Planting Taters

[2manyrocks]

Once the potatoes have been dug by the potato harvester, do you let them sit a bit and then pick them up by hand or is there some machinery for this part, too? Do you put them in a bag and then into storage at that point?

You're obviously growing potatoes on a much larger scale than our garden potato patch.

Thank you for posting the link to the potato harvester. I had been searching on the internet using the term "potato digger" and didn't have much success finding anything except digging forks and potato plows. Would you recommend a potato plow for smaller crops or is there some other implement to consider?

 

[DUMBDOG]

After the potatoes are dug, we go behind and pick them up by hand. They are either left in the picking tubs or are dumped into four by four foot crates, depending upon the time of the year. Usually the potatoes are picked the same day, either for the farmers market or later in the year when picking for seed, it is late in the year, they are also picked the same day to avoid the frost. When left out over night we have had the problem of those large four legged rats that range in weight from one hundred pounds and larger eating them.

I have no recommendations on the picking of the other crops as these we all do by hand. I have not found anything that is economical feasible for the carrots, etc. Growing up on the farm, many years ago, I do remember that Dad used a plow to dig the potatoes and we went along afterwords and dug them out of the loose soil.

 

[jinman]

Growing up on the farm, many years ago, I do remember that Dad used a plow to dig the potatoes and we went along afterwords and dug them out of the loose soil.

Exactly the way we did it, but we didn't have 6 acres. Luckily, we only did that for a half-acre or less.

Good to hear from you, David. I hadn't seen you post in quite awhile and was hoping you'd respond here with your expertise. Are you in ND or Florida right now?

 

[DUMBDOG]

Exactly the way we did it, but we didn't have 6 acres. Luckily, we only did that for a half-acre or less.

Good to hear from you, David. I hadn't seen you post in quite awhile and was hoping you'd respond here with your expertise. Are you in ND or Florida right now?

Still in North Dakota waiting a lease transaction to be completed before we head south. We have had more snow and cold up here than usual. By the time we get out of here, it will more than likely be warm up here.

Growing up, we had just a half acre or less of potatoes also.

 

[Stimw]

Here is my first attempt at tater growing. I had them tented last week when the temp got down to 26* on my thermometer. I had very little damage where the tent blew loose.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Growing up on the farm, many years ago, I do remember that Dad used a plow to dig the potatoes and we went along afterwords and dug them out of the loose soil.

That is how we did it when dad planted them. That is also how I will dig them this year.

A few years back my FIL always plowed and cultivated with a horse for the garden even though he had 2 tractors. It was the way he did it growing up and continued that until the horse got too old about 15 years ago.

One time he was plowing out potatoes with the horse and ask me if I wanted to try...it did not look that hard. I grabed the plow handles, wraped the harness around me and took off. He told me hoe to use the "gee" and "haw" for left and right. I "geed" and "hawed" that horse all over that garden. There is an art to plowing with a horse...or at least a lot of practice!

 

[WayneB]

Last year I had about an acre of potatoes. Down this way I have to dig, wash and bag the same day and we sold directly off from the farm stand. Most of the people won't buy them around here unless they are washed, drives me nuts at times so I add to the selling price.

Next year I plan on putting in about doubling the area for the potatoes and hope to be able to sell them the same way. Sort-of fun having people stop by and pick them up and put the money in the pail!

 

[DUMBDOG]

I have never used horses, unless you consider the ponies in the diesel engine.

Last year I had about an acre of potatoes. Down this way I have to dig, wash and bag the same day and we sold directly off from the farm stand. Most of the people won't buy them around here unless they are washed, drives me nuts at times so I add to the selling price.

Next year I plan on putting in about doubling the area for the potatoes and hope to be able to sell them the same way. Sort-of fun having people stop by and pick them up and put the money in the pail!

Clean and fresh are the rules in order to sell well at either the farmers market or at a roadside stand. The only time I do run the potatoes through the vegetable washer are the bulk ones in the fall, they will store better if they are not washed.

What do you charge for potatoes at the roadside stand?

 

[dooleysm]

The guy beside me at the farmer's market was selling potatoes in 1 gallon ziploc bags. I think he was getting $3.50/gallon and he sold out pretty quick. I'm planning a huge run of potatoes this year to cash in on that market.

No 6 acre or even half acre plot, but enough to yield several hundred pounds of potatoes. I've got a middle buster for planting and harvesting, a troy-bilt bronco for cultivating, and a hoe for hilling.

 

[WayneB]

I never wash the ones we keep, like you mentioned they do keep better if not washed, but to sell them to the city folk you have to wash them. I bag them in 5 lb potato sacks and charge 80 cents a pound. We will sell the odd small ones (as salt potatoes) for $3.50 a 5 lb sack.

I am sure we could have charged more for them, but it seemed to be slightly higher than the local stores and I thought I was making something on them anyway. Seed potato was selling for around 34 dollars a 100 weight. Sure if I was buying more seed potato I could get a better price.

When I was a kid we had about 100 acres of potatoes and I said then once I leave this farm I hope I never see another potato, forty some years later what am I doing but selling potatoes, go figure. We paid pickers back then 10 cents a bushel, wonder what they are making today?

I only plant Yukon Gold, Norland Reds and Superior Whites. Norlands are by far the best seller for us.

 

[DUMBDOG]

Red Norland, Yukon Gold, Viking, Russet, A dark red, which I can not remember the name and Kenebec are the varities that I sell.

