We didn’t have any potatoes left in the pantry so I headed out the garden to pull up the remaining potato towers this morning. The last potato tower I pulled up sort of bombed, so I was hoping for a much better yield this time.
I started to get a little excited when I saw a couple of potatoes dangling in the dirt.
And then they started getting smaller, and smaller and smaller.
I pulled up 4 towers. Guess how many pounds of potatoes were in those stinkin’ {waste of a time} potato towers? 29 pounds, 4 ounces. You’ve got to be kidding me. What a rip off. Luckily I still have my traditional potato beds to fall back on. I’ll have the Handsome Husband dig those up right before the first frost.
Something tells me, I won’t be growing potatoes in towers ever again.
What a total potato FAILURE.
Did you plant any potatoes in towers this year? How did YOURS do?
~Mavis
Karissa says
Mine were TERRIBLE too!! So disappointed. I got as much out of 1 potato plant in the ground as I did for the 5 I planted in a tower. Bummer!
Lela says
Potatoes just don’t like heat…here in zone 8b I plant then at Christmas and still don’t get very many.
katy says
ours bombed as well. i even tried a super wide pallet-construction bin type thing, building up as we went, and that totally bombed. i personally don’t think my plants were mature enough before i started covering. and i also think i covered too densely. the plants at the west end of the bed, that got the most sun and warmth, were the most productive. it was really disappointing 🙁
Jesse says
I’m with you! I’ve tried all sorts of ways to plant potatoes and nothing beats in the ground!
However, the voles ate about 50% of my potato crop this year!
Mimi says
Thanks for posting the follow up! Sorry they didn’t work out as you had planned. Do you think they would have been better without adding additional seed potatoes?
I went with two 10 gal buckets this year 4 plants to each, got almost no potatoes. Normally I weigh them but I was too disheartened to know what the tally was, so I estimate them at maybe 2-3 pounds. There were other factors, like very, very little water (they were under an eave of the house), hot soil (buckets were black and in the sun), and they might have been too crowded with 4 plants in the buckets. But I’m not sure. I’m new to growing potatoes (and most things).
Christina Briggs says
Mine were horrible as well so disappointed!!!
Ruth says
A friend of mine (in Texas) started her potato plants in the ground. Then she put a tire around each one after it had grown a fair amount, filled the tire with dirt to encourage the potato plant to grow more and then kept piling the tires and the dirt up and up and up.
She was really happy with her yield. Plus, it was easy to to take apart. I’ve never planted potatoes though.
Rachele says
I planted taters in both towers and in my normal raised beds. the plants in the beds did fantastic, but the ones in the towers – I harvested one (thats 1) stinking potato!!
Jen J says
I know you are disappointed, but all I see are the beautiful colors! My kids would go nuts for even one of these. I definitely know what I’m planting next year.
Brandi says
I did potatoes in trashcans this year and you got way more potatoes than I did! The deer knocked over my cans and the heat really dried them up this year. Better luck next time :/
At least something is better than nothing! And my potatoes were so teeny 😉
Tanya Peila says
Guess I won’t try that one!
Ted S. says
The usual problem with low yield in tower potatoes is too little water. When I began putting a PVC pipe with tons of holes drilled in, my yield was much, much higher. I would water until the pipe was spilling water out of the top, adn then when I finished the row of towers, I would go back and water each one again until the pipe was full.
Mavis says
Thanks for your input Ted. I might try your idea this year. 🙂
donna finchum says
i was so hoping you would have good results. i was going to try the tower next spring. darn.
Carla D'Anna says
http://growinglots.blogspot.com/2010/06/potato-towers-living-fence-posts.html# Shows another way to do “towers” by planting the seed potatoes in multiple layers.
If you are only planting one layer an important factor in getting more potatoes along the buried stems is the type of potato. You are going to get a higher yield from late potatoes that have a longer growing season than from early ones.
jody says
We were inspired by you in early spring! We purchased the potato bags at Mclendon’s and planted away! We just turned them over and got lbs and lbs and of fabulous red and yukon potatoes. I was super happy! I agree with everyone that the summer was way hot and they need a lot of water. I am sad you’re bummed when you inspired us to try it! 😉
John the Aussie says
I use old care tyres (max 5 high) as the leaves pop through the first tyre I add the next tyre on top. At the same time as adding a second tyre to the first tier, I start a new tyre… Resulting in the end, 5 tyre tiers of potatoes.
The tyres offer full time warmth and easy stacking/knocking over or even a quick pull of the bottom tyre to grab a few spuds out.
Next year I hope to manage sweet potato in the same manner.
Great for concrete lawns…
We also use a separate tyre tier for compost.
Misty says
Are tyres the same at tires, or are you talking about something completely different?
Min says
I think the water idea may be my problem too. I had to hand water the potatoes and they were out of sight and often I realized I could not remember when I watered them last. I am going to carefully watch the watering next year to see if it helps.
Michelle H says
I have never heard of using potato towers and I live in one of biggest potato growing areas in the US. Our high school mascot is a potato. I don’t think people realize how many potatoes are left in the field after the harvesters are done. You can get hundreds of potatoes in a matter of minutes. Give it a try sometime, just ask farmer first.
Gail R says
I’m in Northern Vermont. I have planted tires in dirt raised beds, and they do well, of course. I have planted in black garbage bags, but I think the drainage was not consistent – when I harvested, a couple of bags were too wet and the potatoes were small and not very well formed. In the ones that were loamy and moist, but not wet, the spuds were firm and good sized. For that, you just start with the bag rolled down, almost flat. Punch a BUNCH of holes in the bottom – like – thumb sized holes, not nail holes. Then, add your soil or bedding whatever is your preference, then the potato seeds. I put some dirt over mine and then year-old garden compost. As the potatoes grow, raise the sides of the bag, add more compost and maybe a few more spuds. In the end, slice the side of the bag open and the potatoes are there for the lifting.
Now, though, I have permanent rows of tires. I finally thwarted the critters who come up from the bottom. I had a huge crop one year, (you can stick your hand in and feel them growing!) but when I went to get them for storage I had four potatoes and a lot of potato sized holes in the dirt. Talk about total disappointment!
The next year, I went to a local carpet store and raided the dumpster. I got a log, heavy carpet, and put it on the ground, fuzzy sided down, and put my tires on top of it. The critters would have to chew through a lot of nylon carpet to get up into the tires. Rarely do they come in over the top. I put a bit more bottom layer of bedding in to keep the food away from carpet fibers.This also adds to nice drainage! My potatoes are firm, easy to harvest and now, mine, not the gophers.
Gail R says
Funny – I edited carefully and did not catch that I raise TIRES in dirt raised beds. Bumper crop of tires! 🙂