# So the potato tower doesn't work in reality....



## illinoisguy (Sep 4, 2011)

I've heard the theory of using boxes....tires..straw.....etc......but after watching some vids, it's pretty much failure. Apparently you don't get potatoes growing up vertically.....

....anyone have experience on this one way or the other?


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## Jokarva (Jan 17, 2010)

I've grown in a cardboard box before, just tossed sprouting potatoes in open bottomed box and as the vine grew I kept covering with shredded leaves. Even lifted the box flaps and zip tied them to make the box taller. Got a reasonable harvest with minimal effort. If you're looking for max return the tower/box idea may not work well, but it does work.


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

I've grown in tires before with good success. Dig the spot, put down one tire. Lay tomatoes on the ground and cover with compost/ hay. When the green tops are long enough, put on another tire and keep covering. Then add a third. To harvest, just pull off the tires one by one. 
Since new potatoes are formed above the seed potato, I don't see how it could fail.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

You have to limit how high you pile your soil. Too high and the potatoes just keep struggling to have green leaves. Another thing I noticed in many of those videos is that when the potatoes were dug the leaves were still very green and live. In order to get the largest tubers you have to wait until the leaves and stem are brown and dead.


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## 1shotwade (Jul 9, 2013)

I read an explanation that there are 2 types of potato. I will only set potato's on the bottom (kenebec?) and another type that will continue to make potato's up the vine as it grows.(Red Pontiac and Yukon gold?).I have raised in tires by adding potatoes each time I add a tire then leaving them out and harvesting one tire at a time.Sweet potatoes should do well in towers also.

Wade


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

W tried it but didn't get much. Of course we've about given up on potatoes. We just can't grow them.


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## geo in mi (Nov 14, 2008)

When the internet was newer and people were just learning how to post pictures, someone published a "how-to" article on how you can get a fantastic one hundred pounds of potatoes by growing them in a tower. All you have to do is pile more and more dirt on them as they grow--the theory being that potatoes will somehow make new stolons (tuber producing stems) as the main stem gets covered up--the higher the pile, the more stolons and of course, more potatoes at harvest.

Trouble was, that someone never got back on the internet at the end of the season to prove the hundred pound theory--so it lasts here in cyberspace. It has also morphed into tire towers, pallets, plastic barrels, and even growing sacks. And still, no one ever gets back at the end of the season with the fantastic hundred pound results!

There are hundreds and hundreds of potato varieties in the world, And I know of NONE that will produce stolons from the growing stem once it breaks the soil, hits the light, and turns green. From that point on it will always be a stem and not produce a stolon.

Now, there MAY BE a potato variety out there that MAY produce stolons "forever" if you can manage to keep the stem covered BEFORE it turns green, but that would take a complete daylight watch to get it covered before it hits the light.....This is a theory that has never been proven, either. If someone wants to play scientist, get up before daybreak and stay in the potato patch until sundown....keeping in mind that every variety of potato would have to be tested..........more power to them....

Even the theory of a hundred pounds from such a small space is suspect. First of all, someone has mentioned the chief drawback--if you keep covering up the stem, you'll soon have no leaves----no photosynthesis, no spuds.... Second, how will you get water down there? Third, even if you get water down there, where will the nutrients come from to feed all those competing, crowded roots? You might end up with marbles, and how many marbles would it take to make a hundred pounds?

Potato scientists from all over the world-and there are hundreds- have not refuted the theory, however; mainly they have just bypassed it. There's no reason to test it. They have learned there's more to gain by just planting seed potatoes in good, workable soil, in rows about three feet apart, in four to six inches of covering soil, and about a foot from each other in the rows. One hilling to cover the growing tubers, with irrigation and fertility(lots of it) to do the rest.....The planting depth of four to six inches deep is the key--after all, DNA is DNA--there will be enough stolons at that depth to provide all the potatoes the plant--with good moisture and fertility--can use to make a bumper crop.

IF, you have unworkable soil (clay, gravel, hardpan) it might be best to make some towers. But put GOOD, nutrient rich, workable soil beneath the seed piece so you'll have a good root system. Then cover the seed pieces with four to six inches of good soil. Covering them afterwards as they produce stems is your option. Once with eight to ten inches of soil to cover the growing tubers--or a mulch of leaves, straw, etc. All the covering up does is protect the new tubers from sunlight and allow them to slip into place as they grow. No more piling on after that----and you'll get a crop, _per cubic foot of soil_ as good as you would out in the open.

