Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Potato Planting Suggestions

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Potato Planting Suggestions
  • Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 13:25:33 -0400


On Jun 23, 2010, at 12:02 PM, Todd Lister wrote:

Why would you grow potatoes w/o mulch.
Todd lister

Because mulching potatoes takes time when we haven't got it, and straw which we need to buy, and we've found we can get good crops without it. And the organic matter is provided by the following cover crop.

I used to mulch the potatoes with straw after the second hilling, but one year we just couldn't find the time and it didn't get done. The crop was fine. So now we don't bother.

With our level of weed pressure, to use just mulch without cultivating and hilling would take a *lot* of mulch. Hilling goes pretty fast (we do small scale potatoes and do this with the Troybuilt with hiller/ furrower attachment) and clobbers the weeds quite thoroughly.

We used to have potato beetles, with or without the mulch. Now we have very few; I think the Asian ladybeetles (which didn't use to be around here) are eating the potato beetles. Something seems to be, anyway.


-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale







Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page