How to grow the biggest potato? Help us win a comp
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stasi21,
Mar 7, 7:14pm
Hubby and I are having a potato growing competition with his brothers and their wives. The biggest potato wins. The only problem is that me and hubby havnt grown anything before, only a cactus can survive in this house!! lol..
Please tell me your best potato growing tips! We have four seed potatoes that we are going to plant today into two big bucket type things.
We have googled potato growing tips and have gotten books out at the library, so we have a plan, but I want to know any tried and true ways that have produced gigantic spuds!
The losing couple in the competition has to host a four course meal for the other couples and the couple that comes second has to provide all the beverages for the dinner. The winning couple just has to turn up! We really want to win this!
holly-rocks,
Mar 7, 9:15pm
I dont have any tips really except grow them in the ground! Something grown in a pot will never be as big as an earth grown plant. Make sure you dig over the soil really well before planing too. Agria spuds grow pretty big. Im no expert but isnt it getting alittle late to plant spuds now?
Good luck btw
corgi731,
Mar 7, 9:26pm
i think it mite be getting a bit late too... but can always try!! yep make sure your soil is well dug and prepare it well with some potatoe food (can buy at mitre 10 is called potatoe food), i used that this year, and grew some massive spuds.Good luck,its an awesome idea, nothing like a bit of good healthy competition....lol, keep us posted
fifie,
Mar 7, 9:56pm
My thoughts are its a bit late now, but it might work. I'm with the others grow in the ground not a bucket we tried that this summer for a competition with all the goodies put into the soil in a big bucket and the potatoes we got were pathetic lol. Neat idea Good Luck you never know till you try....
buzzy110,
Mar 8, 12:32am
How long before harvest, do you have to grow these enormous potatoes?
Like other posters have said, planting now may not provide you with enough growing time to grow really big potatoes and growing in the ground is much better.
What did your books tell you about growing potatoes? Once we know this we can advise further.
stasi21,
Mar 8, 1:46am
Thanks for your replies everyone. Yes, it does seem that it may be getting a tad late for planting, but going to try anyway.
Its not really "buckets" as such that we are growing them in, we have two big round tubs, approximately the size of a jeep tyre but much deeper. We will be planting two seed potatoes to a tub, so we feel like there should be plenty of room.
Not going to cut the seed potatoes, will plant whole. Have bought some potato food from Mitre 10 and will use it per the instructions on the back.
The digging up time is end of may.
One website that we found recommends to put mulch around the plants rather than more soil, so will be doing that. Maybe just with one tub and the other one we can just keep putting more soil around it as the plant grows.
And that's kind of it..don't really have any other tricks up our sleeve at the moment. Going to cross out fingers and hope for the best!
buzzy110,
Mar 8, 3:59am
Put the 'seeds' in a sunny place inside and wait for the little shoots to appear. The time to plant them is when they are well sprouted.
raewyn64,
Mar 8, 4:50am
what about adding some "Rootblast" as well?
stasi21,
Mar 8, 5:14am
yeah..we have already done that. They have sprouted lots of little shoots, so we are definitely all ready to go:-)
Will let you all know how it all goes:-)
stasi21,
Mar 8, 7:14pm
Hubby and I are having a potato growing competition with his brothers and their wives. The biggest potato wins. The only problem is that me and hubby havnt grown anything before, only a cactus can survive in this house! lol.
Please tell me your best potato growing tips! We have four seed potatoes that we are going to plant today into two big bucket type things.
We have googled potato growing tips and have gotten books out at the library, so we have a plan, but I want to know any tried and true ways that have produced gigantic spuds!
The losing couple in the competition has to host a four course meal for the other couples and the couple that comes second has to provide all the beverages for the dinner. The winning couple just has to turn up! We really want to win this!
beaker59,
Mar 8, 7:41pm
Growing Potatoes is just like anything else provide optimum conditions and they will flourish sounds like you have soil sussed but also think about sun warmth and water don't let the plants dry out but also don't grow them in a swamp. Make sure the container is in a warm sunny spot protected from strong winds. remember the sun will be a little less and the shadows longer in May which is when the potatoes themselves will be developing.
Sounds like a very fun idea and while the timing is not ideal they will grow and as a competition everyone has the same issues to contend with just make sure yours get the best treatment.
holly-rocks,
Mar 8, 9:15pm
I dont have any tips really except grow them in the ground! Something grown in a pot will never be as big as an earth grown plant. Make sure you dig over the soil really well before planing too. Agria spuds grow pretty big. Im no expert but isnt it getting alittle late to plant spuds now!
