Seven Ways with Spuds

Alabama Master Gardener Mary McCroan demonstrates seven different ways to plant potatoes. Members of the Central Alabama Master Gardeners Association will monitor the vitality and yield for each method and share it later.

Organic Moments is a presentation

of Alabama Master Gardeners and the

Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

This is seven ways to grow potatoes.

in Alabama, in your garden.

Each of these methods involves planting potatoes

in growing medium at the bottom of a container.

And then as the potatoes grow, you add more medium.

So when the potato leaves are 5-6 inches above

the leaf litter for this cage method,

you cover up, you add more leaf litter

until you only have one or two leaves showing,

and then you continue until

it's full, the potatoes are mature,

and ready for harvest, which takes about three months.

We have six other methods.

This method involves putting shredded paper in the bottom.

There are no holes in the bottom of this;

we expect these potatoes to rot,

so we're following the method; we're gonna give it a try.

This one is your standard bucket; no bottom in it.

Put your medium in, plant the potatoes, add it as they grow.

You can stack these things four buckets high,

and when the potatoes are ready, just take the buckets off

and the potatoes fall on the ground.

Next we have the straw method where you put your potatoes

in the middle of a small pile of straw.

When they start to grow, you continue to add straw.

This pile will eventually get waist high or better

and hopefully full of potatoes.

This is a commercial bag; you can buy it for 15 dollars.

It's our most expensive mechanism, but it's

ideally suited for the small patio.

You put your potatoes in the growing medium.

As they grow you continue to add mulch or compost.

You unfold this bag; it keeps your patio nice and neat,

and it's easy to harvest at the end of the year.

The cheap method - this is 12 cents -

is your standard black garbage bag.

Exactly the same method.

And when you get done, just rip the garbage bag open

and the potatoes fall on the ground and you harvest.

And then last we have our standard.

Make a little hill pile of growing potatoes.

You can put four potatoes in one hill,

make a little hole,

put the potato in there; cover it up,

and again continue to add mulch or compost as they grow.

As the hill gets a little bigger, just full of potatoes,

have a harvest in about three months.

We're gonna be very interested to see which one of these

works the best,

and which provides the greatest yield.

Helpers: Karla Hall and Candy Jones

To find out more, check out www.aces.edu.

To become a Master Gardener,

check out www.aces.edu/mg

Announcer: Adrian Lee Olson

Music: Bama Sunshine by Elion Olson

www.elionolson.com