GardenBanter.co.uk - Potato yeild

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What are those in the group getting for a yeild on potatoes? In pounds
of harvest compared to pounds planted. I have heard that if you are
really kicking some butt you can get 10 pounds per pound planted, I am
guessing this is the best of the best conditions? We havent weighed our
yeild yet but we last night just for fun we dug about 1/6th of the 50
lbs we planeted and have gotten two 5 gallon pails worth. Perhaps 30-40
pounds?
I didnt get them hilled as well as I should have this year so thats
hurting us but I was surprised to have even the biggest plants only
yeilding perhaps 5 medium sized potato's each. If there are 6 they are
small and if there are only three they are large baking size. Oddly I
left two rows unhilled and they are yeilding only slightly less than the
rows I hilled a couple times.
We planted Kenebec's and next year, even though we are no till as much
as possible, I am going to furrow and hill with the farm tractor rather
than by hand. Over 50 lbs (which we will do next year) is just too much
for us by hand. Even if I have to run the subsoiler every other year it
will be the only way for us to grow a lot of potatoes.

Mark

I usually get about 3-4 lbs per hill (yukon gold) I didn't buy mine by
the pound but by the piece from Gurney's. 30 sets may weight 1/2 lb
What location are you in. Kenebecs are still green and growing here in
PA. Did you wait until the plants died back to nothing, or are you
digging them as new potatoes ?

Mark & Shauna wrote:

What are those in the group getting for a yeild on potatoes? In
pounds of harvest compared to pounds planted. I have heard that if you
are really kicking some butt you can get 10 pounds per pound planted,
I am guessing this is the best of the best conditions? We havent
weighed our yeild yet but we last night just for fun we dug about
1/6th of the 50 lbs we planeted and have gotten two 5 gallon pails
worth. Perhaps 30-40 pounds?
I didnt get them hilled as well as I should have this year so
thats hurting us but I was surprised to have even the biggest plants
only yeilding perhaps 5 medium sized potato's each. If there are 6
they are small and if there are only three they are large baking size.
Oddly I left two rows unhilled and they are yeilding only slightly
less than the rows I hilled a couple times.
We planted Kenebec's and next year, even though we are no till as
much as possible, I am going to furrow and hill with the farm tractor
rather than by hand. Over 50 lbs (which we will do next year) is just
too much for us by hand. Even if I have to run the subsoiler every
other year it will be the only way for us to grow a lot of potatoes.

Mark

Brian,
Thanks for the reply. Sorry for not including the plant/location data.
We are in central WV and yes, our plants have died back to nothing.
Planted around the end of March. This is the first year for the ground
we are growing in (the whole garden). It is ridge top land and has been
very wet here in WV this year. The ground was far from what we left in
our old garden, oh how we miss that ground. Ten years of building it up.
Most of the people in the hollow have lost their potatoes to rot from
all the water but ours were still growing strong when all of theirs were
yellow and going to poop. In the floods we will be fine, in the drought
we will be dieing heheh. The toils of living up high.
It sounds like you are getting 6-8 lbs per pound and in reading this
post back to my wife I think I may have over judged the yeild and
perhaps we only have about 25-30 lbs. Its a very crude measure now as I
have not dug all the potatoes yet. My current guess is perhaps 100-150
lbs for the 50 lbs planted. Which I guess isnt bad as 2 of the 5 rows I
left unhilled as an experiment.
I was hoping to someday get to 50lbs yeilding 400 lbs of potatoes but
not sure if that is possible with organic practice.

Mark

Brian wrote:
I usually get about 3-4 lbs per hill (yukon gold) I didn't buy mine by
the pound but by the piece from Gurney's. 30 sets may weight 1/2 lb
What location are you in. Kenebecs are still green and growing here in
PA. Did you wait until the plants died back to nothing, or are you
digging them as new potatoes ?

