Potato Towers: More Work for Fewer Potatoes
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- Опубліковано 15 лип 2024
- We decided to try our hand at growing potatoes in potato towers this year. After all the hype, we were hoping that potato towers would be an ideal solution for a survival garden. We are really glad that we experimented when we still had the ability to still purchase potatoes from local farmers.
Yes, you can grow potatoes in potato towers. However, the yield is low, the quality poor, and it takes a lot of hard work. One year of experimenting with potato towers is all I need to convince me that there are much better ways to grow potatoes.
Potato towers keep the soil too warm for the potatoes to thrive in our climate. However, potatoes grow amazingly well in the ground in our traditional garden beds.
You can learn more about growing your own food and becoming more self-reliant at The Provident Prepper.
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I have told other people this. We used potato towers when I was young a long time ago. But we only planted one level of potato's as the green sprouts grew up we would cover them with soil repeating this every time up to the top of the tower. My family grew so many we had to sell them and give them away to keep them from going bad. We never planted several levels.
I tried this last year and it didn't work for me but I also started them a little late. I'm gonna try just one this way again
Did you use indeterminate potatoes?
I think they need more time, I was taught to wait until the foliage dies back and wait a week.
Exactly
It was so fun to see your kids then and now! What a sweet bunch! Thanks for sharing your gardening discoveries!
I think i know what your problem is. You planted the potatoes with the sprouts pointing straight up or too far in the middle. This means that the ones at the bottom and middle will try to grow straight to the top trying to get the sun, but the surface is too far up that they'll end up dying or spending too much energy growing instead of making potatoes. I also noticed your soil seems a bit dry, and that's probably due to the tower being so big and unable to soaked the moisture to its core.
They need to be oriented so they'll be growing at the sides of the tower. I would probably would build the tower big enough to plant the buds no more than 5 buds per level. This design however will still be challenging to keep cool and watered... I'd stick to Air pruning method.
Thank you SO much!!!
I recently had back surgery and my strength and energy is precious and was gearing up to build these. You saved me a lot off effort!
God bless you and your amazing family. They were adorable littles and are precious teens. You are a blessed bunch.
I cannot thank you enough for doing this and posting the results, so that others don’t make the same mistake.
I love the kids excitement so much🥰🥰🥰
I’m planting potatoes for the first time this year so wish me luck 🤞🏻
Thank you for this video my daughter got super excited when she saw the kids digging out the potatoes themselves from the pot x x x x x
Thank you for the video, the children looked like they had fun anyways with the towers, good luck next spring!
Best gardening series since Geofrey Hamilton in the 80s! Thank you so much!
Thank you so much. I was planning on trying potato towers. Thank love for your honesty. It was really helpful. Great video!!!
I’m sticking to my container potato’s! My first one has popped up and I’m excited!
I'm growing potatoes myself for the first time...in tires, containers, raised beds...seeing which works best. This is wonderful, seeing the little ones find the potatoes...what an awesome way for them to grow up.
Be careful of tires for garden growing. Chemicals may leach into plants. We use old plastic drums cut in half. Works well. Put up off ground with pieces of wood or cement blocks.
This has to be the best video ever!! Your family is wonderful! They don’t make them like you all anymore! 😊❤️😊❤️😊❤️
"You all"? Where i come from that is a company you rent a moving van from ! It's y'all. Just pulling your tail, ha ha.
Thanks for your efforts. Your video saved me a year.
Thanks for sharing your results ! I wish they would have better for y'all.
Another excellent video! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience with us - so we can be more self reliant.
We plant our potatoes four feet apart. This makes them very easy to hill and when it comes time to harvest we can simply plow them up with a potato plow, which saves labor and damage to our crop. Two weeks ago, three of us harvested nearly nine hundred pounds of potatoes in just one morning. About three hours work.
You simply cant beat growing potatoes in the ground. We harvested our bounty from just six rows, fifty feet long. Here in southern Ohio potatoes are planted a week or two before the last frost. Because we hill our potatoes two and three times throughout summer, they are buried very deep which keeps them from warming and sprouting after the tops die. This makes for a shorter storage period in winter because we dig them so much later than most folks.
