I’m David Epstein, it is Potato Planting time here at Growing Wisdom and we’ve got two varieties of potatoes from Johnny Selected Seeds. They’re actually fingerling potatoes, we’re looking at Russian banana and we’re also looking at French fingerling.
The difference, a little bit of a different color inside, couple of things to know with planting potatoes and the great thing is, is that Johnny’s gives you all the directions when they send this to you.
You want to plant potatoes about four-weeks before your average day of last frost, for example if your average day of last frost is May 1st, you plant the potatoes April 1st, if you average of last frost is June 1st your potatoes grow in May 1st.
Small potatoes need not be cut when you plant them, just put them right in the ground. With fingerling potatoes, the potatoes we’re going to plant, cut the potatoes crosswise leaving two to three eyes on each piece. An eye is the little growing tip you see coming out of the potato.
Here’s an example of a round potato that the eye has already started to grow, you probably don’t want to plant this, as this become to grow too much. Let the cut potato dry at least an hour preferably overnight. You don’t want that real juiciness to be coming out of the potato when you put it in the ground. It makes the potato most susceptible to disease, by drying them, you have a better opportunity to prevent disease.
Put your potatoes in a row, two to three inches below the ground and a foot apart. If your planting multiple rows, each rows should be thirty to thirty-six inches apart. In a few weeks the plants are going to begin to grow.
When they get to be about six or eight inches tall, mount some soil up to leave four inches of the plant showing, in another few weeks, do it again. It will help to stop the potatoes from greening up, you want your potatoes to have a nice earthy color. As the potatoes begin to grow, its important not to let the soil dry out, you also have to watch for potato beetle, that’s the main pest that affects potato.
The best way to grow potatoes organically is to pick off those beetles, keep checking for insects, keep them well watered, one-inch per week and in a couple of months, two maybe later in the fall, depending on the variety. Your going to be loving the potatoes your growing. Speaking of loving, we hope you love our videos.
Come back every week for all of our tips and helps here at Growing Wisdom.
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