Yukon Gold Test Box Potatoes

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?BKWAI 11 September 2010 Yukon Gold Test Box Potatoes
Yukon Gold Potatoes were harvested today. A total weight of 23.5 pounds was harvested from the 4 by 4 foot test area. The quality is excellent. Another plant could probably be placed in the center of the area without crowding. The average weight per plant was 5.9 pounds. From my experience anything over 4 pounds is acceptable.

For reference.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?XWWLI 19 May 2010. Test to determine quantity by weight of four Yukon Gold potatoes.
A box 4 by 4 feet by 11 inches high was made in ideal soil and location to determine the quantity of potatoes by weight that can be produced. Each plant has about a foot on each side to insure minimum crowding of the root system. The seed potato was planted just below ground level and covered with soil about two inches on top.
Soil was placed in the corners for the first hilling. After the first hilling the growing plant will be covered adequately with bedding wood chips until the end of the season.
This test is to establish by weight the quantity, and size quality of potatoes that can be grown in a small space.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?CZJZE 26 June 2010 Yukon Gold Potato Growth in 4 by 4 foot Test Box
The potatoes were hilled once and heavily mulched. A string was tied around the vegetation to keep upright. The premise being that the more vegetation exposed to the sun feeds the new tubers. This opposed to deep hilling and hiding the vegetation.

[kkweinb]

Your pictures are great! Thanks for posting them. I have a few questions if you dont mind. We grew Yukon Gold this last summer. It was the first time we grew potatoes and I thought it went pretty well. However, I must not have stored them well because their skins are wrinkled and they are sprouting. It was my understanding that these were late potatoes. What are your thoughts?

[geo in mi]

Originally Posted by kkweinb

Your pictures are great! Thanks for posting them. I have a few questions if you dont mind. We grew Yukon Gold this last summer. It was the first time we grew potatoes and I thought it went pretty well. However, I must not have stored them well because their skins are wrinkled and they are sprouting. It was my understanding that these were late potatoes. What are your thoughts?

Yukon golds are EBC potatoes (eat before Christmas) Here is some info. for you to save for next year....Hope this helps... http://www.coloradopotato.org/seed/yukon.html

geo

[Waiting Falcon]

I raised Yukon Gold for 4 years and managed to keep them over to the next planting.
For me I kept them in a cool place above freezing heavily covered. I canned the most of them but this is what I did to save my seed potatoes. I love Yukon Gold

[geo in mi]

Originally Posted by Waiting Falcon

I raised Yukon Gold for 4 years and managed to keep them over to the next planting.
For me I kept them in a cool place above freezing heavily covered. I canned the most of them but this is what I did to save my seed potatoes. I love Yukon Gold

They will store well, given optimum conditions--otherwise we wouldn't have any seed potatoes come Spring. Most commercial seed potatoes are stored as close to freezing as possible, and at very high humidity--keeps 'em dormant longer.

geo

[Paquebot]

Yukon Gold makes a good late-harvest potato. If planted and harvested early, they indeed are out of dormancy already by Christmas. Here it is now the day after Christmas and there's not a single sprout on any of my Yukon Golds. However, they didn't come out of the ground until into October.

Martin

[woodsy]

My Yukons kept best last year, better than the Kennebecs . None sprouted till May, amazing....and i didn't even grow them in boxes !

[Paquebot]

Originally Posted by woodsy

My Yukons kept best last year, better than the Kennebecs . None sprouted till May, amazing....and i didn't even grow them in boxes !

If you've grown Yukon Golds long enough, you'll know of one of their dirty tricks. One year you'll get lots of small tubers and next may be all large ones. Large ones will store longer before breaking dormancy. Smart thing to do is eat the smallest ones first and save the largest ones until last.

Martin

[kkweinb]

Thanks to everyone for your responses. Sorry for taking over your thread Durgan. I do have another question though. When you harvest your potatoes late in the fall what do you do to toughen the skins? I've read your supposed to leave them set out in the sun for a few days. I didn't do this and I wonder if thats the reason for my wrinkled skins. The reason I didn't do it however is because the tempature was freezing at night and I didn't want frozen potatoes.