I charge $3.50 per 5#, $6.00 per 10#. On the smaller potatoes, I charge $3.50 per bag and their is 1 1/2, 2 or 3#'s per bag, the smaller potaotes have the least amount in the bag. These are the ones that normally sell first until about Labor Day, after that the small ones really slow down as people are no longer grilling out.

In the fall the 25# bags are $12.00 or $15.00 per bag, the higher priced bags have the larger potatoes and sell out first. The complete opposite of the desired size by the customer compared to earlier in the year.

Potatoes comprised about 40% of my sales for the last year.

I normally grow my seed potatoes, but this year I will need to purchase about 500# each of the Red Norland and the Yukon Gold as I sold to many of each.

 

[WayneB]

So I am doing okay at .80 a pound.

We have this organic growers market and they are getting like $1.20 a pound and up for potatoes, $6.50 a dozen for sweet corn and for raspberries they were selling them for 5.50 a pint. Biggest problem is the annual dues and the table cost plus they regulate what you can sell as the members do not want too many of the same products being offered. (one might call it price fixing?)

We get $4.00 a pint for our berries at the house but during these times not as many people are buying them. Goes to show you the luxury items aren't selling LOL.

It's a battle every year trying to figure out just what to plant. Last year I got onto a kick for cucumbers and tomatoes. We had around 250 tomato plants set out and about a 1/4 acre of cucumbers to pick daily. it was okay to start with, but soon the cucs and tomatoes were way ahead of me and I was hauling bushels out to food bank to feed the poor. No one is making a bunch of pickles or canning tomatoes these days

 

[Stimw]

OK Tater growers, what's the difference between seed and regular tater? I've read that store bought taters might be treated to not sprout, but if I grow a tater and then plant it does that make it a seed tater?
I've bought 50# bags of reds being sold out of the back of a truck for $6-10. a bag at local harvest time.

 

[funny farmer]

I quite growing taters because I have now where to store them where they won't start sproting right away... I was thinking about digging a hole in the side of a hill, but I don't know how deep to go so the taters don't freeze. Sounds like a lot of work just for some taters

 

[dooleysm]

In northern MN I would assume you have basement at your house. We kept ours in cardboard boxes in the basement, covered with an old blanket. They did just fine until we ran out within the past week or so.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

In
I normally grow my seed potatoes, .

Dave,

To do this do you leave them in the ground longer...or store them till they start producing eyes? Please elaborate.

Thanks
David

 

[DUMBDOG]

Dave,

To do this do you leave them in the ground longer...or store them till they start producing eyes? Please elaborate.

Thanks
David

Normally, I harvest enough potatoes each day for the next day, at the end of the season before the freeze, we harvest whatever is left, sell to the end and whatever is left is stored as seed potatoes.

The potatoes are then put in crates which we made out of wood and are either 42x48 or 48x48. The smaller of the two will hold about 1000#, the larger about 1200#. They are stored in the shed. As the potatoes are put in, they are sorted and only the good ones are kept as to prevent spoilage during the winter. There is nothing worse smelling than rotten potatoes, other than a really rotten egg. The shed heat controller is kept at the minimum setting of 40 degrees. The best temperature for keeping potatoes is 38 to 39 degrees. Right now there is 7000# sitting in the shed awaiting their fate next spring.

In the spring, we just run them through the potato cutter if they have sprouts on the eyes or not. As long as the potatoes have an eye they will sprout once in the ground and the proper temperature of the soil has been reached.

The area where the potatoes are stored should be dark, if the area is not naturally dark, they should be covered. The covering should be material that will allow the transfer of humidity of the potatoes, if a covering of material does not allow for the transfer of humidity, the potatoes will start to sprout.

I am not expert on the subject of planting or storing of potatoes, but I try to remember what worked or did not work in the years before and I do a lot of research on the net.

Attached is a picture of some of the potatoes we dumped when we had carried over to many one year. The thing I learned was that quit harvesting them when you get enough.

I dumped them behind the neighbors house and he loved it despite the smell as it drew the deer in.

 

[DUMBDOG]

OK Tater growers, what's the difference between seed and regular tater? I've read that store bought taters might be treated to not sprout, but if I grow a tater and then plant it does that make it a seed tater?
I've bought 50# bags of reds being sold out of the back of a truck for $6-10. a bag at local harvest time.

Any potato can become a seed potato, you are correct that the store ones sold for food are normally treated with something to prevent them from sprouting. This does not mean that they will not work for seed potatoes. It just means that they will not sprout for a while and if you went in and purchased these potatoes and took them out and planted them right away the results would not be the best.

You would be surprised at the amount of chemicals on commercially grown potatoes. Besides the stuff put on so that they will store better, they are treated with some chemical or other on an average of once per week after they are in the field, then they put something on to kill the plants before harvest and then treated to prevent sprouting.

If you have an aversion against chemicals, buy some good home grown potatoes.

 

[PineRidge]

1st time we planted we took the advice of an old neighbor as to when. They all rotted in the ground.

The second batch we let scab over after cutting then planted them after the soil had warmed.

We hilled them using an attachment on the back of a Troy tiller but a spade would have worked just as well.

Ended up with a few potato bugs but they didn't like it when I gave em a bath in the paint thinner and we finally got rid of them. guess their kin heard all the screams.

The potatoes both white and red kennebec were the best tasting we have ever eaten and they keep for months in net potato bags hanging from the ceiling in the basement where its cool and dark. Here it is January and we are still having all kinds of spuds.

Go for it! Spuds are pretty easy to grow.

 

[2manyrocks]

Went to buy seed potatos at the local Farmer's Coop in Middle Tennessee. Said they didn't have any and didn't know where to find any. Bummer....