[Homestead] Five Days and Counting

EarthNSky erthnsky at bellsouth.net
Mon Jun 8 13:52:08 EDT 2009



Leslie wrote:

> 
> Hey !  I actually have harvested a few absolutely perfectly shaped
> medium size potatoes.... and I mean perfectly shaped ovals. not a
> signle dent.  I'm stunned.

Sounds good to me!

> 
> I had a few grubs, but haven't found any more.  Here and there some
> of the potato plants are starting to wilt and look pretty crummy.  I
> pulled one up, searched dillegentlyl thru the soil - no bugs.  Sliced
> open the stems - no borers.  Examined every leaf - no holes, no bugs.
> Examined each stem and branch, no holes no signs of any kind of
> damage.... So I'm perplexed.  And there were about 8 new potatoes on
> the plant on the small side.  This was a small potato plant that
> never developed well.
> 
> Although this a/m I see on the internet that when the plant starts to
> die off, wait 3-4 weeks and the new potatoes grow big at this
> time.... is this true?
> 
> Is all my panic over some dyding plants all for naught?

I think so.  IMO, it all sounds pretty much like what normally happens. 
  As to your small plant, how deep would you say the stem is covered?

For my potatoes that are planted in the ground, if I stretched them out 
and pulled them up out of the ground/mulch, I'd say they would be 3-5 
feet long, because I just let the vine fall over in the line and then 
mulched again.  My tire stacks are 4 tires tall, so I know they are 3-4 
feet tall as well.

Maybe your small potato plant just did not get covered well or often 
enough to grow long?  I have potatoes in almost every bed, it seems. 
Some of my vines are dying, too.  In another week or two, I'll start 
digging.  I really want some potato salad!

Bev


-- 
I am having an out-of-money experience.
http://erthnsky.blogspot.com/
EarthNSky Farm, Northwest Georgia, USA


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