I have been growing pottatoes in tyres for some weeks now. One stack died
off, 3 are still going and I pulled one up today expecting a crop of new
potatoes. The stack was 6 tryes high, I got a measly handful of potatos.
Bugger.

rob

"George.com" wrote in
:

I have been growing pottatoes in tyres for some weeks now.
One stack died off, 3 are still going and I pulled one up
today expecting a crop of new potatoes. The stack was 6
tryes high, I got a measly handful of potatos. Bugger.

how many weeks? did you dig up the one that died off? did you
dig up the one that you thought should have new potatoes or
did you literally "pull it up"?
lee

On Jan 7, 5:41*am, "George.com" wrote:
I have been growing pottatoes in tyres for some weeks now. One stack died
off, 3 are still going and I pulled one up today expecting a crop of new
potatoes. The stack was 6 tryes high, I got a measly handful of potatos.
Bugger.

rob

Not a good idea. There are a lot of noxious chemicals used to cure
and stabilize rubber and they may or may not be absorbed by the
plant. Why take any chances?

"George.com" wrote in message
...

I have been growing pottatoes in tyres for some weeks now.

Why in tyres? What is under the tyres? Soil? Cement? Other?

"Frank" wrote in message
On Jan 7, 5:41 am, "George.com" wrote:
I have been growing pottatoes in tyres for some weeks now.

Not a good idea. There are a lot of noxious chemicals used to cure
and stabilize rubber and they may or may not be absorbed by the
plant. Why take any chances?

http://forums.organicgardening.com/e...1/m/7391098401

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"George.com" wrote in message
...

I have been growing pottatoes in tyres for some weeks now.

Why in tyres? What is under the tyres? Soil? Cement? Other?

I decided to see how it worked out. Grass is under the tyres. One garden is
full of tomatos, another in Kumara, another with garlic, one 1/2 full of
garlic and some (non heading) broccoli and the last spring onions, carrots &
lettuce. I wasn't going to do spuds, then decided to & thought tyres was
worth a try. One measly handful down so far.

rob

"enigma" wrote in message
. ..
"George.com" wrote in
:

I have been growing pottatoes in tyres for some weeks now.
One stack died off, 3 are still going and I pulled one up
today expecting a crop of new potatoes. The stack was 6
tryes high, I got a measly handful of potatos. Bugger.

how many weeks? did you dig up the one that died off? did you
dig up the one that you thought should have new potatoes or
did you literally "pull it up"?
lee

I dug up the dead lot & got a few spuds. This last lot came down with
something as the potato stems had started to rot in the compost. The stack
went in mid october so about 2 1/2 months. Heaps of top growth, 6 tyres
high, but bugger all potatos. I'll see how the other 3 tyre stacks go.

rob

g'day rob,

can't vouch for the tyre system i wouldn't use tyres myself, but maybe
you went higher than was needed?

i tried growing them in 44 gallon plastic drum cut in 1/2 and when
they got tall enough i had so i could add the other 1/2 of the drum,
the results absolutley like your though maybe better i did get some
spuds about 1 or 2 per plant also tried just using 1/2 a drum but no
good either.

now i just simply lay my seed 'taters on the ground and start to mulch
around them up to about 18" or 20"s high as they grow, then leave them
and the results are much better a return of 5:1, but for no real
effort that isn't tooo bad.

ahve pic's on our site



On Mon, 7 Jan 2008 23:41:52 +1300, "George.com"
wrote:
snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len & bev

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

"George.com" wrote in message
...
I have been growing pottatoes in tyres for some weeks now. One stack died
off, 3 are still going and I pulled one up today expecting a crop of new
potatoes. The stack was 6 tryes high, I got a measly handful of potatos.
Bugger.

rob

Here's my take on the potatoes in tires, in the USA "tyres" are really
difficult to find, probably would have to import them from some place in
Canada

I remember this "new idea" coming forth about 30+ years ago during the start
of the recycling movement. It didn't seem like a good idea to me at the time
and still doesn't because:

If you have enough room in your garden to stack rows of ugly tires why don't
you plant the spuds in the ground? You have to stack the tires and add more
soil (from somewhere) as the potato plant grows instead of hilling it as you
would normally do. Just by the shape of the tire alone watery muck would
gather as the stack grows in the 'cup' of the tire so there goes the good
drainage theory IMO. It can't possibly be considered easier since you have
to lug those things in to stack, fill with soil as you stack and then to
harvest you have to disassemble the stack, empty each tire, watched the
neighbor banging and bouncing these things to get the soil out of the
inside, and then what do you do with the damned tires when you aren't
growing potatoes. One ugly stack of trash somewhere in the corner of the
garden for 8 months a year. Of all the people I knew who tried this not a
decent crop of potatoes was harvested.

