Taters

[Roy Suomi]

Just for giggles I planted a well sprouted Tater in a 5 gallon bucket last year.. Is there something special to use for soil ? I put 1 tater in and got 2 out. Not the best economics there. I used top soil from behind my barn in the woods and kept it watered. It showed sprouts coming thru the soil then I added soil to the pail and allowed the sprouts to come up till they were almost 3 feet tall, the plant turned with the weather and when most leaves were yellow I decided to check my plunder.. Surprise , surprise.. Nothin Not even enough for breakfast home built corned beef hash.

 

[Zachary Hoyt]

I've grown them the last couple of years in two halves of a plastic 55 gallon drum. I didn't weight the sprouted potatoes going in, but my output has ranged from 9 to 13 pounds per barrel half. Depending how big your two potatoes were you might have beaten that ratio. I used compost, mainly, but it was a couple of years old so it may have already leached out a lot of the good stuff. We had a chicken coop with a compost yard there, then I moved the coop away and the pile remained till I used it up in the barrels.

 

[redforlife]

Tators like loose soil. Your soil was probably loose no doubt when you put it in the bucket. But, watering it, especially over watering it if you did that, likely compacted the soil in the bucket.
I never had much luck with gardening in a bucket. If it was my garden project, that'd be my problem right there. Trying to do it in a bucket.

 

[Dick L]

Never tried planting potatoes in a bucket. When we raised them in a truck patch we found we had more potatoes per hill when we hilled the plants more than once after they were up good. Most of the potatoes were not much below the ground level. I tried planting on the ground along the outside of the horse lots and covering them with horse manure with lots of straw and had your luck. My grand parents talked about planting early potatoes in the void of a split rail barn yard fence. Problem is I was not old enough to grasp the details.

 

[Bruce from Can.]

Couple things to consider. First, was there holes in the bottom of the bucket for excess water to run out of ? And number two, when you try this again, just put enough dirt in the bucket to cover the potato by a few inches, dont fill the bucket. Then as the potato plant grows, keep adding dirt to the pail so only a few inches of the plant is ever exposed at once. And once the paul is full of dirt, just keep watering it until it matures. This way the soil can stay less compacted, and potatoes will grow on the branches that you will cover with dirt , as those branches will become roots once buried.

 

[fastfarmall]

They grow best in sandier soils,[but they use a lot of fertilzer],and like the one guy said a few 1/8 holes in the bottom of the bucket, would of helped!

 

[fastfarmall]

Ahh, chicken manure is the richest manure i know off!

 

[chcase]

Roy,Bruce explained how to grow potatoes very well.Only thing that I can add is to add fertilizer just before you water them.Here in adams county wisconsin they grow every type of potato you can think of.There is a very large potato storage building a mile from my farm. I can not grow potatoes in my garden without having potato bugs.

 

[504]

I am just asking, and maybe I am completely wrong,but did you plant whole potatoes or 1/4 them ? The very few I have grown were cut in quarters and planted.

 

[Roy Suomi]

I drilled 5 -3/8 holes in the bucket bottom.. Filled the bucket as the plant grew. I did put a whole spud in , not quartered. I figured fresh soil from the woods wouldn't need fertilizer.. Maybe I'll try again this year soon as the weather breaks.. Thanks guys

 

[Bruce from Can.]

What kind of woods ? The soil under some trees can have a very acidic PH level. And some trees like the Black Walnut actually poison the soil near them and only grass can grow in the area of their influence

 

[Roy Suomi]

Trees surrounding my barn are locust, cherry and ash saplings coming up after the big kill off.