This thread has been going on for a while, and I'd like to make sure everyone using this method reports back later in the year. It's new to me, and I think it's a great idea - if I have a bad year, I don't want to give up on the method if others have success.

Try to keep rough track of what you planted and how much you harvested, please.

My page will be updated throughout the season because it's new to me also.

I had no idea that so many people would start using this method. I hope it works wonderfully for folks.

Just remember, it's not the only way to grow potatoes (by any stretch), but it IS the only way I could grow them in my yard.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's B-A-Y-G-B page...

Waiting for my potatoes to start blooming... ME HUNGRY!!!

Shot

Mr Shot, I find that the newbies come a little before the blossoms - maybe even ten days to a couple weeks. I'd say start grabbling if you havn't already......

Shot, I think we all are anxious to see your harvest! All eyes are on you .... but no pressure Mate! lol

purplemage, looking good! It is interesting to see all the different builds .. I like the plywood and Shots 1xs too as those should be easier to store.

pnbrown, I have been adding across the whole bin but also mounding up around the taller ones. We haven't planted 5-7 in over a decade ( typically 1-2) but after the drought that we have had, all the family is in restock mode so here we go again. My FIL and I got about 1.5 planted yesterday evening ... including some 3,200 row ft of Hickory King. We have taters in rows too so it will be good to compare to the bins.

Well, I do hope y'all get plenty of rain this spring and summer for the corn. My Mom said my floridy corn is starting to tassel......

corn tassel ... sheesh! I had 37.1 degrees last week and know that others here saw lower. We long for and envy you but we know that our time is coming.
I think I'll chat with Mom in the morning about her moving to FL to get away from my sibling sponges!
The rain cometh for the next few days per the weather man ... but what do they really know until it lands? They seem so hit or miss and out of touch.
The Yukon Golds are running away. I all but topped off the second 2x12 this evening and got to wondering just how tall they will go ( some are 6 inches above the second board). I resolved to chase them and see.
Looking forward to Shot showing his harvest to see that all is not in vain ... Still no pressure Shot ;)

Yes, due to the miracle of elevation you are much closer to the climate here in southeastern Mass than to central fla even though you are far closer in space to the latter. If you want to stay in GA, though, just move down to the coast and you'll be a half-zone milder than our florida-ridge place!

COZY, thanks for not putting pressure on me... lol. I had to dust one of the bins with sevin a few days ago as the ants had found it. When it gets hot and dry here the ants will use the potatoes as a source for water and/or food. Pnbrown's parents and I both have Hickory King corn also. Keep us posted on yours. I planted my Hickory King about a month after my Peaches & Cream to give myself a rest between harvesting.

Pnbrown, is this the Hickory King tassling??? Sure would love to see some photos of the corn. I had to apply nitrogen and lay by my Peaches and Cream yesterday. Dang nitrogen $27 a hundred pounds! Only got 300 lbs. Had to hock my spare tire and jack for that... (oops, now I'm telling my age)

Top of the day to all.

Shot

Okay - I have already sent a link for the plans to build one of these bins to my DH, because I am determined to try it for next year and I do not have any raised beds quite that tall. I did have a thought, though, that the construction for this type of bin could be similar to some of my raised beds which are made of landscape timbers (cost effective) pinned at the corners with rebar. It is a booger to drill the corner holes in the timbers, but once done you can just slide the drilled timbers down onto the rebar which is slammed into the ground really well. You can add a layer at a time and then disassemble the same way at the end of the season. You would not be able to open the bottom and sneak out early potatoes, though, but no screwing/unscrewing would be required.

>You would not be able to open the bottom and sneak out early potatoes

Sure you can. You just need a car jack and nerves of steel. :)

Well ..... I do have a car jack .....

lol - isn't it amazing at the different ideas that we can come up with to do the same thing....

Well, for the sake of a time-line, here is a pic of my progress. Looks like another 2x12 is coming soon ( I'm 2 high now).

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I am going back out to top them off with more fill.
Shot, Hope all is well in South GA ... I know that some serious storms passed through there this morning. We got 1.4 inches of rain from midnight to 6 am. I am pulling out at 6 in the morning for Waycross ... a little work to tend to.

Well, I got them filled in almost to the top of the 2nd 2x12 and watered in. I wouldn't have watered them this late in the day but I added the most fill that I have thus far and the wind is kicking 30-40 mph so the leaves should dry off quickly.
The 2x6 additions are out of the picture and I'll stick to the 2x12s ... some plants are now 8 inches above and it has been but 5 days since the last pics.
I hope they are doing as much underground as they are above!