Most gardeners think that you hill potatoes to make them grow and control weeds. That may be true but my granddaddy taught me that you hill potatoes so that you can dig them later in the fall. That way they last until spring and next years planting. We typically wait until the last week of October but I took them out early this year for "election" sake. I'm expecting some nasty reactions no matter who wins.
Interesting about keeping them in the ground longer, thanks.
Growing Garlic
Not everyone has enough space to plant 1 potato every 4 feet, and a plow?! My gosh that would be nice!
All is hand tools here for 60 x 110 ft.
Cheryl anon, only my rows are four feet apart. In those rows I plant the potatoes about eight to ten inches apart.
@@bugoutbubba3912 just planted mine today, 6 beds 30" wide w/2 rows each, about 12 ft long. Only 18" apart between beds. All by hand, rake up the straw to expose soil-- drop chitted potatoes into trench, recover w/soil & mulch. 5 varieties-- Red, Gold, Russet, purple, and 2 fingering varieties.
Appreciation for this informative and fun take on tattie towers. Today I have actually measured & cut the wire to set low towers and am preparing the ground and the compost/manure mix to try out the tower method, although will only be building up gradually as & when the green of the first/lower level begins to show - same as I did when growing in plant pots/containers.
Shall also do a few using my regular method of growing in hay, hemp mulch & strulch using minimal soil & some good fertiliser. Works every time for me & I get a great yield every couple of months throughout the year.
Thank you for the Realness' of this video...we are trying container potato's, but I was intrigued by this method...glad you made this!~
This was really really interesting, and with all the kids it made me smile this morning and reaffirms the way I intend to grow potatoes. Because of the family involvement in your garden, I subscribed.
I always said planet mine in the ground this year I had a bad harvest we had potato bug infestation I like to learn how to take care of them for next year thank you for sharing you guys are awesome God bless
Great videos! Loved the kids being involved.
This was very enjoyable to watch. I will definitely be checking out your videos.
I like the idea to replant the small potatoes. That sounds brilliant.
Very helpful! Thanks so much for the info!
Thank you so much for sharing this information! ❤️😉👍
wow big beautiful family Gratitude this is amazing. ... love you all.
Towers did not work for me either. I like growing them in my raised beds with straw on top. Makes for an easy harvest.
The potato tower results are similar to others who have posted results online. I helped with a modified Ruth Stout method growing potatoes and it turned out quite nice. If i may, your soil looked really low in organic matter so maybe hit it hard with some compost in the fall and let it meld over winter. Kind of hard to do no till when initially amending soil or growing potatoes i find but i just do my best. Thanks for posting.
Thank you...very informative, and demonstrative...
My guess as to why the potato towers failed is the straw. Wheat is harvested by spraying with glyphosate (the active ingredient in RoundUp) to “ripen” it. The plant is dessicated and it makes it easier for the combine. Unless you were using straw from organically grown wheat, there’s plenty of herbicide in the straw to account for the failure. I’m wondering if pine straw would have given a better yield, however the potato towers still look like a lot more work. Probably not worth it even with big strong helpers available. Thanks for documenting and posting this! I always learn a lot from your channel.🙏
That's something I hadn't thought about. I'll try it with green/feed straw.
Great info. Thanks
Very cute video! I love how everyone joins in and harvesting is such a joyful event! Thanks for sharing your experience! You saved us from trying it! Based on this I'm going to stick with my big pots!👍🏻
The Provident Prepper it sure has been crazy! Our garden was frozen solid as of September 7th this year. We have had snow on the ground for 2+ weeks now. We typically get a couple storms in October but it always melts. Not this year! Ugh! It's been more like November/December weather! Our river is frozen over already! At this rate we will be ice fishing by thanksgiving 😂😂😂
great video guys... this was helpful
Very good! I've been thinking about the towers. This was nice to know. I think I'll try your volunteers which came up better than the towers!
Think like a volunteer potato, you will reap a large harvest!
Omygosh the most darling video ever!! And informative! My favorite method is pretty much Ruth Stout’s where I spread compost/manure and maybe other nutrients,lay the sprouted potato chunks on top, and cover with 8-10 inches of old grass clippings. No digging and great yield.
How long do you water the potato please?🥔 every day ? Doing my rial
@@siry5164 I live in a desert climate with little or no rain in summer, so I water every few days.
