Dang tators rotted in the ground

Don't know what I did wrong. I planted the biggest tater field I've ever had and it has now been 2 1/2 weeks later and almost all of them have either rotted or been eaten by something. Walking through the tater patch and thinking something should be coming up by now, so I dub into a hill and found nothing but the skin. No roots or eyes. Dug in several more and most of them was just the skin left. A few rotted and only found one that was actually growing.

I usually don't plant mine till the first of April but wanted to get them out early as a lot of people around here swear by April 17th. And a lot people will have nice looking plants by the time mine are just peeking out of the ground. But this time I wanted to be like everyone else and it didn't work. Now I'll be lucky if I can even find anymore seed taters. Around here if you don't have your seeds bought by the middle of March you'll be lucky to find anymore.

[agmantoo]

Just go to the grocery store and buy a sack and cut the potatoes up and plant same

[TedH71]

Are you sure coons or feral hogs didn't go and root 'em out then eat 'em?

[Ravenlost]

You did let them "cure" after cutting and before planting?

[vicker]

You planted them on the rising moon. You should plant root crops on the waning moon. Everyone around here plants their taters on Good Friday (always the waning moon). I'm starting to believe.

[big rockpile]

I planted mine March 6 and their up doing good.

big rockpile

[MELOC]

Originally Posted by vicker

You planted them on the rising moon. You should plant root crops on the waning moon. Everyone around here plants their taters on Good Friday (always the waning moon). I'm starting to believe.

i guess mine are toast too, lol. i planted them a week ago.

i started growing them again last year for the first time in 20 years or so. i picked up a tip on here that i think may have helped. i dipped the cut end (freshly cut) into wood ashes right before i planted them. i think someone said it helps prevent rot and i think it will add a bit of fertilizer (potassium) as well.

[PinkBat]

We always plant them on Valentine's Day (western AR) and have never had a problem with them not coming up. We don't let them "cure" after cutting them up, we don't place them into the ground "eye up" either...just throw 'em into the trench.

[Callieslamb]

You might have planted when your soil was too cool. I don't know where you live or your climate. If you plant too cool - they will rot, as will green bean seeds, corn,etc.

[Thoughthound]

A lot depends on your soil. If it is cool and your neighbors have sand, they will be ok, but if you have clay or muck yours could rot. Curing the wounds for a week or so also helps.

In other words if you have comparatively wet soil, you should probably wait a little longer.

I've never heard of the wood ashes thing, but it does make sense. My only concern would be altering the PH of the soil in the planting trench.

Gorcery store potatoes will work if they haven't been sprayed with a anti-sprouting chemicals.

Here is a decent mail order potato place to get seed.

http://www.milkranch.com/

You will have to pay shipping, but that's better than a year without good potatoes.


P.S. I do not consider myself an expert on potatoes, although many already know I am a professional market gardener.

[Sand Flat Bob]

Originally Posted by MELOC

i guess mine are toast too, lol. i planted them a week ago.

i started growing them again last year for the first time in 20 years or so. i picked up a tip on here that i think may have helped. i dipped the cut end (freshly cut) into wood ashes right before i planted them. i think someone said it helps prevent rot and i think it will add a bit of fertilizer (potassium) as well.

My potatoes I planted in January and are now above knee high. A market gardener told me not to use wood ashes, but get some charcoal and grind it up into a powder and dust your seed potatoes good in the carbon dust before planting. Seems to work.

Bob

[Oggie]

I'm in central Oklahoma. Only about half of my potatoes came up. And those seemed to be the ones that were planted more shallow than they're supposed to be. (I plan to hill mulch around the plants as they get taller.)

I think the ground might have been a bit cool. But If the plants aren't started early, they burn up in early summer.

This might be the last year I plant potatoes because out of six years, there's only been one good crop. Although I really like freshly-dug new potatoes, the effort doesn't seem worth it.

[MoonShine]

I believe it's a little too early to be planting potatoes here...I won't plant mine for quite a while. I've known of them to turn black if the ground is too cold.

[Jim S.]

Plant yer taters in a garbage can or barrel in straw. Harvest time, just dump it out. Lazy man's way.

http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/scho...ato_barrel.php

[suburbanite]

Jim I'm trying that this year, which will be the first time I'm trying to grow potatoes since an ill-conceived attempt when I was about 10 years old (didn't know you had to mound them--got a bunch of pea-sized potatoes.)

I planted about 5 days ago, nothing is up yet, hope that is normal. Temps here overnight have been to the mid 40's.

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by Callieslamb

You might have planted when your soil was too cool. I don't know where you live or your climate. If you plant too cool - they will rot, as will green bean seeds, corn,etc.

thats what I was thinking. Ive heard that if the ground isnt 50 degrees seeds wont germinate, and can rot.

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by Jim S.

Plant yer taters in a garbage can or barrel in straw. Harvest time, just dump it out. Lazy man's way.

http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/scho...ato_barrel.php

that's a pretty cool idea

Well we've had spring like weather ever since the ice age melted. All the trees have bloomed, the apple trees have little bitty green apples on them, yard grass growing like crazy. So I don't think it was too cool of ground. But I am wondering about curing the cut as I was in a hurry and only cured them out for a couple of days.

Jim S. I planted approximately 1/4 of an acre of potatoes, so I don't have enough trash cans to plant that many in.

If the ground wasn't too cool before then it might be now. It looks like a snow blizzard outside right now. Now I'm just wondering if I'll have any fruits on my fruit trees this summer.

[Windy in Kansas]

As soon as I cut a potato I dip the cut sections into a fungicide powder.

End result is that the sprout feeds for a time on the section until roots form and it then takes nutrients from the soil.

When digging potatoes I've sometimes found the cut section in perfect condition without any rot whatsoever. Some roots may form and take in moisture so that it isn't even shrunken or shriveled.

Yes fungicides are chemicals, and yes you indeed have a choice whether you wish to use them or not.

[DQ]

I'm in NE ok planted mine a month ago or so in wire cages, I've been packing hay/straw around them and could barely keep up with the growth. some are about 2.5 feet high. I have noticed that a few varietys are going crazy while others aren't. unfortunatly I didn;t write down which were which, but I think the yukon golds are the ones that aren't growing as fast. the others were some blue variety and another that I want to call red caddilac, but thats not right. all from atwoods. maybe the reason for your problem is the variety??