Vertical Potato Growing

[HawkinsHollow]

Has anyone tried the vertical potato growing method? I have tried it twice, once in a large grow bag and I was quite impressed with the harvest. I also tried it again last summer with wooden sides, and that did not go very well. Looking for advice on what works for you if you do it. I really would like to give it a good try again. Thanks

 

[Doofy]

We tried Yukon Gold potatoes in growing bags with great success. Sure beats digging them out of the ground. In the fall we would just dump the bag in the wheelbarrow, pick out the potatoes and done.

 

[RayIN]

6 old car tires, add one when the plant will extend over the top of the 2 one, 3 one, etc. Harvesting is the reverse. The bottom side of each tire holds a bit of water too.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

We tried Yukon Gold potatoes in growing bags with great success. Sure beats digging them out of the ground. In the fall we would just dump the bag in the wheelbarrow, pick out the potatoes and done.

Did you knock the bottom out of the bag and plant in the ground? Or just planted in the bottom of the bag? I have seen lots of mention of the grow bags in my research.

 

[wmfamily]

I tried grow bags and didn't have much luck. The plants looked great and grew well but there were few potatoes and what did grow were not very big. I have grown other things in containers (tomatoes, beans, peppers) with great success but not so much with potatoes.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

I tried grow bags and didn't have much luck. The plants looked great and grew well but there were few potatoes and what did grow were not very big. I have grown other things in containers (tomatoes, beans, peppers) with great success but not so much with potatoes.

I swear it is hit or miss. I have done it twice, once with a good harvest once with jack squat. I feel like it deserves another try. Trying to figure out how i'm gonna do it. They say indeterminate is better for this method. I will seek those out for sure.

 

[oosik]

I saw it on TV once. Some sort of cloth bag inside a wire mesh support structure. They got spuds - don't know how many or overall size. I wonder if that would keep them away from the pocket gophers. That's one of our big bug-a-boos around here.

 

[rumwrks]

Potato towers don't work at least not for increasing yield. Layering can work but you're fighting not sunlight availability and limiting stolon reach to half of what it would be in the ground. There's a good explanation from a potato breeder who has grown thousands upon thousands of potatoes (and certainly more varieties) and knows way more about potato physiology than most of us could ever hope to learn - Potato Towers Don’t Work – Cultivariable

pocket gophers

Cinch traps, there's 3 sizes so measure your gopher holes and get the matching ones. It also helps to clamp them in the vise and hammer the jaws a touch more round. Set dig up the mound and set two traps in the adjacent run, one going each direction. Set the trigger so it's just .. baaaarely holding on the more hair trigger you have them set the better. Don't bother covering the holes with these, the idea is that the gopher is heading in to push the hole shut and hits the trigger. Which is why the closer to the tunnel size the trap arms are fitted the better.

In this specific case raised bed/container planting (short towers if you will) with metal bottoms could indeed reduce predation.