The real miracle of potatoes is that they grow no matter who plants them.

geo


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

The only time I have seen something that looked verifiable was in an old Organic Gardening magazine. A man in Alaska would allow his potatoes to develop long sprouts before planting them. He then started stacking them by having a box with about 6 inches of soil, arranging the long sprouts on the top with the tubers in the center and the end of the sprout almost to the edge of the box. He then added a 4 inch spacer and another box, another 6 inches of soil, more sprouted potates and repeated up to 8 layers. 
The potatoes then leafed out of the spaces and top. He had pictures of the planting, then the box while growing, which was covered in potato leaves, then at harvest. Each layer was packed with large potatoes.
He still had to use lots of sprouted potatoes but the harvesting required no digging.
There are different lengths of potato sprouts according to varieties. I have one, Red Cloud, with sets all tubers within an inch of the stem. No good for this way. There are others, such as German Butterball, that will send out sprouts feet long which I think would work well.


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## 1shotwade (Jul 9, 2013)

here's some.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMrkIecqQL8[/ame]
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsz-Gu2FBoo[/ame]

Wade


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## 1shotwade (Jul 9, 2013)

Here's one more of interest.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8wAWn0-Ydw[/ame]

Wade


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

A brief synopsis for those of us unable to upload video?


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## LittleRedHen (Apr 26, 2006)

I have no idea what kind of potatoes that man grows but it is certainly not possible with the kinds i grow (yukon, norland, pontiac, irish cobbler etc)


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## 1shotwade (Jul 9, 2013)

where I want to said:


> A brief synopsis for those of us unable to upload video?


Oh,sorry! The first 2 are just people showing their harvest from barrels. One is 55 gal and they got 20#. The other is maybe 15-20 gal and over 10# in each container. The last one is an experiment with old varieties that are said to do good in containers but not much info.

Wade


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## DavidUnderwood (Jul 5, 2007)

You can grow a lot of potatoes in a small space.
But the towers do not work. One plant will only make so
many potatoes. They will not keep on producing up the stalk.
I'm one of the hardheaded ones who will try anything a time
or two. A 4X8 bed 10 inches deep in compost will make 150
pounds of red Pontiacs if they have plenty of water and good 
weather. That aint bad. And its as easy as taters get!


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

1shotwade said:


> Oh,sorry! The first 2 are just people showing their harvest from barrels. One is 55 gal and they got 20#. The other is maybe 15-20 gal and over 10# in each container. The last one is an experiment with old varieties that are said to do good in containers but not much info.
> 
> Wade


Thank you. I get about 30-40 lbs from my chicken wire baskets that are about 4' x 8'. What I like is that the dirt is at knee level and I can harvest by reaching in and grabbing.
I grow German Butterball- heavy producer-, Yukon Gold, Red Cloud, and Carola, which is still on trial as it has not performed well. I consider purple potatoes to be z weed.


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## Declan (Jan 18, 2015)

The waiting until the tops are completely brown and died back does not work in my area. What happens is the new potatoes will either start sending up top growth or all your good sized potatoes have started rotting. I now only plant Kennebec and mark the calendar for 100 days from the day I plant them. They come out of the ground the weekend closest to that. My harvest last year was pants, but I did not really tend to my garden like I should with the terminal hospitalization and then death on my mom. The year before that I got probably my best harvest of potatoes. Not many really big ones, but a lot of small to mediums with very little loss.


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## DryHeat (Nov 11, 2010)

Hey, you guys are good on this stuff. Several months ago, I had a few volunteer sprouts come up in container soil after I'd casually mixed some sprouted & spoiled common white potato chunks into them, figuring I was letting most of my pots go fallow this year to save the water and rethink what was worth my time to fool around with. Decided to keep the sprouts going in those pots then a few weeks ago tried a version of the "pile the soil up" process, using a busted up plastic pot slipped down over the plant in one to hold a foot or so deep new dirt. Proudly pointed the theory out to DW, even, telling her about the idea of stacking old tires up as a common and productive trick. By a week ago, the plant I've left alone was still OK but getting a bit frazzled as our temps have gone over 100F, but the one I'd semi-buried had wilted away and was totally dead. Just dug it up and retrieved a couple tiny spuds totaling 1/4 lb weight. I had been wondering about fungal blight, but that the whole "keep piling dirt up" concept is mostly just a net rumor makes more sense. Bet I'll get a full 1/2 pound out of the one I've left alone! <snort> <sarc off>/


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## Declan (Jan 18, 2015)

I have a theory that the mounding up dirt is less about new tubers and more about keeping the soil underneath softer as the crust will form higher up, leaving more soft soil for the potatoes to form in.


