GROWING POTATOES IN DRUMS?
 

i heard that you can take a 55-gal. drum,put about a foot of soil in
it, and plant potatoes. as the folage grows, keep adding soil till the
drum is near full. let grow for whatever time a potato takes,(never
grew them before), and dump the drum, yeilding alot of potatoes in a
small space. heard this will work for sweet potatoes as well. anyone
have any insight on this?
thanks for any and all info.

GROWING POTATOES IN DRUMS?
 

GROWING POTATOES IN DRUMS?
 

On 2 Jun 2003 13:17:58 -0700, (ROBERT
O'REILLY) wrote:

i heard that you can take a 55-gal. drum,put about a foot of soil in
it, and plant potatoes. as the folage grows, keep adding soil till the
drum is near full. let grow for whatever time a potato takes,(never
grew them before), and dump the drum, yeilding alot of potatoes in a
small space. heard this will work for sweet potatoes as well. anyone
have any insight on this?
thanks for any and all info.

I'm quite sure it would NOT work for sweet potatoes. Sweet
potatoes grow in a different way.

Pat

GROWING POTATOES IN DRUMS?
 

"ROBERT O'REILLY" wrote in message
om...
i heard that you can take a 55-gal. drum,put about a foot of soil in
it, and plant potatoes. as the folage grows, keep adding soil till the
drum is near full. let grow for whatever time a potato takes,(never
grew them before), and dump the drum, yeilding alot of potatoes in a
small space. heard this will work for sweet potatoes as well. anyone
have any insight on this?
thanks for any and all info.
Light would be your problem, in this case. An easier thing might be tires,
as the plant grows, you add additional tires and dirt. That way, your plant
gets good light, and harvesting will be easier. Imagine opening a 55 gal
drum, or flipping it over. But don't spend too much time on it, because
nothing is going to grow in the bottom of it :)

GROWING POTATOES IN DRUMS?
 

I prefer to use a fairly "smallish holed" wire netting formed into a
circle.......this allows light in......otherwise do as you plan.......it
does work......HW
"ROBERT O'REILLY" wrote in message
om...
i heard that you can take a 55-gal. drum,put about a foot of soil in
it, and plant potatoes. as the folage grows, keep adding soil till the
drum is near full. let grow for whatever time a potato takes,(never
grew them before), and dump the drum, yeilding alot of potatoes in a
small space. heard this will work for sweet potatoes as well. anyone
have any insight on this?
thanks for any and all info.

GROWING POTATOES IN DRUMS?
 

i heard that you can take a 55-gal. drum,put about a foot of soil in
it, and plant potatoes. as the folage grows, keep adding soil till the
drum is near full. let grow for whatever time a potato takes,(never
grew them before), and dump the drum, yeilding alot of potatoes in a
small space. heard this will work for sweet potatoes as well. anyone
have any insight on this?
thanks for any and all info.

The tower method works, but you would have a hard time getting the plants
started in a drum. Tires, wire cages , wooden boxes etc that can be stacked or
covered as the plant grows is preferable. Usually the Irish potatoes are
planted in the ground the tower built over them using mulch (old hay straw etc)
not soil. Works weel for Irish potatoes but sweet potatoes are a true root crop
with entirely different requirements.

GROWING POTATOES IN DRUMS?
 

thanks to all who replied. i have a roll of 2x4 fence mesh. will that
work? should i wrap the mesh with plastic or visqueine to hold in the
soil? also, will sweet potatoes grow this way?

GROWING POTATOES IN DRUMS?
 

On 3 Jun 2003 12:05:40 -0700, (ROBERT
O'REILLY) wrote:

thanks to all who replied. i have a roll of 2x4 fence mesh. will that
work? should i wrap the mesh with plastic or visqueine to hold in the
soil? also, will sweet potatoes grow this way?

No. Sweet potatoes will NOT grow that way.

Here's a webpage on how to grow sweet potatoes:

http://virtual.clemson.edu/groups/ai...n/sweetpot.htm

Note that it says: "Plant sweet potato transplants in rows
3 feet apart with 8 inches between plants in the row."

Pat

GROWING POTATOES IN DRUMS?
 

ROBERT O'REILLY wrote:

i heard that you can take a 55-gal. drum,put about a foot of soil in
it, and plant potatoes. as the folage grows, keep adding soil till the
drum is near full. let grow for whatever time a potato takes,(never
grew them before), and dump the drum, yeilding alot of potatoes in a
small space. heard this will work for sweet potatoes as well. anyone
have any insight on this?
thanks for any and all info.