I didn't have room in my vegetable garden for a crop of potatoes, but having
some fresh spuds IS a nice treat so I thought about the theory of the tire
thing and tweaked it a bit. I had a half dozen large, round, plastic laundry
baskets and placed them on the concrete along the edge of my driveway. I
used some damp straw I'd gathered for mulch, formed a nice even layer around
the inside wall so the soil wouldn't fall out the sides, filled the basket
1/4 with soil and planted three sections of potato in the center of each
basket and then covered with a few inches of soil and a thin layer of straw.
As the potato grew I "hilled it" with thin layers of soil covered with
another thin layer of straw and did this each week until the basket was
full. I had huge, healthy, bushy potato plants growing in each basket and
they bloomed profusely.....looked rather nice down the edge of the drive. In
the fall, after the tops had completely died down, I put my shaker box over
my wheelbarrow and dumped the basket into it. Not only did the beautiful,
black, fluffy soil fall through the wire of the shaker box, the potatoes
where on top, and I had some beautifully composted soil from all that straw
to put back in the garden and raised veggie beds. The baskets I hosed off,
dried, stacked and hung all on one big hook from the garage rafter. I got a
little over 100 pounds of potatoes from six baskets. The plants were kept
out of soggy soil so didn't rot in the ground....Seattle got a LOT of
rain...the plants grew in warm, well drained soil, produced like mad and I
composted straw all in one fell swoop! Plus dumping the baskets in my shaker
box made it an easy, no dig harvest and I no potatoes were left in the
ground. I just gently rolled the potatoes out of the shaker box on the
drive, hosed them down and let them air dry for a few days before storing.
EASY!

My little Grandma used to peel her potatoes into a piece of news paper,
bundle it up and take it to her flower garden and tucked it in where ever
she had an empty spot for planting. If you peel with a knife instead of a
vegetable peeler you have enough eye left in most of the peeling to grow.
Made a nice green filler in her flower beds and the blossoms were very
pretty as well. In the fall she'd dig them up. Not only did she get some
nice potatoes that where dug at the same time as she was "putting her garden
to bed" for the winter, she was improving the soil as well. Potatoes do
wonders for soil improvement. The volunteers that occasionally came up in
the spring where just dug the following fall.

Just my opinion but that tire thing looks like Hell, is an enormous amount
of work and doesn't work worth a darned!

Val

"George.com" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"George.com" wrote in message
...

I have been growing pottatoes in tyres for some weeks now.

Why in tyres? What is under the tyres? Soil? Cement? Other?

I decided to see how it worked out. Grass is under the tyres. One garden
is full of tomatos, another in Kumara, another with garlic, one 1/2 full
of garlic and some (non heading) broccoli and the last spring onions,
carrots & lettuce. I wasn't going to do spuds, then decided to & thought
tyres was worth a try. One measly handful down so far.

rob


It makes no sense, really. Nothing is gained by planting potatoes that way,
except you don't need to bend down quite as much to harvest them.

"Val" wrote in message
"George.com" wrote in message

I have been growing pottatoes in tyres for some weeks now. One stack died
off, 3 are still going and I pulled one up today expecting a crop of new
potatoes. The stack was 6 tryes high, I got a measly handful of potatos.
Bugger.

I remember this "new idea" coming forth about 30+ years ago during the
start of the recycling movement. It didn't seem like a good idea to me
at the time and still doesn't because:

If you have enough room in your garden to stack rows of ugly tires why
don't you plant the spuds in the ground?

Because you can grow the spuds in straw inside the tyres. Or you can use
them to make compost at the same time as growing spuds.

