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| I'm growing three types of potatoes this year, and the results have been decidedly mixed. The reds I'm growing for new potatoes have been very successful, and when I miss them early, growing to a large size. They're still going, though supposed to be an early variety.
Russian Banana died off prematurely while a lot of the tubers were only babies. Then there are the russets. I'm trying for the first time to grow bakers. I gave them more spacing than the rest to encourage larger tubers. When digging the others, I've spotted the russets growing and noticed they really aren't baking size. At least not yet. They got off to a slow start and the vines are still green. I don't plan to dig them for at least another month. So is there anything I could be doing now to encourage the tubers to grow larger? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| I firmly believe that good soil preparation before planting is the secret to growing big potatoes. Lots of high quality, manured compost mixed in well with the mounded soil. Then once planted the important factors are what, how much, and how often you feed them and keeping them heavily mulched. Dave |
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| I agree with Digdirt, soil prep. before planting is the main trick but they must have enough water and not unevenly or you may get hollow heart. I rarely fertilize potatoes during growing season, and that is only if I have a part bucket of liquid fertilizer of some sort left over, not high in nitrogen, and just throw it at the patch. Choice of potato variety can have a big effect. |
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| I cover mine with a lot of straw, and it's always cool and damp down there. I'm hoping it's not too late to get some more growth on the russets, the last month. Most of the liquid ferts are nitrogen-high, so I don't want to use them, but there's not really time to get something else working. |
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| Just try and keep them growing as long as possible. I've got a container of russets coming up on 5 months old. I'm not sure about nitrogen "high." I've been using MG 12-4-8 liquid all along. Not sure if that's considered high or not. My tops look very good, and I guess we'll know about the potatoes eventually. I don't think there's anything wrong with a little nitrogen stimulation to green up the tops and stimulate growth. My russets tend to be long rather than wide. That works for french fries big time! |
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| I have found russet baking potatoes hard to raise to great size here. I think the weather isn't their cup of tea and the soil not volcanic enough. |
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| My son, about 10 miles from me, managed to raise some last year to a respectable size, so I was inspired to see if I could do it myself. But the weather this year certainly hasn't been good for much. I've seen something of there being a liquid bone meal, but not how to obtain it. |
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