Planting potato eyes

Have cut up some red potato eyes to plant. Looked it up on-line. They say to mound up +- 6" of mulch after burying the eyes. I never understood why one has to do this, rather than just let the new potatoes grow underground.

Also, the mulch we get from the City every few months is very finely ground. Picture shows more of a straw-like mulch. ???

Would appreciate an explanation in the next few, as the pieces set out to callous/harden should get planted soon.

TIA

HB

Reply to
Higgs Boson
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You can plant below the surface and mound as the shoots grow or plant them in a hole (or trench) and fill the hole as the shoots grow. The purpose is to get the 'seed' tuber down deeper. The reason to get it deeper is that the new tubers will grow at the level of the old one so if you leave it too shallow the tubers may come to the surface or the plants will fall over. But if you just plant very deep the shoot may not make it to the surface (especially if you reduce the food that it has by not planting whole tubers).

A third method is to use a layered raised bed such as a stack of tyres. You plant the tubers in the top layer and when they shoot add another tyre and refill with soil. This has the additional advantage that you don't need to dig your taters but just dismantle the stack.

So you plant very deep but allow the shoots to see the sun using one of these methods and then backfill. You end up with the tubers down deep and the shoots above ground which is what you want.

I prefer the hole (trench) method as it is easier to fill them in than maintain the mound.

Sorry I have missed the point.

YWIMC

David

Reply to
David Hare-Scott

***Interesting. The Web site I consulted:

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NOT giving the "eye" too much food, so it won't be lazy about growing, having plenty of goodies available underground. I left some potato, but not a whole tuber.

***Using tires has been discouraged here because of toxic problems from the tires. Anything to this?
***The point about the finely-ground compost is that it doesn't resemble the picture on the Web site, which had what I described as a "straw-like" mulch, from which I inferred that the mulch should be more loose. ??.
***Thanks, David; that was enormously helpful. I will choose the trench/hole method, but not cover the potato eyes too deeply, if I understand your recommendation, and as the shoots appear, back-fill.

HB

Reply to
Higgs Boson

light soil to prevent fungus and waterlogging.

and the other reason to plant and mound them in some manner is to keep the tubers covered away from the sunlight. green ones are not good to eat.

songbird

Reply to
songbird

That makes no sense to me. The taters are cut up so that if you have large tubers you can get more than one plant out of each. If they are small you don't bother.

I don't know, I don't use this method. You can do the same with timber frames, like bottomless boxes.

I am still confused, compost and mulch are usually different materials used for different purposes. What purpose do you have in mind for this stuff?

D
Reply to
David Hare-Scott

***But how can you get more than one plant out of each eye? Now I am confused.
***Sigh - finally got my head screwed back on . The City is distributing COMPOST, not mulch. In my foggier moments I sometimes confuse them. I actually don't have anything on hand to serve as mulch. Would pine needles do? I have an endless quantity Otherwise, will have to scrounge leaves from a neighbor.

HB

Reply to
Higgs Boson

More than one plant per tuber just one per eye.

D
Reply to
David Hare-Scott

Are these potatoes from the fridge that start to grow nubs on them ?

Jerry

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Reply to
Jerry Ohio Also

learn, as I sometimes do keep potatoes in frig in warm weather.

Tx

HB

Reply to
Higgs Boson

What I meant was that they were not seeds from the top of the plant . I have never seen a potato plant grow.

Jerry

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Reply to
Jerry Ohio Also

According to my knowledge..

The potatoes we eat are starchy tubers that grow under ground, swelling and getting larger as the top half of the plant matures. The humble potato can be very finicky to grow, because of pest and disease problems. Potatoes are relatively inexpensive to purchase.

Reply to
Lawyer100

Potatoes are no longer inexpensive. No produce is inexpensive anymore... nothing is inexpensive.

Reply to
Brooklyn1

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