# Planting potatoes



## melco (May 7, 2006)

Hi
I am in zone 7 and wanted to know when is the time to put my potatoes in the ground. I will be planting Yukon Golds and Sweet potatoes. I have never done potaotes before. Thanks.
Melissa


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## Guest (Mar 5, 2009)

Sweet potatoes need lots of warmth to grow well. If the ground is still cold they'll sulk and rot. If your soil is warm enough for peppers to grow well then you can put your sweet potatoes in.

White potatoes such as your Yukon Golds like cooler soil. Here in North Florida I planted mine about two week ago, but you may need to a wait a bit longer in Zone 7.

.....Alan.


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## Grandmotherbear (May 15, 2002)

I got my sweet potatoes from Sandhill Preservation last year July 3 and they grew like gangbusters. If you put sweets in cold or cool ground they will never forgive you and never make up the growth lost to cold temps.
irish potatoes, now, LIKE cool soil. They don't form tubers once the temps go above 80 or 85 degrees. Yukon is a short season, only takes 65 days or so till the plant lies down and dies.
I just planted some baby fingerlings that sprouted from their eyes. Taking more over to the lake. It may be too late for the mid or late season fingerlings, but when I see them trying to grow I just wanna help em out a little!(Zone 10 Lake and Zone 10/11 city)


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## TSYORK (Mar 16, 2006)

Hopefully, these pointers will help. I'm in Zone 7 as well.

If you are planning on growing sweet potatoes you will need to plant sweet potato plants, not the actual tubers. We bed our last yearâs crop of sweet potatoes in a mulch pile, once the ground warms up. Keep the mulch moist but not soggy. They will sprout. Once the shoots come out, let them grow a bit then you can pinch them off and replant into your garden. Check your local feed and seed store; sometimes they will have advertisements for folks that are selling sweet potato slips. You do not want to plant them now; it's way too cold yet. In zone 7, sweet potatoes do not actually "make" until September. I usually harvest in October, before the first frost. If you don't want to harvest before frost you can cut the vines of the sweet potatoes off before the frost and you can leave the tubers in the ground until you have time to harvest them. Be sure to cut the vines off before the frost though. If you don't, it will cause the sweet potatoes to rot once harvested if the frost hits them or the vines while they are attached. 

Regarding Yukon Gold potatoes..... GOOD LUCK!!!!!! Zone seven soil is not optimum for growing the Yukon gold variety. I don't know what it is, but they really do not do that well here. I planted a 50-lb bag of Yukon gold seed potatoes one year and didn't get up enough to fill a dishpan hardly. They were quite small, too; some were marbles! If you want a good potato that grows well in zone 7, I would recommend the Kennebec potato. I'm putting out 75-pounds of seed potatoes of those this year. Also, because we love the red potatoes, and they do well in zone 7 too, I'll be planting 25-pounds of Red Pontiac's. You will need to get seed potatoes and cut them up so that you have one eye per piece of potato. I normally plant white potatoes on Good Friday; that's usually a good earmark to plant by for this area. 

Sorry for the long post.


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## MaineFarmMom (Dec 29, 2002)

> Zone seven soil is not optimum for growing the Yukon gold variety.


Zones have nothing to do with the soil. The _only _thing USDA Hardiness zones tell us is the average annual minimum temperature in the area. 

The ground should be damp but not wet. If you plant early and an unexpected frost kills the parts of the plants above ground they usually recover and start to grow again. It will set them back for a short time but the harvest isn't usually noticeably affected. If the plants aren't too big you can cover them with soil, straw or whatever you're using to protect them. 

If you want new potatoes you can start pulling them out when the plants blossom. Reach in under the plant, take what you want and leave the rest to grow.


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## melco (May 7, 2006)

Thanks for all the great info. I didn't realize the difference in the two types, I am glad I asked. Have a great day.
Melissa


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

When do you want to harvest your potatoes? That will make a difference in when you plant them. My first couple of years, my potatoes were ready for harvest in June....I wasn't going to be able to use them as storage potatoes in any sense of the word. Now I plant early and late varieties and I plant the late ones - later.


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## melco (May 7, 2006)

Callieslamb,
I would like to have early and late as well. This is my first year and didn't know what to buy so I bought Yukon Gold. I will be planting them very soon, so I guess they will be my early.  What would you suggest for late harvest that will store well. When do you plant late? Thanks.
Melissa


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## SnakeRiver (Feb 7, 2009)

Here in taterland we plant in May.


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