On 4 May 2004 15:55:23 -0700, (Liashi) wrote:

Hi all,

Well some potatoes that we had were going bad so we cut them up, with
a few eyes per piece. We planted them kinda early, and they haven't
sprouted. However, some bulbs which I planted a few weeks ago have
already sprouted.

Well if they were already rotting, that wouldn't be good if you didn't
get all of it cut out, and the last cuts made with a different clean
knife with washed hands. Then let the cut surfaces dry *at least*
over night. if not a day or two so long as the pieces are good sized.

Then, how deep did you plant them.. as in how much soil over the cut
piece. You could have dug a trench a foot deep.. but only put an inch
or two of soil over them seed pieces. If you put them deep, in wet,
cold soil, without drying the cut surfaces.. I'd say they rotted in 3
days.

I don't know where you are, so I have no idea of how cold the ground
is or the air for that matter. Some folks say you should have your
potatoes in by good friday.. but .. I get them in when I can, or did,
and usually that was around this time of year. However the climate
seems to be changing here, Boise, Idaho.. It's been hotter earlier
and longer and higher temperatures earlier. Last year it was in the
100+ f. range in June and stayed there most of the summer. It was
87°f today, and while not a record I don't think, it's close. I just
hope it doesn't stay there. They claim it will go down again, but we
just don't know.

Replant in a better drained area with certified seed potatoes, try
for small egg size whole potatoes, less chance of rot .. chit them,
place them "rose" end up ..the end with the greatest concentration of
eyes..in a well lit area for a few days. Rub off all but 2 or 3 of
the largest sprouts, and plant them. Keeping in mind all the potatoes
that are produced will be *above* the depth of the seed potato, be it
an eye from a cut up potato, or the whole small potato.

I read that you will get fewer but larger potatoes from cut eyes from
larger seed potatoes, and you will get smaller, but more ...for a
higher poundage..yield from the egg size whole seed potato. So you
might want to plant some of both. Letting cut surfaces dry. Also,
plant the potatoes where you can isolate them from the rest of the
garden.. so that you don't get water on their area once they've
started to die down or they'll start growing again, or rot. Grow
something else in the damp area.

Janice


There may be lots of clay soil in our garden but we've put in lots of
clay cutter, fertilizer, lime, etc., in it and the soil is way better
than last year . . . and last year we grew tons of zucchini and squash
(They shot up REALLY fast. My Dad had dumped all the fertilizer we had
into that garden because he was desperate to get the clay broken up!
O.O)

And yet . . . the potatoes are a no show. Did I plant them too early?
Too deep? (I dug around in the garden today but couldn't find pieces
of potato.) Or is/was the soil to damp? The garden is at the bottom of
a hill, so a lot of it is always damp. Not to mention there were cold
snaps after I planted and it's been a wet spring. Could they have
rotted?

Well, any thoughts/advice you guys have would be helpful. Thanks!