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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] double cropped potatoes

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  • From: "David Inglis" <mhcsa AT verizon.net>
  • To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] double cropped potatoes
  • Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2007 10:07:05 -0400

David, would you explain your method in more detail?  You remove the sprouts from ...?   And when?  This is an interesting idea.  What growing zone are you in?

 

Shawnee,

I should have called the two crops in a season  relay planting not double cropping. If it is one crop or two this is one method I use.

 

Spring. Lay uncut spuds in a shallow tray in a cool part of the greenhouse. I do it in stackable tomato harvest trays and lay them out when the sprouts appear.  Cover with mix and keep moist. Wait until sprouts emerge. Check every couple of days until roots appear. Snap off individual ‘sprouts’ where they connect to the ‘mother’ spud and plant in holes so an inch is above ground. Water in.  That’s it. Spacing could be closer than usual. The sprouts don’t have the ‘mother’ spud to  grow from so they’re different for a while until they get established. This is somewhat compensated for by them being able to photosynthesize from the get go which, if you time the planting right, gives an extra 2 weeks of growing time.

This is most useful for maximizing the propagation of limited or expensive ‘seed’ stock and for keeping planting stock virus free because you don’t cut the mother potatoes and therefore don’t transfer virus. Fingerlings are ideal because they have so many ‘eyes’ and are expensive to buy. Initially they will produce undersized spuds but these are ideal for planting the main field crop the following year. When I plant them through plastic they size up nicely. This method is more work and requires careful handling of the ‘sprouts’ but I have a couple thousand bed feet planted this way. However if you miss the right root stage all the roots will get tangled in the tray which is a nightmare. I once tried snapping the shoots early and potting them on into individual cells; it worked but used a lot of valuable GH space and had no particular advantage other than the cells being more robust than the bare root sprouts and providing greater transplant timing flexibility.

Does that answer your questions?

Western Mass. Zone 5

David

 

 

 




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