King no more
Posted on 02/04/2023 6:17:08 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Any tips for potatoes? Successful 1 out of 5 years. Great survival food. N georgia
Unfortunately, the wind blew down powerlines and I was without heat for a very tense half hour last night.
.
Sorry to hear that.
Try to stay warm.
Got hot cocoa?
Good luck to you!
I found this:
https://plantcarer.com/strawberry-leaves-turning-brown/
Here’s one on strawberry seedlings:
https://strawberryplants.org/strawberry-seedlings/
Perhaps they’re too wet and getting infected? Your plants look like what I had going the week before last. Too wet. They’ll get a fungus. Mine got white hairy follicles but as others said here, fungus isn’t always visible.
Nice looking plants - great to have a big window like that.
This is the first somewhat ‘normal’ Saturday since early December. It IS cold, however. I know a lot of you have been colder, but 16 is pretty cold for us. I’m chicken sitting so I took 2 gallons of warm water to the coop around 8:30 - the ‘girls’ were happy to have water! They drank quite a bit, then headed off to the food.
There were 3 eggs in the nest boxes - I thought they might be frozen, but they were just super cold. There are 7 hens & with the exception of 1, they’ve been laying right along (despite being on Tractor Supply feed). The one hen not laying has recently started again - she was the hen that the fox was trying to carry away when the Collie intervened - the fox had to drop the hen to be able to run fast enough to get away. I would imagine that being in the mouth of a fox would scare a hen into not laying for a couple of weeks.
Yesterday, I had one of those “simple pleasure” moments .... needed two tablespoons of chopped thyme for a stew recipe. I braved the cold, gusting wind and cut some sprigs from two “baby” thyme plants that came from a larger, old thyme plant in a neighboring tub. The baby thyme plants have lots of leaves, smell delicious and were a great addition to the stew. I love being able to go out and cut fresh herbs for cooking - a simple pleasure.
The rest of the day, I’ll be spending inside - it’s currently 28, there’s a basketball game on now (two state rivals, one of which is the alma mater for 8 family members), and I’m catching up on completing 2022 Christmas presents for various people .... better late than never.
Herbal Tea, a lot of blankets, and a dawg.
I’m from Alabama so not far, but South towards Montgomery.
I plant Irish potatoes (not sweet, or yams) this month, in two weeks.
I’d wait a two more weeks and plant on 1 March.
They take a while to send shoots above ground so frost isn’t usually an issue, and if there is a late frost new shoots will replace whatever gets killed.
The reason I plant so early is that by the time it is hot and humid the diseases really get a hold of them and that’s it, potato season over. Time to plant yams.
So I plant mine in mid-February, that’s 90 days to mid-May or 120 to mid-June. I’ve never successfully got potatoes in Summer. I tried planting in Fall but they start out having to fight a lot of disease then when it’s still warm and then the first frost hits them when they’re just getting big.
Anyway, I dig a foot deep trench, line it with fertilizer, manure and pine needles. The pine needles lower the soil PH which if too alkaline causes more disease. Cover all up with soil, manure, straw, leaves, pine needles—I make a mix of all the above—and then pull up into a ridge. As sprouts come out, pull more dirt over them. I put down A LOT of leaves/straw/pine to completely drown out any leaves and it keeps the soil cool and damp when it gets hot.
Don’t’ let the soil get tampered down by walking on it. That’s why I cover all the bare spots with thick mulch, too.
Less weeds mean I’m not out walking on them pushing the soil down. A light, fluffy, cool soil is best for digging out.
I usually harvest after flowering which is towards mid to late May; early June if the weather’s not too hot.
You’d probably be two weeks off from me, depending on how far North you are and whether you’re up in the mountains.
You’ll be fine.
Thanks. I’ll start tracking how much I water I give them and also make sure the soil is dry each time.
Thanks! I usually plant late . The one successful season I planted them 2 feet deep in wood chips and covered them up. Irish huh? I’ve had better luck with Kennebecs or russets than reds.
Stop watering! You’re killing it with kindness! It’s also in a very rich soil that retains moisture, so let it dry completely before you water it again. That could be a week, minimum. You can clip off the crusty leaves - they won’t recover.
Also, turn the grow lights off at night if you’ve been leaving them on and the plant should be at least 2” below the lights as it grows, so you don’t burn them. (But your browning leaves are from too much water.)
Lights on for 16, off for 8 - just like Nature intends for all growing things.
Leave the good leaves alone, and with less watering, it will put out more new growth.
Strawberries are an invasive WEED and hard to kill, so you have that going for you. ;)
Ellendra is our Tater Queen.
“Help needed on growing potatoes! Aisle 41!”
*PING*
(Hey Pollard! Warmer weather headed your way!)
Thanks, Pete!
Also, see Post #56. Pollard probably has a ‘Tator Tutorial’ in there!
“Some days are Diamonds, Some days are Stones...”
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