Mark & Shauna wrote:

What are those in the group getting for a yeild on potatoes? In
pounds of harvest compared to pounds planted. I have heard that if you
are really kicking some butt you can get 10 pounds per pound planted,
I am guessing this is the best of the best conditions? We havent
weighed our yeild yet but we last night just for fun we dug about
1/6th of the 50 lbs we planeted and have gotten two 5 gallon pails
worth. Perhaps 30-40 pounds?
I didnt get them hilled as well as I should have this year so
thats hurting us but I was surprised to have even the biggest plants
only yeilding perhaps 5 medium sized potato's each. If there are 6
they are small and if there are only three they are large baking size.
Oddly I left two rows unhilled and they are yeilding only slightly
less than the rows I hilled a couple times.
We planted Kenebec's and next year, even though we are no till as
much as possible, I am going to furrow and hill with the farm tractor
rather than by hand. Over 50 lbs (which we will do next year) is just
too much for us by hand. Even if I have to run the subsoiler every
other year it will be the only way for us to grow a lot of potatoes.

Mark

On Wed, 06 Aug 2003 01:40:17 GMT, Mark & Shauna wrote:

What are those in the group getting for a yeild on potatoes? In pounds
of harvest compared to pounds planted.

I can't really say. I plant whatever is rooting in the kitchen
cabinet, it grows, and then just before the hard winter freeze dig em
all up :) Aren't potatoes great? They must be one of the best
plants to grow, especially when you've dug the garden up right (the
potato area is dug very deeply down 18-20" full of compost). I would
say for every pound maybe I get back 5, but it's only a very small
area (~200 sq feet). The leftovers get thrown back into the garden in
early spring.

Dan

Hmmm it's good to know what kind of results another West Virginer is
getting, I'm going to be trying potatoes next year, probubly Kennebecs. My
soil here in the Panhandle is very hard clay, with about 5 or 6 inches of
topsoil. It was also my first year with this soil. This area is in a valley
so much of the soil is ancient run-off from the mountains. It's extremely
minerally rich but difficult to work. We have a very rich silt soil
available down the hill from my house along a stream. I use this for my
flower plantings in raised beds. I spent considerable time working the soil
for the garden, breaking and removing the sod, using peat moss and composted
manure.

My roommate is from central WV, Fayette county originally. He says the soil
down there is much better quality then what we have here. From what your
saying though I'm not so sure its any better. This mountain soil, however
old the mountains, is still pretty damn hard to work with until you get it
built up. I didn't have compost available for my soil this year, I should
have some next year. I'm thinking perhaps I could build a raised bed for the
potatoes to allow for deeper growth...do you think this would help you next
year? I'm not dealing with nearly the quantity of potatoes you will be
however, my garden is rather small compared to what people around here
consider a garden, only 293 sqr. feet. Next year I'll be doubling that size,
and creating a seperate area for the potatoes. The info I have says potatoes
require a high acid soil for best results and to avoid several rot diseases.
Ph around 6.5-5.5 is considered best...

"Mark & Shauna" wrote in message ...
Brian,
Thanks for the reply. Sorry for not including the plant/location data.
We are in central WV and yes, our plants have died back to nothing.
Planted around the end of March. This is the first year for the ground
we are growing in (the whole garden). It is ridge top land and has been
very wet here in WV this year. The ground was far from what we left in
our old garden, oh how we miss that ground. Ten years of building it up.
Most of the people in the hollow have lost their potatoes to rot from
all the water but ours were still growing strong when all of theirs were
yellow and going to poop. In the floods we will be fine, in the drought
we will be dieing heheh. The toils of living up high.
It sounds like you are getting 6-8 lbs per pound and in reading this
post back to my wife I think I may have over judged the yeild and
perhaps we only have about 25-30 lbs. Its a very crude measure now as I
have not dug all the potatoes yet. My current guess is perhaps 100-150
lbs for the 50 lbs planted. Which I guess isnt bad as 2 of the 5 rows I
left unhilled as an experiment.
I was hoping to someday get to 50lbs yeilding 400 lbs of potatoes but
not sure if that is possible with organic practice.