You have to stack the tires and add more
soil (from somewhere) as the potato plant grows instead of hilling it as
you would normally do. Just by the shape of the tire alone watery muck
would gather as the stack grows in the 'cup' of the tire so there goes the
good drainage theory IMO. It can't possibly be considered easier since you
have to lug those things in to stack, fill with soil as you stack and then
to harvest you have to disassemble the stack, empty each tire, watched the
neighbor banging and bouncing these things to get the soil out of the
inside, and then what do you do with the damned tires when you aren't
growing potatoes. One ugly stack of trash somewhere in the corner of the
garden for 8 months a year.

Tyres in the garden are useful. They can be used to sling on top of plastic
to stop the wind lifting it when one needs to cover big piles of compost or
sand or horse poop or anything else. They are useful to throuw on top of
tarpaulins on trailers when one goes to the tip to stop crud flying out of
the trailer. They can be used in the chook pen to hold a nesting hen. They
ahve a hundred uses.

Of all the people I knew who tried this not a decent crop of potatoes was
harvested.

Then they didn't get it right. I've had good crops from tyres but my tyres
were all stolen by the farmer who needed them round the farm.

I didn't have room in my vegetable garden for a crop of potatoes, but
having some fresh spuds IS a nice treat so I thought about the theory of
the tire thing and tweaked it a bit. I had a half dozen large, round,
plastic laundry baskets and placed them on the concrete along the edge of
my driveway. I used some damp straw I'd gathered for mulch, formed a nice
even layer around the inside wall so the soil wouldn't fall out the sides,
filled the basket 1/4 with soil and planted three sections of potato in
the center of each basket and then covered with a few inches of soil and a
thin layer of straw. As the potato grew I "hilled it" with thin layers of
soil covered with another thin layer of straw and did this each week until
the basket was full. I had huge, healthy, bushy potato plants growing in
each basket and they bloomed profusely.....looked rather nice down the
edge of the drive. In the fall, after the tops had completely died down, I
put my shaker box over my wheelbarrow and dumped the basket into it. Not
only did the beautiful, black, fluffy soil fall through the wire of the
shaker box, the potatoes where on top, and I had some beautifully
composted soil from all that straw to put back in the garden and raised
veggie beds.

And exactly the same thing can be done with tyres. You've explained the
theory of tyre growing very well.

The baskets I hosed off,
dried, stacked and hung all on one big hook from the garage rafter. I got
a little over 100 pounds of potatoes from six baskets. The plants were
kept out of soggy soil so didn't rot in the ground....Seattle got a LOT of
rain...the plants grew in warm, well drained soil, produced like mad and I
composted straw all in one fell swoop! Plus dumping the baskets in my
shaker box made it an easy, no dig harvest and I no potatoes were left in
the ground. I just gently rolled the potatoes out of the shaker box on the
drive, hosed them down and let them air dry for a few days before storing.
EASY!

And you think that lifting one tyre at a time is easier than lifting a
washing basket full of spuds and soil? I very much doubt it.

Just my opinion but that tire thing looks like Hell, is an enormous amount
of work and doesn't work worth a darned!

It does. And if you haven't tried it how do you know? You did it with
washing baskets so next time try the same thing with tyres and then you will
know whether it works or not.

"George.com" wrote in message

I dug up the dead lot & got a few spuds. This last lot came down with
something as the potato stems had started to rot in the compost. The stack
went in mid october so about 2 1/2 months. Heaps of top growth, 6 tyres
high, but bugger all potatos. I'll see how the other 3 tyre stacks go.

Sounds like your growing medium was too rich - all show, no go.

"Val" expounded:

My little Grandma used to peel her potatoes into a piece of news paper,
bundle it up and take it to her flower garden and tucked it in where ever
she had an empty spot for planting. If you peel with a knife instead of a
vegetable peeler you have enough eye left in most of the peeling to grow.
Made a nice green filler in her flower beds and the blossoms were very
pretty as well. In the fall she'd dig them up. Not only did she get some
nice potatoes that where dug at the same time as she was "putting her garden
to bed" for the winter, she was improving the soil as well. Potatoes do
wonders for soil improvement. The volunteers that occasionally came up in
the spring where just dug the following fall.

What a wonderful memory, and a good idea! My great grandmother was
the garden inspiration in our family. We're lucky to have had them in
our lives!
--
Ann, gardening in Zone 6a
South of Boston, Massachusetts
e-mail address is not checked
******************************