RE: Unidentified subject!

Yukon Gold potatoes have a _very_ short growing period - 55 days,
where other "early" potatoes take 65 days and "late" potatoes take
90+ days. 

I would bet that the yellowing leaves are normal dying-back, and that
your potatoes are starting to wind down. I know they haven't
flowered, but not all potatoes flower each time they're grown - my
Yukon Golds didn't flower, either of the two times that I grew them.
The vines will probably continue to die back over the next few weeks.
Be wary of the mistake I made one year - I thought that the potatoes
couldn't _possibly_ be ready, so when the plants started to die I
watered them extra. The ready-to-harvest potatoes reacted by sprouting
and putting up new plants. :)

If you have  several plants, you could burrow your hand under the
ground around one of 'em, and see if you find any potatoes down
there. Even though you give up production by stealing potatoes early,
it _is_ terribly exciting to discover that, yes, indeed, there _are_
potatoes!

My Yukon Golds weren't terribly productive - many of the potatoes
were pretty large compared to grocery Yukon Golds, but there weren't
a lot of 'em. Next time I grow potatoes, I plan to have one bed of
fairly closely-planted Yukon Golds, and another bed of a late-season,
high-yielding potato (probably Yellow Finn.)

But don't let my talk about a small harvest discourage you - those
homegrown Yukon Golds were _good_.

Martha


On Mon, 14 Jun 1999, Grem, Beth A wrote:

> Hi Carol,
> 
>   Yes, I do hill my taters.  When I (attempted) to grow them in a container,
> They grew, I hilled, they grew, I hilled.... until they were about 5 feet
> tall!  I added a trash can with no bottom to the container to keep hilling.
> I expected thousands of potatoes!  I confess I watered them with miracle
> grow 'bout every 2 days, so I suspect that too much fertilizer made pretty
> plants, no taters.  Now this year, I did the trench/hill thing in the
> ground.  Teeny bit of fertilizer.  My plants are about 2 1/2 feet tall.
> They've been in since mid march.  No signs of flowers, but the bottom leaves
> are yellowing.  Is this what they should look like?  When should they be
> ready??  Will I ever eat a homegrown tato??  Variety is Yukon gold.
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