Mark

Brian wrote:
I usually get about 3-4 lbs per hill (yukon gold) I didn't buy mine by
the pound but by the piece from Gurney's. 30 sets may weight 1/2 lb
What location are you in. Kenebecs are still green and growing here in
PA. Did you wait until the plants died back to nothing, or are you
digging them as new potatoes ?

Mark & Shauna wrote:

What are those in the group getting for a yeild on potatoes? In
pounds of harvest compared to pounds planted. I have heard that if you
are really kicking some butt you can get 10 pounds per pound planted,
I am guessing this is the best of the best conditions? We havent
weighed our yeild yet but we last night just for fun we dug about
1/6th of the 50 lbs we planeted and have gotten two 5 gallon pails
worth. Perhaps 30-40 pounds?
I didnt get them hilled as well as I should have this year so
thats hurting us but I was surprised to have even the biggest plants
only yeilding perhaps 5 medium sized potato's each. If there are 6
they are small and if there are only three they are large baking size.
Oddly I left two rows unhilled and they are yeilding only slightly
less than the rows I hilled a couple times.
We planted Kenebec's and next year, even though we are no till as
much as possible, I am going to furrow and hill with the farm tractor
rather than by hand. Over 50 lbs (which we will do next year) is just
too much for us by hand. Even if I have to run the subsoiler every
other year it will be the only way for us to grow a lot of potatoes.

Mark

What are those in the group getting for a yeild on potatoes? In pounds
of harvest compared to pounds planted. I have heard that if you are

I sell yeild of potatoes for less than what you would buy in the local store.

Mike,
Your soild sounds a lot like ours. Very shallow top soil, clay, then
shale. Like I said our garden is on a ridge which seems to make the soil
even shallower and more depleated.
We too had no compost this year as it was our first year on this
ground. We have been building compost all we can but we will surely not
have enough to make a difference in the whole garden next year. We are
just going to trudge along with what compost we have, cover crops, and
manure in the fall each year. We have access to obscene amounts of
manure as cattle is big here so thats our aim in the fall.
The raised bed thing would be a good idea but not on our scale. In my
opinion you just want to make the process as labor friendly as you can.
Put a lot of work in when you plant to make the subsequent hilling
easier. We dug a deep furrow hilling all the material from the furrow on
the sides. Planted, then as the plants grow its fairly easy to just move
down the isle knocking the piles back into the furrows as the plant
grows. I think next year we may try hilling with hay or mulch as well. I
am a little concerned about weed seeds as we will be using hay from our
own farm but perhaps if we keep it thick it will foil the weeds.
We are in Roane/Calhoun county and will keep you all posted as to our
progress.

Mark

Mike Stevenson wrote:
Hmmm it's good to know what kind of results another West Virginer is
getting, I'm going to be trying potatoes next year, probubly Kennebecs. My
soil here in the Panhandle is very hard clay, with about 5 or 6 inches of
topsoil. It was also my first year with this soil. This area is in a valley
so much of the soil is ancient run-off from the mountains. It's extremely
minerally rich but difficult to work. We have a very rich silt soil
available down the hill from my house along a stream. I use this for my
flower plantings in raised beds. I spent considerable time working the soil
for the garden, breaking and removing the sod, using peat moss and composted
manure.

My roommate is from central WV, Fayette county originally. He says the soil
down there is much better quality then what we have here. From what your
saying though I'm not so sure its any better. This mountain soil, however
old the mountains, is still pretty damn hard to work with until you get it
built up. I didn't have compost available for my soil this year, I should
have some next year. I'm thinking perhaps I could build a raised bed for the
potatoes to allow for deeper growth...do you think this would help you next
year? I'm not dealing with nearly the quantity of potatoes you will be
however, my garden is rather small compared to what people around here
consider a garden, only 293 sqr. feet. Next year I'll be doubling that size,
and creating a seperate area for the potatoes. The info I have says potatoes
require a high acid soil for best results and to avoid several rot diseases.
Ph around 6.5-5.5 is considered best...

