That's how we always planted them. Maybe more like 6" of straw. The actual pototatos were planted about 4" deep in the dirt, then after they came up, the straw was put on. At the end of the year, you could pull the straw back and the potatoes would be sitting mostly right on top of the dirt. So, they were definitely growing in dirt, but the potatoes formed at the very top of it.
Z On 6/15/07, Thomas Kelly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Kirk, > Last year I followed a friend's suggestion a friend's of growing > potatoes "in a cage". I planted some potatoes in the soil and put a wire > cage around each plant. As the potato plants grew, I added leaf mold to the > cage. I could then simply remove the cage, pull back the leaf mold and the > potatoes would be had w/o digging/bruising. > I noticed that the plants I grew in the ground, w/o cages, were > healthier than the caged plants. They also had less insect damage to their > leaves. I had to water the caged plants. Harvesting was easier, but the > caged plants produced noticeably smaller potatoes. > I know this is not exactly what you are asking about, but I can't help > but wonder if the difference between the caged and the soil-grown potato > plants > came down to plant nutrition; living soil vs. artificial growth medium. > The caged potatoes were planted in soil, and the leaf mold had some > nutrients to offer. I don't think it compares to the living, > compost-enriched soil my "dirt potatoes" were grown in. I think that straw > would also come up short of living soil. > Tom > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Kirk McLoren > To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org > Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 6:22 AM > Subject: [Biofuel] straw cultured potato > > > ever see potatoes grown in a foot of straw? They claimed no digging to > harvest tubers. > Since the roots go down do they decide to fruit in the first foot of root? > Probably since next years potato comes from the fruit. > > Kirk > > _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
