[NickieL]

Out of 6 plants, this is all I got from the Norkota Russets that I grew in ground. maybe I will get more out of the tire planted ones :shrug: Most are very little as you can see with a few medium sized ones....not a big haul at all and kinda disappointed. I hadn't fertilized them, if I had, would I have gotten more yield? the vines were everywhere as it was
What can I do next year to increase my yield? :help:

 

[Pouncer]

Were the plants hilled? Did you take them before the plant was in full flower? In my area, we let them go until we have a couple good frosts, so this time of year seems pretty early for me? But that depends on when you planted of course....and where you are located. Ah, I see Indiana...maybe you didn't let them go long enough?

 

[NickieL]

Were the plants hilled? Did you take them before the plant was in full flower? In my area, we let them go until we have a couple good frosts, so this time of year seems pretty early for me? But that depends on when you planted of course....and where you are located. Ah, I see Indiana...maybe you didn't let them go long enough?

the plants died back to the ground......I planted then in very early spring.

 

[mistletoad]

Closely planted potatoes will yield smaller spuds. Shallow planted and not hilled will give you fewer spuds. Highly acid soil also produces small potatoes. Regular watering will give higher yields, especially as the plants begin flowering.

 

[Ernie]

When you pulled them up, were there lots of very small potatoes clinging to the roots or was what you see what you got?

From two 18' rows of red potatoes, one plant every foot, I got over 17 pounds of potatoes. That's discarding the ones I poked with the pitchfork digging them out, and the others that a varmint nibbled on. I took about 4 pounds of new potatoes off those same rows as they grew, whenever I needed a side dish for dinner. I've got two more 18' rows left in the ground ... the plants are dead but I'm told the taters are still growing in size even though their vines have died back.

I was ... negligent ... about weeding and the sod grew up around these potatoes so densely that you could barely see the vines. That probably cut my yield some. I didn't use any fertilizer except composted goat manure (and not a lot of it). We had plenty of rain this year and I put them in the ground in mid-May.

Not having grown red potatoes before, I had no idea what to expect, but this will probably be my benchmark for the future. Hope it helps you as well.

 

[NickieL]

thanks all for the replies, nto quite sure how to hill...but I did heap loads of hay on them as they grew.... they were planted kind of close and shallow (first time planting them) in kind of clay/ heavy soil with a bit of compost thrown in. They wern't a foot apart, maybe more like 6 inches apart. Will do better next year! lol

 

[peacebaker]

I planted about 9-ish starts and ended up with this many:

Kind of similar to your method--first time I've ever planted, fairly intensive planting (about 1 per square foot). I have rather good soil and hilled a few time with dirt and straw.

I was quite happy with the amount I got, ha ha. Made me want to plant more next year though!

 

[VALENT]

I do believe they could have used more nutrition- fertilizer, compost, whatever. Now is a good time to dig your soil and amend it in preparation for next years crop. Of course, the hay you added will be breaking down and helping some.

 

[Paquebot]

Both Nickie and Peacebaker have the same problem, common scab. That means that the soil pH is too high. Peacebaker may have a severe case of low nutrients while Nickie tried to force too many plants to share what was there. Get the soil pH down to 6.0 or below for clean potatoes. Get plenty of nutrients down below the seed pieces. And give the plants at least a 6" zone in which to produce their tubers. That's the basics of successful potato growing.

Martin

 

[peacebaker]

Well you made me go and look up scab, and I have to disagree

I thought my yield was just about right for the space (it was only a 2 x 3 patch) and experience level. Maybe I'll do better with more experience, but I'm happy for now. It was an experiment that inspired me to grow more next year!

And my garden is rather nutrient rich, as I've been amending with compost and chicken poop for 8+ years

Just giving you a hard time, but you don't insult a gardeners soil!

 

[Paquebot]

Well you made me go and look up scab, and I have to disagree

Chicken manure makes great fertilizer for many things but not potatoes. Chicken manure can be as high as pH 9.0. Ordinary compost by itself is considered neutral, or pH 7.0. You may be creating great soil but everthing being added is making it more alkaline rather than acidic. First time grower or longtime expert, doesn't matter as the results would be the same.

Martin

 

[NickieL]

no scabs on my potatoes, just mud, looks like it though in the picture---but all that is mud.

 

[Paquebot]

no scabs on my potatoes, just mud, looks like it though in the picture---but all that is mud.

At least we can admit that it's a nice looking mud!

With the title of the tread concerning yield, I'm aiming for real big expectations. I found one Russet potato with a lot of short sprouts. 15 eyes total. Potato was cut into 15 little pieces. Lost one somewhere between home and the garden plot. Planted them in a trench that had an inch of compacted dried Eurasian milfoil, in turn covered with an inch of soil. 4 pieces failed to grow. Of the 10 which did come up, most split into 2 or 3 plants. Since they are a late large potato, and looking at the huge foliage, I fully expect to get 30 pounds of potatoes. Had I been able to have all 15 pieces grow, the expectations would have been 45 pounds from one single seed potato. THAT'S expectations!

Martin