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New RH magazine
Posted by Klaus Karbaumer at 2015-08-19 11:53:08
Read it a few days ago and shared it with an old friend who is kind of house-bound. Good articles, like always.
When it comes to growing potatoes the regional differences are quite obvious, our Midwest climate demands a somewhat different approach from the Vermont one that Stephen Leslie described.
Response by Stephen Leslie at 2015-08-20 13:33:52
Hello Klaus,
When writing the article on potatoes I did not give much thought to regional differences and methods. Could you describe some of the regional differences you are aware of for potato cultivation?
Thanks!
Response by Jon Bonine at 2015-08-20 15:07:07
In what ways does growing potatoes in the Midwest differ? Different areas sometimes have different methods for their own reasons. Sometimes they are differences in backgrounds or experiences. What do you see differently?
Response by Klaus Karbaumer at 2015-08-20 20:21:43
One difference is the time we plant, this year I planted my first batch on March 16, and then every two weeks till the end of April.
Even though the soil is heavy on our farm, it warms up fast and when you plant the potatoes too shallow and the hill over them dries up too quickly the yield is reduced( this year , though, we had plenty of rain), therefore I plant the potatoes about six inches deep and upon emergence hill them a couple of times. In years when it gets hot early, the soil hardens early, too, and then hilling is not always practical a second time.
We start harvesting new potatoes at the latest in the second week of June. Since I do not harvest all of them at once when the foliage has died, which is July, I tolerate light growth over them which I mow and I mulch the rows to keep the soil cool till I have the harvest completed, which is usually by the end of September to the middle of October, sometimes later depending on how much we planted and sold.
This year I was too careful being afraid of another dry year and therefore didn't cut my seed potatoes; could have done that and with all the moisture we had they would have done just fine. Whole seed potatoes can take dry springtime better , since they have more energy stored.
As far as harvesting goes, I usually dig them with a potato fork and do so almost on a daily basis.
Response by Klaus Karbaumer at 2015-08-20 20:33:40
I should have also mentioned that torrential rainfalls in spring and early summer like we get them often can wash out the potatoes when they are planted shallowly and can even wash away the hilled soil over them especially if the rows are close to each other. That's why I give wider spaces in between and plant faster growing vegetables between them or allow grass to come up if like in this year I have leeks between some of the potato rows. This grass I would keep short with the lawn-mower, though.
The yield this year, especially with the Carola potatoes, is pretty good. In normal years I can get roughly 150 lbs per 100ft. row, this year it is way over 200 lbs. Yields vary of course with the varieties one grows.
Response by Stephen Leslie at 2015-08-22 09:35:26
Thanks Klaus---richly informative response---as always!
Response by Geoff at 2015-08-26 12:55:13
Maybe Dale can add to this but it seems to me that the large scale potato guys in Washington never cultivate/hill after initial planting. They are using center pivot irrigation (the ones I've seen) which might not be so good in ridged ground?

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