http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac?format=rss Tribe.net. Local Connections http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#0574cbc7-5c9f-4581-8dd5-c0c132ec887f Actually, I could use some advice on growing potatoes. Please see my new topic. I would really appreciate it if someone would reply to it. As you can tell, I'm new here and I really don't know my way around. Congrats on the pepper! My jalapeno has got a bunch of little peppers on it, but none big enough to pick. Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:53:25 GMT http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#0574cbc7-5c9f-4581-8dd5-c0c132ec887f Sara 2009-07-05T20:53:25Z http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#c44f7dcd-480c-474f-bde0-0a50dd25f686 I'm in southern Missouri so I think it gets too cold here to winter them over. I lived in Southern California for many years so I understand the challenges of radical temperature variations. The seasons here are more predictable. Good luck in your gardening...you're gonna love it. Oh, and we picked the first red chile pepper today. WOOT! Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:12:03 GMT http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#c44f7dcd-480c-474f-bde0-0a50dd25f686 yadda yadda 2009-07-05T20:12:03Z http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#d0edee3c-78aa-4a8b-bf36-6c2974c1dcf1 I am new at growing potatoes in general. My mother always grew vegetables in the summer when I was growing up but never potatoes. I think she figured they took too much space. I decided to grow them when the economy started going south last fall. I found a couple of books in the library. One on vegetable container gardening called "Bountiful Container" and the other called "Golden Gate Gardening" because I live in the San Francisco Bay area and we have challenges here. (Fog, HUGE temperature swings in 4 days time, rains only in the winter) Whereabouts do you live? My "Golden Gate Gardening" book suggests not to put potatoes in after August unless you really keep an eye on night time temperatures and cover the plants if it gets too cold. I am looking forward to putting in a second crop and will keep you informed on how it goes if you want. Thanks so much! Sun, 05 Jul 2009 19:52:04 GMT http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#d0edee3c-78aa-4a8b-bf36-6c2974c1dcf1 Sara 2009-07-05T19:52:04Z http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#d7cd02ec-3730-4795-8f86-ddd9e43b772b I love home grown potatoes. We had waaaaayy too much rain this spring and mine ended up with blight. So we ate them as new potatoes instead of letting them get full size. I covered the whole area in clear plastic to solarize the soil. Has anyone grown fall potatoes? I'd love to try my hand at some late crops this year. Sun, 05 Jul 2009 04:23:18 GMT http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#d7cd02ec-3730-4795-8f86-ddd9e43b772b yadda yadda 2009-07-05T04:23:18Z http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#f077f61a-a073-49ff-8a8c-f1ceb1e8bba8 I have just started growing potatoes myself. I planted them in 3 30 gallon plastic garbage cans. I bought my seed potatoes from http://www.gurneys.com. I get email alerts from them and I noticed they have their Red Pontiac seed potatoes on sale. I don't know if they are disease free or not. I planted my potatoes when I got them in March and they are still growing now. Some of the leaves have brown spots on them that look like the pictures of late-blight I saw on the internet but so far I don't have any legions on the stems and the potatoes I have harvested have not had any corky, brown centers. I sure hope they aren't diseased because all that organic potting soil I bought to plant them in was quite expensive and I was hoping to re-use it like the book I am using says I can as long as I re-fertilize it. As far as getting potatoes from the supermarket, the book I bought "Bountiful Container" says that supermarket potatoes are treated with something that inhibits sprouting and they may be carrying diseases. I would think a better bet would be to go to a farmer's market. You would be able to talk to the grower and find out if they had treated them or not and also would probably be able to get loads of growing advice along with some interesting varieties. Hope that helps and I hope someone can help me. Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:59:22 GMT http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#f077f61a-a073-49ff-8a8c-f1ceb1e8bba8 Sara 2009-07-04T22:59:22Z http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#47374ca3-2205-4363-9030-c8481c44145f i was thinking about diong this, but with yams or sweet potatoes. any suggestions? Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:31:16 GMT http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#47374ca3-2205-4363-9030-c8481c44145f Nadia 2008-08-10T18:31:16Z http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#867a0bb5-8c96-4071-8010-ce0ad2afa090 I have a question about my potato vines. Now they are giving fruit, little tiny things shaped like a grape tomatoes but green. Are these the seed potatoes? (i think yes). When am I supposed to harvest them? should I allow them to dry like other seeds? can i harvest the seeds and still leave the vine? I have not harvested any potatoes yet. I would like to plant my new seed potatoes since I got a bed that just opened up. Fri, 08 Aug 2008 19:59:14 GMT http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#867a0bb5-8c96-4071-8010-ce0ad2afa090 Cabrita 2008-08-08T19:59:14Z http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#266106bc-fb52-4bfd-9b8f-a0a7b1845702 I'm inspired! Thanks everyone. I'll let y'all know how it goes. Blessings, Song Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:24:53 GMT http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#266106bc-fb52-4bfd-9b8f-a0a7b1845702 Song 2008-08-01T20:24:53Z http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#825ffe69-79ab-49dc-a2f1-a7adf6017081 I planted potatoes this year in wine barrel halves....they are growing beautigully and should be easy to harvest. I'll let you know. I'm a first time potato grower too. Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:29:27 GMT http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#825ffe69-79ab-49dc-a2f1-a7adf6017081 Lisa 2008-07-16T14:29:27Z http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#800175da-bff6-4ce2-8f6e-eff07b27aeeb If you like new potatoes (the little small ones) you can dig them when the flowers bloom. For full size wait till the plants die back... You can even leave them in the ground for a a month or two after the first frost and they will be fine. The six plants I did get this year are already over 3 ft tall and starting to bloom. I just had another baby pop about 2 days ago. Its funny how mother nature can even work through the sprout retardent. Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:45:42 GMT http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#800175da-bff6-4ce2-8f6e-eff07b27aeeb Dreamie / DreamEagle / Christophe 2008-07-16T00:45:42Z http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#780361ca-02a7-4e95-a952-27b8f647ba26 I got the Trader Joe's 3 potato bag mix (small red, yellow and purple). The purple ones had a lot of eyes, I cut them in pieces containing at least two eyes (sprouts) and I have a bunch of really nice vines. I got flowers on the vine now. It is my first time growing potatoes so I have no idea when to harvest. However, I can tell you that they look very good and I am pretty sure I will get potatoes. I did not do anything to it other than wait for the eyes to be well formed, cut them, plant in fertile soil (next to eggplants since they are supposed to be good friends) and water of course. Oh, I chose the deeper part of the bed (I have a bed mostly for nightshades (and friends). I went back and got some yellow dutch, however they do not seem to be spouting at all (different supplier). I think it is a random thing wether they use the retardant or not, but I would guess that if you see nice sprouts (eyes) you will get potato vines. As I said it is my first time, so i'll report back ;-) I did not grow them before since it does not seem like a crop worth using my scarce little plot of land. I did change my mind since I can grow them organically, and also, I use a bike for transportation and potatoes are very heavy... Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:38:22 GMT http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#780361ca-02a7-4e95-a952-27b8f647ba26 Cabrita 2008-07-16T00:38:22Z http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#66fa53ff-e7e9-427d-bbc4-6f7bd2143562 If there are no sprouts on a potato( too perfect as you say) you should perhaps be suspicious that it has been treated with a sprout inhibitor, which is quite likely. A long list of chemicals can be and are used for this purpose. Even some organic growers use sprout inhibitors ( i just learned this now through google) http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-vegetables/organic-potato/organic-control-of-potato-sprouts.html anyway, if there are healthy sprouts starting on a potato, i would say it would work. The other reason for using certified seed potatoes is that they are free from late blight, but blight happens anyway. I've know people to use supermarket potatoes or potatoes from a health food store with good results. I found this on a site from cornell university. "Buy certified disease-free seed potatoes from garden centers or through online or mail-order catalogs for best results. If you save your own seed potatoes, discard any that show any signs of disease. Avoid planting potatoes from the supermarket because they may have been treated with sprout inhibitors. They may also be less vigorous and more prone to disease. If you must use supermarket potatoes, use round, white Maine-grown potatoes, not russets or long white potatoes grown in California or Idaho. To see if they'll sprout, take three potatoes and put them in a paper bag and place the bag in a warm location (about 70 F). They should sprout in two weeks if they haven't been treated with sprout inhibitors." Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:31:38 GMT http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#66fa53ff-e7e9-427d-bbc4-6f7bd2143562 wil 2008-07-15T09:31:38Z http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#344bd296-0d4a-4a45-94a2-70e674e46b9e If you are going to grow potatoes from the supermarket. Try to find oraganic ones from a trusted source. I have always grown mine from supermarket potatoes in the past and they have worked great till this year. I ended up with an off brand and all the potatoes looked way too perfect but I tried anyway. I think that they were radiated. I got 6 plants out of the 100 that I planted. Last year when I used regular not perfect potatoes 95% of them came up. My only warning is to look for potatoes with a natural look that are certified organic. They are doing crazy stuff to food nowadays. Good luck to you. Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:27:48 GMT http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#344bd296-0d4a-4a45-94a2-70e674e46b9e Dreamie / DreamEagle / Christophe 2008-07-15T03:27:48Z http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#9c822d14-4dc6-40f5-85d3-63ee635e0dc9 Does anyone have seed potatoes or know where I can get them this late in the year? I've heard that growing sprouted potatoes from the supermarket is a no-no. Anyone know about that? Much love. Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:06:35 GMT http://greenthumbs.tribe.net/thread/3dbd311f-cf37-4c2c-a9ef-105ea66d35ac#9c822d14-4dc6-40f5-85d3-63ee635e0dc9 Song 2008-07-15T03:06:35Z