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Re: potatoes in plastic

If I may wade in here on the subject of potatoes.  I've tried the wire
cyclinder method (which is like the barrel) with poor results.  My climate
is too hot and humid, and diseases attack the enclosed, air-starved spuds.
Production is poor.  Actually potato production is always poor here if seed
potatoes are planted in early spring as all the extension agents suggest.
Last fall I read something by John Jeavons that said USDA zones 8-11 should
plant spuds in fall.  They do better.  Remember--the foliage grows in warm
weather and the tubers put on size in cool ground!  So I planted three kinds
of potatoes(All Blue, Russian Banana Fingerling and Cranberry) in mid-Nov.
I mulched heavily with pine needles, hoping their acid would help with scab.
The tops came up just in time for the only hard freeze we've had this
winter--around Dec. 10.  They got nipped, blackened and looked dead.  A week
later, there was more green growth.  The short version of this is that the
tops are 30 inches high now, have been mulched with more pine needles and I
have tons of new potatoes. There has been no disease. I may harvest a few
this weekend.  We are supposed to have a freeze Sunday night--just in time
to get my newly planted tomatoes.  But, I'm not worried about it.  BTW, I
placed my seed potatoes three inches under the top of the soil and added six
inches of pine needles immediately.  I've added, since, another 12 inches of
needles.
Doreen Howard
Zoner 9b, 50 miles south of Houston, TX

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