same if you cut them by hand or machine. I have planted them right after cutting or leaving them set a couple of days. I have experienced no difference in the final result using either method.

I also use a potato planter and harvester. The planter drops the potatoes down and then creates a small hill over them. I then lay drip line down over this small hill and hill them with a one row cultivator with discs attached which creates a larger hill. I leave this attachment on and continue to hill them when cultivating them later. The disc attachment works quite well and could be fabricating quite cheaply. Attached is a picture of the one row cultivator with the discs for the hilling along with the drip line layer.

According to the information that I have been told is that you can cultivate the potatoes up until the time that they are blossoming. This is to avoid damaging the tubers in the ground. This can vary according to the weather conditions as I have had some fine potatoes with very little blossoming. The same conditions would apply for hilling as cultivating.

I do not use fertilizer on my potatoes. The experience that I have had is the amount of water that the plants receive. This is quite evident in the amounts and when the moisture has been received in the last couple of years. The first year, we had excellent growing conditions and I tossed about ten thousand pounds after planting the next spring.

The amount of seed required per acre of potatoes can range from one thousand to fifteen hundred pounds, depending upon the density and size of the seed pieces.

 

[Mickey_Fx]

Like with many posts of this kind we see practices vary from locale to locale.

As for hilling, you may have all the equip you need (maybe with a little mod.) The tiller for the Yanmar has a cut out center section on the drag flap. With the cover removed and with some rearrangment of the tines if I choose, the tines move the soil towards the center and a hill is formed with every pass.

I don't grow spuds any longer as it was too much effort due to the gopher problem we have from time to time.

 

[2manyrocks]

Dumbdog, what kind of harvester do you have? Is it one of those conveyor belt looking machines that separate the taters from the soil?

Your planter looks like a standard cultivator with a couple of discs attached. Is that all there is to it?

 

[DUMBDOG]

Dumbdog, what kind of harvester do you have? Is it one of those conveyor belt looking machines that separate the taters from the soil?

Your planter looks like a standard cultivator with a couple of discs attached. Is that all there is to it?

The potato harvester is made by US Small Farms out of Wyoming. It has a PTO operated pump which operates a chain set up that bounces the dirt and potatoes to the end which takes out most of the dirt and drops the potatoes off of the end.

This is a link to the people that manufacture the harvester. US Small Farm - 1-Row Potato Diggers

The picture shown is of the potato hiller attached to the cultivator with the drip line attachment.

Attached is a picture of the planter.

 

[DUMBDOG]

Attached is a picture of the potato cutter in action.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Afternoon Guys,

I have been away a couple of days on a sales trip and did not have time to get online.

You have given me alot to think about. I may cut back to 1/2 ac this year...just depends.

Dumbdog I have a single row culti I can add the disc to. I also have another implement I can add them to. I will check TSC and a couple of local feed and seed stores to see if they have the disc like you have on your cultivator. I feel sure TSC has them.

kt, I don't have an Agri Supply close by, they are all on the eastern side of NC.

 

[DUMBDOG]

Discs are the easy items to find, it is the attachment portion that is hard to find. The whole assembly is available from US Small Farms in the link that I provided above. If I remember correctly, the cost is about $200.00.