"Mark & Shauna" wrote in message ...

Brian,
Thanks for the reply. Sorry for not including the plant/location data.
We are in central WV and yes, our plants have died back to nothing.
Planted around the end of March. This is the first year for the ground
we are growing in (the whole garden). It is ridge top land and has been
very wet here in WV this year. The ground was far from what we left in
our old garden, oh how we miss that ground. Ten years of building it up.
Most of the people in the hollow have lost their potatoes to rot from
all the water but ours were still growing strong when all of theirs were
yellow and going to poop. In the floods we will be fine, in the drought
we will be dieing heheh. The toils of living up high.
It sounds like you are getting 6-8 lbs per pound and in reading this
post back to my wife I think I may have over judged the yeild and
perhaps we only have about 25-30 lbs. Its a very crude measure now as I
have not dug all the potatoes yet. My current guess is perhaps 100-150
lbs for the 50 lbs planted. Which I guess isnt bad as 2 of the 5 rows I
left unhilled as an experiment.
I was hoping to someday get to 50lbs yeilding 400 lbs of potatoes but
not sure if that is possible with organic practice.

Mark

Brian wrote:

I usually get about 3-4 lbs per hill (yukon gold) I didn't buy mine by
the pound but by the piece from Gurney's. 30 sets may weight 1/2 lb
What location are you in. Kenebecs are still green and growing here in
PA. Did you wait until the plants died back to nothing, or are you
digging them as new potatoes ?

Mark & Shauna wrote:

What are those in the group getting for a yeild on potatoes? In
pounds of harvest compared to pounds planted. I have heard that if you
are really kicking some butt you can get 10 pounds per pound planted,
I am guessing this is the best of the best conditions? We havent
weighed our yeild yet but we last night just for fun we dug about
1/6th of the 50 lbs we planeted and have gotten two 5 gallon pails
worth. Perhaps 30-40 pounds?
I didnt get them hilled as well as I should have this year so
thats hurting us but I was surprised to have even the biggest plants
only yeilding perhaps 5 medium sized potato's each. If there are 6
they are small and if there are only three they are large baking size.
Oddly I left two rows unhilled and they are yeilding only slightly
less than the rows I hilled a couple times.
We planted Kenebec's and next year, even though we are no till as
much as possible, I am going to furrow and hill with the farm tractor
rather than by hand. Over 50 lbs (which we will do next year) is just
too much for us by hand. Even if I have to run the subsoiler every
other year it will be the only way for us to grow a lot of potatoes.

Mark

Depends on your soil fertility and weather. I have a poor yield because I
have poor soil and not a lot of good compost. If I till in a good one foot
high stand of fall rye before planting, my yield goes way up. Since my soil
is quite poor, the plants succumb to potato blight as the tubers form thus
decreasing my yield. Potatoes like an acidic soil. Homespun potatoes are the
best especially potatoes with the silky skins.

Farmer John

Mark & Shauna writes:
What are those in the group getting for a yeild on potatoes? In pounds
of harvest compared to pounds planted. I have heard that if you are
really kicking some butt you can get 10 pounds per pound planted, I am

My Mum is a keen potato grower, and routinely gets 3 to 5 large spuds
per plant; but when particularly lucky, it can be 6 or 7. Some plants
will have only 2, plus a handful of babies.

Rating your yield as lbs/lb is not the best comparison, as the prudent
gardener plants *small* seed potatoes then digs up *large* potatoes.
The size of the seed potatoes is not indicative of what they will
yield: the seed growers have a commercial trick which turns out lots of
small seed potatoes, it's what growers want--to plant a few frugal oz.
and dig up lots of lbs.
--
John Savage (news address invalid; keep news replies in newsgroup)