Good luck btw
corgi731,
Mar 8, 9:26pm
i think it mite be getting a bit late too. but can always try! yep make sure your soil is well dug and prepare it well with some potatoe food (can buy at mitre 10 is called potatoe food), i used that this year, and grew some massive spuds.Good luck,its an awesome idea, nothing like a bit of good healthy competition.lol, keep us posted
fifie,
Mar 8, 9:56pm
My thoughts are its a bit late now, but it might work. I'm with the others grow in the ground not a bucket we tried that this summer for a competition with all the goodies put into the soil in a big bucket and the potatoes we got were pathetic lol. Neat idea Good Luck you never know till you try.
buzzy110,
Mar 9, 12:32am
How long before harvest, do you have to grow these enormous potatoes!
Like other posters have said, planting now may not provide you with enough growing time to grow really big potatoes and growing in the ground is much better.
What did your books tell you about growing potatoes! Once we know this we can advise further.
stasi21,
Mar 9, 1:46am
Thanks for your replies everyone. Yes, it does seem that it may be getting a tad late for planting, but going to try anyway.
Its not really "buckets" as such that we are growing them in, we have two big round tubs, approximately the size of a jeep tyre but much deeper. We will be planting two seed potatoes to a tub, so we feel like there should be plenty of room.
Not going to cut the seed potatoes, will plant whole. Have bought some potato food from Mitre 10 and will use it per the instructions on the back.
The digging up time is end of may.
One website that we found recommends to put mulch around the plants rather than more soil, so will be doing that. Maybe just with one tub and the other one we can just keep putting more soil around it as the plant grows.
And that's kind of it.don't really have any other tricks up our sleeve at the moment. Going to cross out fingers and hope for the best!
garfeild101,
Mar 9, 3:15am
Use Rootblast its $19.99 frommost places that do gardening, i planted a small (x4) tomatoe plants and within 2 weeks they were twice as high, we added it to our entire vege garden when we planted it-amazing stuff that actually works. It has an ad that shows people growing veges compared to ppl not using rootblast-5x the size-very impressive
buzzy110,
Mar 9, 3:59am
Put the 'seeds' in a sunny place inside and wait for the little shoots to appear. The time to plant them is when they are well sprouted.
raewyn64,
Mar 9, 4:50am
what about adding some "Rootblast" as well!
stasi21,
Mar 9, 5:14am
yeah.we have already done that. They have sprouted lots of little shoots, so we are definitely all ready to go:-)
Will let you all know how it all goes:-)
buzzy110,
Mar 9, 7:57am
stasi, I have just had a thought. I hope that the harvesting will be done by each group in front of the other groups. There is always the possibility that one group could go and buy their 'big' spud from the shops. LOL. Are you all using the same variety of potato to ensure a level playing field?
beaker59,
Mar 9, 7:41pm
Growing Potatoes is just like anything else provide optimum conditions and they will flourish sounds like you have soil sussed but also think about sun warmth and water don't let the plants dry out but also don't grow them in a swamp. Make sure the container is in a warm sunny spot protected from strong winds. remember the sun will be a little less and the shadows longer in May which is when the potatoes themselves will be developing.
Sounds like a very fun idea and while the timing is not ideal they will grow and as a competition everyone has the same issues to contend with just make sure yours get the best treatment.
stasi21,
Mar 9, 7:51pm
Hahaha..Buzzy, so funny you should say that. Yep, its in our big list of rules. The other two couple did a chilli growing comp last year and there were some "allegations" of cheating, so its in the rules for this year's competition that we are going to have a "dig up" day and we will all go to each other's places and observe the harvesting.
Yes, we are using the same seed potatoes, they all came from the same bag and we took turns picking each potato out.lol
To be honest, Im not going to be overly upset if we lose, as I absolutely love cooking, so hosting a four course meal for everyone would actually be fun, plus if its at our place, we don't have to worry about either me or hubby being a sober driver, so its almost convenient. Of course winning would be great, but its all just a bit of fun really.
purplegoanna,
Mar 9, 7:53pm
chook poo & sheep poo and a good dose of comfrey leaves under the spud when you plant it....
stasi21,
Mar 9, 7:54pm
We planted our potatoes on Tuesday, so fingers crossed! Used potato food from Mitre 10, is it too late to use Rootblast as well I wonder?
Its been really cold at nights and in the morning in Auckland at the moment, so really hope it warms up, so our little spuds have a chance
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