too deep?

[RalphWD45]

Hey guys, I finally got my soil turned over, and rushed to get some spuds in the ground. (I hope good friday came on may 3rd this year.)Anyway, I remember dad always said to plant potatoes deep. Well I don't remember him saying how deep that was. I put them in at around 8 inches, and now am having second thoughts. How about it guys? am I going to lose them, or will they make? I am going to finish another 1 acre patch tomarrow, and after discing and harrowing, will also be putting it in russets. I would like to do this one right.

 

[John S-B]

Umm, I though you were supposed to hill potato's, I just ususally set them in about an inch and them raked soil from between the rows on top, and then added more every few weeks. This year I'm gonna keep piling on composted manure on top after the first layer of soil. I never heard of planting anything 8" deep.

 

[IH2444]

Yeah I think 8" is too deep. I allways put about 3 inches of dirt on top of mine.

 

[Allan in NE]

Take a harrow out there and knock the planter ridges down. You've got 'em about 4 or 5" too darned deep.

Allan

 

[Fergienewbee]

I've covered potatoes with straw in the garden. I made a trench, spaced the spuds and then covered with straw. Darn turkeys kept scratching the straw out looking for bugs. Got a lot of spuds sunburned. Think I'll pass on them this year. The Yokon golds are all sold out and it's getting later. I'll just add a few extra row of beans.

Larry in Michigan

 

[RalphWD45]

Thanks guys, I was afraid of that. I used cultivator shanks ,mounted on a 3pt. tool bar, to make my row marks with, then dropped my spuds in by hand. Then I ran hiller discs, down the row to cover them. I ended up with about,a 10 in. tall continous hill. When I dug down through the hill, till I found potatoes, I was around 8 in. deep. Those rows were about 85 ft. long, the narrow way across my house garden. There was only 2 rows of pontiac reds, and 2 rows of yukon golds. I am glad I asked before I started on the potatoes for the market. We have 2 different farmers markets in the Olympia area, which I have used for my sweet corn, I figured that I would add some potatoes, to it this year, and see how they do. I think I might be able to take the ac b, with the blade and knock part of the dirt off of those 4 rows. Sure glad that I've got grandkids to help out here. Ever heard of teenagers who will work? Well my youngest son has three of them. 2girls, and a boy, and grandpa is not ashamed to use them. Both of them girls use the little B and the riding mower. the youngest is 13 and she ran the post hole digger , last fall, while Grampa held the auger in place We made about 400 ft. of woven wire fence. Thanks Guys

 

[jose bagge]

I'm about 3" deep, and I'm already about 4" out of the ground, so I'm a bit ahead of you.
I put some sweet potatoes in the ground about 2 weeks ago- haven't seen squat outta them yet. Might be an experiment gone wrong

 

[Anonymous-0]

Sweet potatoes- can you plant them directly? The way I've heard and done years ago is, you pre-sprout them by immersing one end of a sweet potato in water. After a while green sprouts grow from the eyes. When the sprouts get an inch or two long you remove them, use rooting powder and put them in plant starter soil. When the weather's settled you transplant the starts to the garden. And they do better in not so rich soil. Is there a better way?

 

[Don L C]

Ralph ---

Make up a small drag and pull it with your lawn tractor....or try using the mower deck to knock down the "hills"......

 

[Anonymous-0]

These are potatoes like the kind grown on earth right? Eight inches is the depth you plant a TREE!! My father in law had great success at one inch of depth and then continually hilling as the plant grew. But he liked to spend a lot oftime doing it, so that wat may not be for everybody.

 

[big fred]

Maybe a bit deep. If you decide to "unhill" them, I'd suggest leaving a few as is and see what happens. A lot of potatoes can't read, so they don't know as much as the guys on here and will grow just fine, maybe with slightly reduced yield.
Effect of planting depth on yield of potatoes

 

[jose bagge]

Dunno- i started 'em the same way I started my seed potatoes- put 'em in a burlap bag, wet 'em down, waited for sprouts and the buried the sections the same way i do my potatoes. It works great for potatoes- maybe not so good with yams, I will know soon

 

[trucker40]

I could be wrong,but I dont think you plant anything 8 inches deep in the garden.I even read somewhere that you dont even have to cover potatoes very little if any at all.2 inches is about as deep as you want to plant most things.Whats more important is how warm the ground is,and how much moisture you have.If the ground is warm and has moisture 8 inches deep,they will most likely come up,but it will take them awhile.

 

[John S-B]

It's not that they won't grow, you'd just need a track hoe to dig them out.

 

[big fred]

Probably depends on your soil conditions. Taters, least where I grew up, would put on new tubers all the way to the surface.

 

[RayP(MI)]

I planted mine in a trench made with a middle buster - must have been 8" deep at least. Then I hilled up the dirt over them a couple times during the summer, as well. Worked well... As I remember, the potato planters we used to use planted them at least that deep. You don"t want new growth potatoes bursting through the ground and turning green!

 

[S-H]

Potatoes are the primary crop grown here. They`ve always been planted shallow and hilled later but last couple years guys are trying new tecnique of planting couple inches deep and doing a one hill pass before they come out of ground.They look poor at first and very delayed and uneven but seem to be yielding as well. Biggest problem is in wetter year if they
"set high " may result in sunburn.