[Paquebot]

Originally Posted by kkweinb

Thanks to everyone for your responses. Sorry for taking over your thread Durgan. I do have another question though. When you harvest your potatoes late in the fall what do you do to toughen the skins? I've read your supposed to leave them set out in the sun for a few days. I didn't do this and I wonder if thats the reason for my wrinkled skins. The reason I didn't do it however is because the tempature was freezing at night and I didn't want frozen potatoes.

Yes, I can just feel your remorse for interrupting this thread by having the audacity to ask another question!

If you leave the potatoes in the ground well after the plants have died, and the soil is dry, they will already be cured sufficiently for storage. If the plants are still growing, or the soil has been wet since the plants died, then they will need to be cured. However, not in the sun but rather a shaded area. That could even be on cardboard or similar on a garage floor and spread no more than about 3 deep. If the garage method is used, wouldn't hurt to also have a fan blowing across them to cure them even faster. For certain, do not ever allow them to be exposed to frost.

Martin

[Durgan]

Originally Posted by kkweinb

Thanks to everyone for your responses. Sorry for taking over your thread Durgan. I do have another question though. When you harvest your potatoes late in the fall what do you do to toughen the skins? I've read your supposed to leave them set out in the sun for a few days. I didn't do this and I wonder if thats the reason for my wrinkled skins. The reason I didn't do it however is because the tempature was freezing at night and I didn't want frozen potatoes.

It is still warm when I dig the potatoes. I simply leave them in the shade for for for a week of so, not in the Sun until they harden a bit, then put into well ventilated egg crates and place in my cold room, which is not as cool as I would like but the best that I can do. I don't wash the potatoes after digging.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?ADLKS 30 August 2009 Cold Room Construction
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?ZBIDP 1 September 2009 Cold Room Organized

[kkweinb]

Durgan, What tempature is your cold room? What else do you store in it? I have a canning pantry in my house plus a space that is cut out into some dirt beyond my basement wall but niether are very cold and they both have low humidity.

[geo in mi]

I'm not Durgan, but here is some good info that you may find of use and you can use it for reference: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Pub...ons/PM1890.pdf

Anything you can do to duplicate those conditions of temperature and humidity(whew!--95%....) will keep them about as long as they are meant to be kept, all other conditions being equal, and anything less means you better get to eating them...... Also, if you have freezer space, you can go ahead and boil them up and make mashed potatoes in your favorite way--then freeze them in meal sized batches.

Storage for seed: most commercial seed growers keep them at lower temperatures(just above freezing), for extended storage without sprouting--but the starch will turn into sugars and will be pretty sweet, should you decide to eat them.

geo

[Durgan]

Originally Posted by kkweinb

Durgan, What tempature is your cold room? What else do you store in it? I have a canning pantry in my house plus a space that is cut out into some dirt beyond my basement wall but niether are very cold and they both have low humidity.

I didn't store my Yukon Gold potatoes this year, but gave them away. I don't favour the yellow fleshed potatoes. They are grown for the novelty if there is room.

The cold room has a five inch pipe outside cold air intake and a exit roof vent into the basement. There is a small fan, which is seldom used now. I rely on the air for humidity, but have put a tray of water on a shelf, but seldom use it. Of course, it is pitch black with the door closed. Reasonable ventilation ans some air movement is probably important.

The room is probably too warm at times, but it was the best that is available. The temperature is from about 6C to 13C most of the time, depending upon the outside temperature to a large degree. Prior to this I used the basement, but it was of no value. The room helps to prolong storage time.

Stored in the room now are potatoes, garlic, onions and I use the shelves for some canned juices if there is space. I preserve mostly by making "juices" now.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?FXUKH Preserves for the Winter

My potatoes do sprout, but I use them as long as possible. They do not shrivel to any large degree. They are not used for seed, since I had the Irish Potato Blight in 2008, so buy my few seed potatoes from a supplier. I only grow about 80 plants, and require about 100 pounds for my own use.

Ideally one would like around 5C degrees, and reasonable humidity with good air circulation, but this may incur too much expense. My little cold room is a compromise.