The best *sounding* idea I heard was growing them in a short stack of old
tires. When ready to harvest, push over the stack and pick them from the
dirt. No shovel slices etc. I tried it and my dirt was so damned hard I
almost needed a truck to push over 3 high a stack of tiresG. It was
harder than cement! If your dirt is good this sure seems like a winner
anyway.



--
John S. DeBoo

GROWING POTATOES IN DRUMS?
 

thanks to all who replied. i have a roll of 2x4 fence mesh. will that
work? should i wrap the mesh with plastic or visqueine to hold in the
soil? //////no no no///////you might just as well use a steel drum
///////almost the same as a plastic lined mesh......HW

GROWING POTATOES IN DRUMS?
 

On Tue, 03 Jun 2003 19:31:45 -0600, "John S. DeBoo"
wrote:



The best *sounding* idea I heard was growing them in a short stack of old
tires. When ready to harvest, push over the stack and pick them from the
dirt. No shovel slices etc. I tried it and my dirt was so damned hard I
almost needed a truck to push over 3 high a stack of tiresG. It was
harder than cement! If your dirt is good this sure seems like a winner
anyway.

If we had gotten to it this spring (we didn't - there were
higher priority tasks), that's how I'd have grown potatoes.
I'll be doing it next year, for sure.

Pat

GROWING POTATOES IN DRUMS?
 

John S. DeBoo wrote:

ROBERT O'REILLY wrote:


i heard that you can take a 55-gal. drum,put about a foot of soil in
it, and plant potatoes. as the folage grows, keep adding soil till the
drum is near full. let grow for whatever time a potato takes,(never
grew them before), and dump the drum, yeilding alot of potatoes in a
small space. heard this will work for sweet potatoes as well. anyone
have any insight on this?
thanks for any and all info.


The best *sounding* idea I heard was growing them in a short stack of old
tires. When ready to harvest, push over the stack and pick them from the
dirt. No shovel slices etc. I tried it and my dirt was so damned hard I
almost needed a truck to push over 3 high a stack of tiresG. It was
harder than cement! If your dirt is good this sure seems like a winner
anyway.



--
John S. DeBoo

I've tried this with a sttack of tyres several times but it doesn't work for me

Getting enough soil to fill the body of the tyre leaves a big hole in
your dirt If you dont fill the tyre, the developing plants are left with
their tails in the water


Barrie
Mycurrentt theory is that each time you put in more soil, you must put
in more spuds as well

GROWING POTATOES IN DRUMS?
 

Ortho put out a very nice little book on "Gardening in Containers". It says
that a 6 gallon paint bucket is just fine. (It even tells how to grow corn
in containers.)

"ROBERT O'REILLY" wrote in message
om...
i heard that you can take a 55-gal. drum,put about a foot of soil in
it, and plant potatoes. as the folage grows, keep adding soil till the
drum is near full. let grow for whatever time a potato takes,(never
grew them before), and dump the drum, yeilding alot of potatoes in a
small space. heard this will work for sweet potatoes as well. anyone
have any insight on this?
thanks for any and all info.

GROWING POTATOES IN DRUMS?
 

I'm currently growing potatoes with the tire method. I started with two tires and now
I'm up to four tires. My plants are flowering and looking lovely. If all goes well,
I should have a great crop of potatoes.

I'll let you know

Cristine

"John S. DeBoo" wrote in message ...
ROBERT O'REILLY wrote:

i heard that you can take a 55-gal. drum,put about a foot of soil in
it, and plant potatoes. as the folage grows, keep adding soil till the
drum is near full. let grow for whatever time a potato takes,(never
grew them before), and dump the drum, yeilding alot of potatoes in a
small space. heard this will work for sweet potatoes as well. anyone
have any insight on this?
thanks for any and all info.

The best *sounding* idea I heard was growing them in a short stack of old
tires. When ready to harvest, push over the stack and pick them from the
dirt. No shovel slices etc. I tried it and my dirt was so damned hard I
almost needed a truck to push over 3 high a stack of tiresG. It was
harder than cement! If your dirt is good this sure seems like a winner
anyway.



--
John S. DeBoo

I did a drum with sweet potatoes this year and what I did was take a plastic 55 gal drum and drilled holes around it at three different levels eight at each level and planted my slips through the holes. I used composted leaves and composted manure so the water would run throughout well and also keep its dampness. This is my first attempt so I will see how it goes and keep you updated if your interested.