AboutTom Alonzo Expertise I have been growing plants from seeds for at least 20 years. I have grown literally hundreds of different kinds of vegetables, trees, shrubs, annuals, perennials, tropicals, some cacti, water plants, iris, rose, lilies, cannas, etc. I enjoy starting from seed.
Experience I've been growing my own seeds for 20 years with indoor propagation equipment I built myself. I am also an Allexperts volunteer on the perennial forum. I have completed the Master Gardener course through the Kansas State University Extension. I have experience with a wide variety of seeds and I have also read through Norm Deno's books on seed germination.
Expert: Tom Alonzo Date: 7/5/2008 Subject: potatoe yeild
Question Dear tom,i am a beginner at growing my own vegatables and things are coming alone great,all that is apart from my very small yeild of potatoes,i planted seed potatoes that i brought from store.can you give me any advice to improve my harvest? thank you for your time,regards marion
Answer Hi Marion,
Thanx for your question. For good potato production you need soil that has good tilth (the texture is soft and crumbly and doesn't lump together because of too much clay but is not too loose and sandy). The bed needs to be tilled deeply. What you do is till deeply and then make deep furrows in which you place the seed potato and cover. As the plants grow, you continue to hill up the soil along the sides. You can also use straw to increase the density around your potato plants. Hilling up around the potatoes creates more of an area for the tubers to grow. Also, when fertilizing you need a fertilizer that is lower in nitrogen. High nitrogen fertilizers will cause vigorous green growth with little or not growth in the roots, tubers, etc. Look for fertilizers with the following ratings 6-24-24 or 8-24-24. Also, heap well-composted manure around the potato hills which adds nutrients and body to the soil. I hope this helps.
Tom
P.S. We also have a category here at Allexperts called Growing Vegetables. I know a little big about vegetable growing but you might want to tap into this resource of "real" vegetable growing experts. Regards.
