Any potato growers out there? Advice, please.
So I just completed my first season attempt at growing Irish potatoes; Yukon Gold was the variety. I started with purchased seed potatoes from a garden center. Planted late winter when the local ag center web site said the right time was. I have dense clay soil all over my yard, so I planted the 8 seed potatoes spread among 3 20 inch diameter pots. Made sure there was good drainage underneath. Used potting soil, starting them at a depth of 6 inches. All of them sprouted and looked healthy. I top dressed with more potting soil and compost as the greenery grew taller. I ultimately had about 16 inches depth by the late spring, after everything settled. After the stalks died down, I waited 1 month to allow potato skins to toughen a little. Just tipped out the pots today and harvested.....drumroll.....8 small potatoes, precisely the same number I had planted.
Can someone explain what happened? That is not a harvest. That is just a withdrawal of my original deposit, lol. How do I increase yields? I am trying to decide whether to save and plant again next year or eat these and consider potatoes a failed gardening experiment.
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They do look like fine potatoes though . I've never done well with potatoes what did you fertilize them with ?
Besalbub
Level 8
July 2, 2020
0
Nothing but compost.
@MikeInBatonRouge Good compost is the best fertilize in the world. It also has tiny critters that will eat spider mites and other tiny creepy crawlies.
@MikeInBatonRouge Compost is good for the soil but is not fertilizer May have some nitrogen in it (was told by an extension agent ) I'd try again with some 888 garden fertilizer .
You planted the seed potatoes whole???? My family and I quartered seed potatoes making sure each quarter had at least two eyes. Dad burned off the potato plot, we planted on good Fri (weather allowing) and started harvesting when the vines had died back. The soil was dense clay. Every year we planted fifty pounds of seed and grew two hundred pounds of potatoes.
Results may vary 
freeofgod
Level 8
July 2, 2020
5
I've used a 30 gallon garbage can, plant near the bottom in compost, then backfill with a mixture of leaves, pine bark mulch, and compost. Normally get more than I need.
glennlab
Level 10
July 2, 2020
3
Do you fill to the top? Maybe I didn.'t bury deep enough?
@MikeInBatonRouge at least 3/4 full. Potatoes will continue to form roots from their stems no matter how much you add to the pot.
Clay soil is terrible for potatoes...waaay too dense! You can get a Huge harvest planting an eye or 2 in a barrel of leaves plus compost...nice & light & crumbly!
AnneWimsey
Level 9
July 2, 2020
3
I planted them in large pots of soft potting mix for that very reason. Still had a crappy harvest.
@MikeInBatonRouge The only way I've seen potatoes planted is in soil. Covered deep buried in mounds.
@freeofgod I used pots after reading of the idea from a couple of different sources.
@MikeInBatonRouge New ideas are fun. My husband tried to grow a few in a bale of hay. Dismal failure but interesting experiment.
Sometimes , its simply easier to depend on the grocery store .
Cast1es
Level 9
July 2, 2020
4
Yes, I spent more on the packet of seed potatoes than for a ten pound sack of grocery potatoes. That doesn't even include soil me xes.my pots were recycled, so I don't count that as an expense.
The gardening part is about process and also the notion of home grown being healthier, more nutrient-rich. I know that is true for crops that are often forced, greenhouse grown out of season, and hybridized for speed or other commercially expedient qualities. I am not at all sure it applies to potatoes.
I am also growing my first ever sweet potatoes, an entirely different family of vegetable. I will see come Octobe how that turns out.
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