Growing potatoes with Straw
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Posted: Feb/21/2006 7:25 PM PST
I happened to run across the whole growing potatoes under straw thing last year and was going to try it and also plant some in the ground to see how much different they would turn out from the two ways. Unfortunately I got side tracked and never planted any potatoes at all. Just curious if anyone has tried the straw method and if it actually works decently or not? |
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Posted: Feb/21/2006 7:36 PM PST
My dad planted some once in straw he made a few fire ants got them.Couldn,t keep them out. |
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Posted: Feb/21/2006 9:03 PM PST
KozyKitten, I had read about that too. I was going to try a layered box method this year. I've never grown potatos before and it seemed like a good mix between the straw and straight into my hard soil. For me, it seems that the straw would be more work to keep down than building a box. Dora/Garden Goddess |
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Posted: Feb/21/2006 9:05 PM PST
Quote: Originally posted by Gardengoddess KozyKitten,I had read about that too. I was going to try a layered box method this year. I've never grown potatos before and it seemed like a good mix between the straw and straight into my hard soil. For me, it seems that the straw would be more work to keep down than building a box. Dora/Garden Goddess This is what I was going to try this year. Attachments:  |
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Posted: Feb/21/2006 10:36 PM PST
[COLOR="Blue"]New guy here! :banana-wa This thread caught my eye and I thought I would respond. I'm not growing potatoes in straw but trying my had at growing them in plastic trash cans. After drilling drainage holes in the bottom of each of my cans I put in 3 inches of soil then cut up certified potato eyes then another 3 to 4 inches of soil to cover them. It should be interesting to see what happens. Photos will follow. After many years of being frustrated here in Phoenix due to the poor soil I decided to do the "Square Foot" garden method for my vegetable garden. I used Me ls mixture (1/3 compost, 1/3 Vermiculite and 1/3 Peat Moss) along with a bit of Steer Manure (my idea) and put the mixture into five raised beds (4 foot wide by 8 foot long). I have three kinds of lettuce, strawberries, radishes, white onions, Valdelia onions, Sugar Snap peas, bush beans, pole beans, cucumbers, corn, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers and zucchini planted in the raised beds. For the climbers (pole beans, cucumbers and peas) I built a metal frame trellis and used string at the end of each bed. I may plant pole beans next to the sweet corn as I saw that done in Tennessee with Greasy Beans (anybody heard of those!?). I also have about 30 tomato plants in 5 gallon buckets (Me ls mix for soil) with about a dozen different varieties of tomatoes. I ordered a number of heirloom tomato seeds this year for the variety so we will see how that comes out. So you can see I'm pretty busy in the garden (7 fruit trees as well). I will send photos along in the future. [/COLOR] |
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Posted: Feb/21/2006 10:48 PM PST
Hey there Rap43, I've read about the trash can method but I was concerned about the amount of sunlight that would be able to reach the taters way down in the bottom of the can when they are first starting out. Dora/Garden Goddess |
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Posted: Feb/21/2006 11:28 PM PST
Quote: Originally posted by Gardengoddess Hey there Rap43,I've read about the trash can method but I was concerned about the amount of sunlight that would be able to reach the taters way down in the bottom of the can when they are first starting out. Dora/Garden Goddess That is a valid concern. I look at it as a cheap experiment and doing it just for fun, after all taters are still pretty cheap! Time will tell. |
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Posted: Feb/22/2006 12:30 AM PST
I have tried the straw method, the trash bag method, the above ground method, the below ground method and the adding more soil everytime they grow a few inches method, and I have come to one conclusion. I stink at growing potatos ( i dont even know if i can spell it correctly, i feel like dan quale (dont know if i spelled his name right either). Anyway, the plants always look healthy, with all methods i have tried, but the production isnt quite what i would expect it to be, considering the size and health of the plants. I have read that if u keep layering dirt .... as the plants grow, more potatos will shoot out from the stem. ive seen all these ads where they cut open the bag at the end of the season, and pounds and pounds of potatoes fall out. All i got was dirt and worms , and a few sorry looking potatoes at the bottom. Im sure it is me, not the methods that have failed. As an added note, I stink at growing peppers and eggplants also , and the squirrels eat all my corn.  Sorry for venting I grow cucumbers, tomatoes and string beans very well!!!!!larry |
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Posted: Feb/22/2006 1:53 AM PST
I have grown potatoes in straw as a kid and was for an ag class it worked out real well, i did till, manure, and compost the base before setting the seed potatoe. I seem to remember using alot of string as tye down for the straw. Currently i start my potatoes in a trench and fill it as they grow ending with a hilled row, this method works very well. |
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Posted: Feb/22/2006 2:23 AM PST
I was interested in trying the straw since we have horses and have hay out here, I am making an assumption that hay will work almost as well as straw. Maybe I will get to do my little experiment this year LOL. My mom always grew these big potatoes and lots of em. I always managed to stab the little suckers every time it was my turn to dig LOL. Just figured if I got close to the same production with the hay as I would in the ground that I could bypass all the digging. Would be much easier to rake the hay off lol. |