I am hoping for those photos soon, Mr Shot, sir. I can't imagine that corn is ten feet tall already so I suspect it will not get as tall in fla as elsewhere. For fertilizer I planted it in holes with generous helpings of mushroom compost - it won't get any side-dressing or additional fertilizer, or hilling or weeding! It's planted with cowpeas which I hope may shade out the weeds somewhat. Cozy, I wonder if your potato plants are a liitle over-nitrogenated? I think that might be a tendency with the bin growing, it's tempting to use the "best" possible soil when filling the bin which could be over-rich for potatoes.

WOW Cozy!!! Those potatoes are growing and really look good. Keep us updated with the pictures - love'em. Cozy, thanks for asking about the storm damage. My damage was minor compared to lots of others. One or two was killed about 20 miles from me when the storm wrapped a mobile home around a tree.

pnbrown, will be glad to see photos your dad's corn. Hope the compost does the trick and you don't have to add any nitrogen. As previously stated, I already sidedressed my Peaches & Cream with nitrogen and thanks to the storm, we got 1.7 inches of rain.

My wife and I spend Mother's Day cleaning up the yard. I am going back outside and try to finish it up today.

Wishing all a good day.

Shot

pnbrown, it may be possible ( too much Nitrogen) but I haven't seen them really dark green and while I haven't added any fertilizer, I did think about doing so the other day ( but have not). I think that perhaps something to consider with mine is that I truly planted them too thick. They will probably be small taters ... but I really like small whole taters cooked in with my Contender green beans ;) We also have a USDA cannery within 4 miles of the house so this just might be an excellent situation!

Shot, Extremely glad to hear that you dodged the brunt of the storms! If there can possibly be a lighter side to this, I was on a conference call yesterday morning when I rounded a curve about 100 miles North of Waycross on Hwy 1 and saw the first of perhaps 5 miles of the below. They abruptly got my countryfied expletives describing the out of the blue trees in the road!
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I shuddered as I ... shuttered. Glad you came out OK!

I'm going to add the 3rd 2x12 to my bins in the morning and will update with the progress in a few days.

Wow Cozy! Great shots. We are really blessed when we see what others have experienced. Can you imagine being in the heartland and having to expect such on a daily basis.

Cozy, before I retired and moved to Georgia, we would travel from Jax (Fl) to here at least once a month and would come through Waycross. Watched the Atlanta Braves on the radio while my wife and daughter slept...

On the potato subject, I think I planted mine too thick also. Think next year I will plant more sparingly. Just hard to do when you go and buy a pound of seed potatoes for 50 cents and only use part of them...

pnbrown, just remember that corn LOVES nitrogen and water... here is a picture of my peaches & cream sweet corn that I took yesterday. A few days earlier I had applied nitrogen and the rain melted it into the soil. I noticed there were a lot of suckers, so will have to take the wife's kitchen sizzors and do a little whacking...

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Shot

pnbrown, you mentioned earlier about planting cowpeas in your corn. I did that one year. Problem I found was corn needs nitrogen and peas do not. I planted Red Rippers which have prolific foliage. LOL I had so many peas vines that it was snakey trying to get to the corn.

I remember when I was a kid farmers would plant velvet beans in their corn. They would pull the corn by hand, pile in piles, load it by hand onto a trailer, unload it by hand into a corn crib... a LOT of work, but we didn't know better... The velvet beans were planted for the cows after the corn had been picked. Talk about something itchy!!!

Shot (waiting on photos of pnbrown's parents corn) :)

Shot, the corn patch is indeed a vision splendid! Absolutely Gorgeous! I haven't been to my outlaws of late but my FIL tells me that the planter didn't skip much, if any, and we have some pretty rows coming up. We should probably start a separate thread on corn ... I know that I would love to watch your progress!

I just added the 3rd 2x12 to two of my potato bins and decided that the rain won out on me getting to the 3rd ( plus the All Blue could wait anyway.).
Looking back above, It is hard to look at the May 2nd pics and realize that they were less than 2 weeks ago.


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The Yukon Gold are now running away with the height and the Red Pontiac ( middle bin) may be getting to its max ... I spied this on the tallest.

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How about an update on yours Shot? And pnbrown, purplemage, mtigges, queuetue, sinfonian and any others? And anney, It would be most interesting to see how your potato bags are coming along!

Great-looking corn, shot. How do you keep the varmints off of sweet corn when it's getting ripe? I planted some hickory king here this morning. Sorry about the no-show floridy corn, my folks just don't seem to want to walk up the hill to take a picher......

Hilled for the first time here on the taters the other day, and filled in some more on the little bin I started a while back. Stuff is starting to grow quick now.

