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Re: potato

The only time I tried this (because it turned into a slug farm) I
covered the potatoes with a thin layer of soil, after setting them in
the ground at soil level.  The straw was added round the plants as they
grew, with most of the potato leaves remaining exposed after each
"hilling".  This is essentially the same process I use when hilling with
soil.  The yields were huge, but, as I noted before, many of the tubers
were chewed up by slugs.  They're ok to eat, but they won't keep.

If you plan to grow enough potatoes to keep over the winter then I would
recommend against this method in areas where late blight is prevalent. 
The hilled-up soil helps protect the tubers from the blight spores that
fall with late summer rain. 

Your insect sounds like a Colorado potato beetle.  We don't have them in
Western Washington, but they are a scourge elsewhere.  As I have never
seen a live one, I have no experience at control.

Steve


Ross E Stanford wrote:
> 
> Thanks for all the info about the potato patch.  The trench idea from
> Granny Pat sounds good except that I would have to dig a trench.
>      I didn't designate a spot in the garden for potatoes this year but
> this sounds too easy to pass up.  So here is what I am going to do.
> (Tell me, if you can improve on this for lazyness.  If I get a crop of
> potatoes, fine, if not, it will be interesting anyway)
>      1.  I will rototill a spot outside of the electric fence.
>      2.  I will lay a soaker hose down on the bare soil.
>      3.  I will lay seed potatoes on the soil near the soaker hose.
>      4.  I will cover the potatoes with about 3/4 of the straw, saving
> the rest to add if the tubers try to surface.
>      5.  I will name the spot, "The Potato Patch" or "The Slug Garden",
> depending on which I am able to grow more of.  That way I am assured of
> success one way or the other.
> 
> I do have a couple of questions.
>      1.  How thick should the initial straw cover be?
>      2.  What other bugs should I worry about?  And how should I react to
> them?
>      3.  The last time I tried to grow potatoes, I got "pomato bugs"  (
> the same bugs on my tomatoes and on the potatoes? Striped buggers, what
> were these?
> Thanks for your help.
>      Stan.     The lazy and cheap and lazy gardener.
>                     Gardeners are not stick in the muds.
> 
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