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

I push my planting tubers down about 10 to 12 inches into the soil in my beds, cover with a thick mulch and never touch them til harvest. The mulch keeps the tubers from greening. The soil is always fairly loose. The leaves come out, die back and that it.


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## Marcia in MT (May 11, 2002)

Paquebot once posted that a potato only produces about 18" of stolon stem, and after that, you won't get anything but vegetative stem. So piling on more soil/stuff than that won't do you any good.

I've also read that in order to do well, containerized potatoes should be only early varieties -- Kennebec was mentioned.


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## 1shotwade (Jul 9, 2013)

Kennebec does not work well vertically. I saw a clip that said that many of the older varieties that have been past over would continue to product up the stem and that was why they were passed over. The popular varieties of today became popular because they did not set potatoes on up the stem. The implication was that "some" of the older varieties would work for vertical gardening.

Wade


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## Marcia in MT (May 11, 2002)

1shotwade said:


> Kennebec does not work well vertically. I saw a clip that said that many of the older varieties that have been past over would continue to product up the stem and that was why they were passed over. The popular varieties of today became popular because they did not set potatoes on up the stem. The implication was that "some" of the older varieties would work for vertical gardening.
> 
> Wade


Could you please tell us the names of these older varieties?


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## 1shotwade (Jul 9, 2013)

I'd love to but I don't know either! The last video I put up talks about the company and 600 varieties available so that would be the only place I would know to start.If you do get some info,please pass it on to us.
Thanks,

Wade


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

I don't think they are uncommon. At least the ones that I put under the bed to cure and forgot about reminded me of their existence by the sprouts reaching about two feet out the sides. Russian Banana and Red Cloud were short but German Butterball, Carola and one other I forgot were very long indeed.


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## sapphira (Mar 24, 2003)

Well, the best luck I have had was using an industrial or commercial black trash bag. But it defeated the purpose of getting something with much effort for almost no cost. This year I bought 2 one dollar cloth dollar general shopping bags because they were made of a material. I have red potato pieces with sprouts planted in them and can hardly keep up with their growth. I have put in some good potting soil, some used potting soil and based and mixed in some mulch that is turning to dirt after me not being able to use it all in 2 years. Found a good spot too - morning and early afternoon sun - all day sun here in the summer kills about everything. The bags are about 2" submerged in mound of mulch next to shed. If I get halfway decent return for 2 dollars and labor then I will try 4-6 bags next year. Small red potatoes are yummyummyum.


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

geo in mi said:


> When the internet was newer and people were just learning how to post pictures, someone published a "how-to" article on how you can get a fantastic one hundred pounds of potatoes by growing them in a tower. All you have to do is pile more and more dirt on them as they grow--the theory being that potatoes will somehow make new stolons (tuber producing stems) as the main stem gets covered up--the higher the pile, the more stolons and of course, more potatoes at harvest.
> 
> Trouble was, that someone never got back on the internet at the end of the season to prove the hundred pound theory--so it lasts here in cyberspace. It has also morphed into tire towers, pallets, plastic barrels, and even growing sacks. And still, no one ever gets back at the end of the season with the fantastic hundred pound results!
> 
> ...


No they don't. I keep trying but I can't get them to grow... the only plant we have problems with.


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## Declan (Jan 18, 2015)

terri9630 said:


> No they don't. I keep trying but I can't get them to grow... the only plant we have problems with.


Have you tried growing them in winter?

On the plus side, usually where other potatoes do not fair well, sweet potatoes do.


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

Declan said:


> Have you tried growing them in winter?
> 
> On the plus side, usually where other potatoes do not fair well, sweet potatoes do.


We planted some last fall but didn't get thing before it froze. We're going to try planting at the end of Aug this year.


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## Declan (Jan 18, 2015)

terri9630 said:


> We planted some last fall but didn't get thing before it froze. We're going to try planting at the end of Aug this year.


look up the length of the growing season for the variety you want to plant and calculate off your freeze date. You can probably buy a week or two just with covering them. Think of it as a challenge--you CAN grow potatoes where you live. You just have to figure out how.


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

Declan said:


> look up the length of the growing season for the variety you want to plant and calculate off your freeze date. You can probably buy a week or two just with covering them. Think of it as a challenge--you CAN grow potatoes where you live. You just have to figure out how.


We did that last year but didn't get anything eating size. Well keep trying hut I hate to waste the water on "non edible" plants.


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