Mornin' all!
Thanks for the flowers concerning the corn. Still got a long ways to go... the rain missed us yesterday.
Cozy, you are probably right about starting a new thread about corn. Let's do it!
Potatoes - Cozy those are gorgeous and your bins are so neat. Makes mine look pitiful :(. WOW! Looks like blooms are starting. I just checked mine and not much has changed since the last photo not even a bloom :(. (but my watermelons are blooming :). The fat lady hasn't sung yet though. lol
pnbrown, I see you are not taking any chances on having potatoes... row & a bin. Smart thinking sir.
Will continue this in a new thread.

Shot

Mine don't seem to be doing too much just yet. I spyed on them by gently brushing away some soil and found that some are beginning to leaf up and break through the soil...it shouldnt' be long now. I'll post more pics when those potatoes show their faces.

Michelle, how are your potatoes progressing?

Purplemaze, I do the same thing... I remember checking for germination on my corn and peas after a few days after planting. Sure makes you feel good when you dig down and find Mother Nature at work.

Yesterday, I started a corn thread, but it didn't take, so will try another one this morning after I do my walk-about.
Will take the camera with me...

Shot

We have sprouts! Yippee! The Norlands are coming up, haven't seen hide nor hair of the Pontiac's though...did the disappear? Maybe they need a few more days.

So, how tall should I let them get before hilling them?

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Purplemage, congrats on your potatoes coming up. Always a relief and a good sign. Think most will agree when you start adding soil/mulch to leave about two inches of the plant exposed. Don't worry - you will know when to add - just ask Cozy - lol... dem babies will grow like crazy!

Shot

Been on the road a few days.

Yes purplemage, Congrats! I think mine sat there and thought about growing for a month before they decided to proceed.

The All Blue have started thinking about flowering too. I think that they and the Red Pontiac are as high as I'll try with them ... but those Yukon Golds may get one more board ;) Any thoughts on that?

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The sad thing is that I planted too thick and it will probably be but another lesson learned and something else to try again .... "next year" ;) LOL, Always loading up for next year!

Wow, those are some tater-towers, ain't they? With all that rich mix you got in there, planting thick may turn out no problem....

Is that brandy-new ACQ lumber you got on the top row there? The other stuff looks like used form-boards - also treated?

All are used form boards from the stack and no pressure treated ( PT seems to warp too bad to re-use).
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Forgot to ask ... What are your thoughts pnbrown? Let them play out or add to the Yukon Golds? They show no sign of flowering so I am inclined to chase them ... and I surely hope that you are right about the mix helping to make up for my errors!

Cozy, ditto to what pnbrown said about the taters. Mine have not bloomed yet either. Don't know if there are little taters down there or not. June is coming up and 90 degree weather, so figure they will die soon anyway... then I will find out...

Shot

I'm embarrassed to admit - even after ten seasons of growing potatoes - that I don't pay much attention to differences in growth habits between varieties. I don't even bother keeping them separate, just mix 'em up in the rows, plant them all around the same time. I don't know which varieties are early, mid, or late. I do now that planting potatoes late here doesn't work well - they need that spring rain and cool ground temps. The vines wither up whenever, and I have noticed that different ones wither at different times. They all sit in the ground til October or later, minus the ones for fresh eating.

So I'm not much help on that. But I agree that it makes sense to keep hilling until they show signs of flowering. Boy howdy, are they growing like gang-busters here now! I hilled a row on sunday for the second time and it could use it again already........

Growin' like gangbusters here too! Woot woot! I'll post pics a bit later! And I'm planning a special picture just for you, shot! Stay tuned! :)

*got ya wonderin' now....*

Purplemage, look forward to seeing the photos of yours. Last one they were only coming out of the ground.
A special picture just fer MEEE... hear that guys??? No peeking at my pic :) lol

Thanks Purplemage.

Shot

Hey shot...what's your Aussie Cow Dog doin' next to *MY* potato bin? :)

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There's someone else out there silly enough to actually have one of these beasts? Wait...maybe you're on a farm or have more than a .1 acre fenced in city lot...

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Norlands are comin' up real good now. Pontiacs a little slower...but are beginning to show their heads. Time to hill the ones in the front!

Purplemage --- HE'S GUARDIN' Nice pic sir! I have never been a big animal lover, but mine's my buddy. After I saw your pic I walked down and took a update pic of the Silver Queen, but I walked slow enough so he could walk alongside. He does not go into the garden until things are mature. Just sits at the end and waits.

Wonder if your's likes baths? Mine does NOT! He had one bath in his life when he was a puppy and it took the wife and two girls to administer it... he squealed the whole time. He has his own pool, but it is just deep enough for him to stand in withOUT getting his belly wet... lol Sorry guys... know this isn't the pet forum. Oh yeah, I have 52 acres, so he has plenty of roaming room.

The taters look great... now dem bad boys will start to take off...

Here is a pic I took of the Silver Queen from about the same spot as the first pic in this thread. The first pic was dated May 17 and today is May 23. Took from about the same spot. Plowed it and layed it by yesterday.

Shot

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OMG Shot! You have 52 acres of land and you built potato bins? ROFL I've got 1/4 acre so it was to grow tons of potatoes in minimal space. hehe Oh yeah thanks to this post my BAYG bins page has received over 1,000 hits! Hope it's been helpful.

And I love the corn! That's tons... Here's mine for a quick laugh...

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Here is a link that might be useful: Build-As-You-Grow Potato Bin page!

Okay folks... I had a senior moment and posted the corn photo in the wrong thread... no worse than me going to the refrigerator and then forgetting why...

SINFONIAN, the bins are very popular and I alone have others using them. My brother-in-law brought over some of his potatoes that he dug out of his two bins.

Over a 1,000 hits... WOW! Really not surprised though.

I liked the idea of the bins plus it allowed me to grow potatoes near the house as our yard is about 2 acres. My wife has three raised veggie beds near by also. This way the dogs can help keep the critters away... if you wake them up.

Got another .6 inch of rain last night so fixing to do my walk about.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend and let's not forget our troops.

Shot

Hello Folks!
Your Build-as-you-grow potato bins are extremely intriguing to me, a newbie gardener. I'm going to start one for potatoes today. A bit late, I know, but I don't mind small taters. I'm wondering if the completed bins would work for sweet potatoes (minus the hilling) and possibly even peanuts? I'm considering it for the ease of locating and harvesting my crop. What do you all think? Thanks! Kathy

Hi Kathy and welcome to our little tater discussion. I am not the potato expert, but I would think as long as the weather is fairly cool... I am in the south so we have to get ours going early (Feb). Did you see the photos of Cozy's???
I'm sure some of the people that are more in your climate could give you some good advice.
Nice to meet ya!

Shot

Martin, a fellow who used to post here a lot and quite the potato expert, and from a zone 5, said that the old-timers used to do a late planting just before the fourth of july which could be relied upon to fill the root cellar.

Hi Kathy! If you plant right away...you're not too terribly late...just hurry and get 'em in!

Hi All! Thanks for the welcome! While my Hubby and I were picking up the wood to make my bins, he suggested we try stapling heavy duty velcro to the panels that will be removed for harvesting. Don't know if this will work, but we are going to give it a shot. They can always be screwed on later if the velcro doesn't hold. He has kind of a "Red Green" way of adapting things, so this is one of his tamer ideas. I'll let you all know if the velcro works! Kathy

I'm trying a variation on your theme.
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I'll keep wrapping the plastic around as the shoots continue to grow. My thought is that the potatoes will be really easy to get out at harvest time. (Not the prettiest thing in the world, but I like to try different things).

I did my first hilling up with dirt and grass clippings. Does anybody have any experience with using grass clippings for hilling up? I'm looking for an alternative to having to buy dirt. The potatoes cover a 2'x4' area and would require a ton of dirt to hill. Well, maybe not a ton, but I'd have to make a trip to the store and spend money. I have access to quite a bit of free grass clippings from a neighbor's yard that I'm hoping won't hurt the potatoes. I live in the city and have no idea where I'd buy hay/straw.

Any info would be really appreciated.

Very dry grass-clippings would be like hay. Fresh clippings not a good idea as it would start fermenting and breaking down on the growing potato plants. But if you grow under hay really no need for the bin, and the black plastic probably will get way too hot.......

Thanks, Pnbrown

The heat issue didn't occur to me. I guess I'll break down and do it right.

Can some of you share with me what kinds of yields you've gotten out of the boxes? Say if it went up three feet, how much would you get with an average harvest? And then how much was your best harvest? (I need a little inspiration to spend the time and money doing it the right way).

Anyone tear down the bins yet? I've been watching this thread with great anticipation, hoping to see some good results. Please give us an update!

Guess I was thinking too loud ;)
I started to tear out the Red Pontiac bin today. I built another 4x8 frame to move the fill to, went to get the tractor with the front-end loader ( sounded good ... pull bucket up close, break down, transfer fill to bucket, pull 2 tons of taters out, move fill to new home) but it wouldn't start :(
So I pull the battery, go to town, ... ok, I replaced the battery and all was well. Then the most needed rain was announced with wicked thunder and lightning so I abandoned that outdoor project promptly!
In the morning I'll gut it and see how she went.

Just a note for future travelers that this thread was continued as Bin Again

Here is a link that might be useful: Potato Bin Part 2