Really great video. Nice family . Lots to take from. New subbed here 👍
nice ..i ll try
Thanks for sharing. Beautiful family, wondering if it was just one of those years. I have some years certain vegetables will flourish and the next year brutal. Cheers
This was fun to watch but also saved me from talking my husband into trying the idea!
I love all y’all’s videos. They’re so helpful, in-depth, and thorough. Thank you for caring for others. ❤️
they are good for when you have very little space
Cool video! Thanks for sharing! 👍
@@TheProvidentPrepper By the way, you have four beautiful, smart children
@@TheProvidentPrepper Wow! God bless you!
Good post
Best way to grow potato's 👍👍 I used hog wire fence, soil around here, and pine needles . Use what available to you! I use the hog wire fences, as round cages. For tomato plants and potato mounds ~ Can use them as raised planter as well. Just put card board or plastic inside the walls, i got like 15 made! There about 3' wide and 5' tall. They will last for EVER
Try putting a perforated pipe in the middle. I did this and just filled up the pipe to the top and let it drain. They get moisture from the inside out. I had potatoes at all levels with towers.
Thanks! I'm trying to find the least labor intensive method even if I have less yield, getting older.
The only way to get a yield from them is if they are really in a very fertile barrel. The straw and wood side ones dry out. I did one with old pallette wood and only got 2 volunteer pumpkin plants and a few pingpong ball sized potatoes. It had multiple layers and sprouts long enough that I fed out of holes I drilled in the sides. If I did it again it would be in a plastic barrel. I also tried that fall l!anted potato thing and it had mixed results to.
My in-laws swear by grow bags for their potatoes, they’ve used them for years.
That is what I use. Bags are lighter for me to lift and harvest. They drain well in my climate of rain.
What type of materials are these grow bags please? And how long or how much do you water potatoes 🥔 is that Every day? Thank you 🙏 hope I can also use wood 🪵 chips and dried leaves and grass, see some even using cardboard or paper? God bless
@@siry5164 as far as I can tell, potato bags are made of a non-woven weed barrier fabric, some are a lot thicker than others. If you have a sewing machine go for it, otherwise just use 7 or 10 gallon buckets (also check farmers for leftover salt/mineral buckets). The 5 gal ones work too for just 1 potato each. Drill holes in bottom!
@@cherylanon5791 I'm going to use mineral bags this year. They are for cow minerals and from the dairy farm I work at. Woven from plastic to form a mesh I'm hoping they will work.
If you are using black buckets or dark colored containers you might want to paint the outsides white. I had poor results with containers until someone told me I was almost cooking them in the buckets. The last three years have been much better.
I tried 20, white 7 to 10 gal buckets halfway buried into soil. Fertilized with fish emulsion & bone meal. Mulched with old straw. Watered as much as rest of garden. Hardly any potatoes, and soil in buckets was rock hard! Seems they needed more watering than rest of garden= needed more WORK than rest of garden. Am going back to planting in ground, wide beds with lots of mulch!
I had potato tower success using a wire cage & indeterminate potatoes by adding dirt & composted manure gradually as the green tops grew within the tower. IOW I was continually "hilling, them. I would not expect layered potatoes to grow properly or for the greens to find their way to poke out the sides.
Thank you the info. and for sharing your beautiful family!
I use 55 gallon drums cut in half. I get a full milk crate full out of each half drum. Never fails me.
Harvesting 9container) a bit early- need to wait 'til tops die so they wil over-winter better
Where'd you go? Potatoes! Answer me! 😆
have to have to subscribe going for the ease good way.
I tried barrels this year, 2 barrels gave me about 13 potatoes! Not doing that again
Another great video, many will appreciate being able to see the results before trying it. I dont know if you're willing to try another way that's similar, but different. Whenever I have seen potato mounds in permaculture type settings, instead of building the mound all at once, and planting all through it, they started in the ground like normal, and then added to the height as the plants grow, using either tires, pallets, etc to keep the dirt in as you hill them with soil, compost, etc..
I think if you tried that, it would allow the potato to have more contact with the cool damp ground soil, esp at the start when getting established, and then only adding soil as it grows, so they would spend less time in the drier, warmer soil of the tower. (that could be why some of the cut up ones didnt sprout) It would also mean less upfront work making the whole tower at once, just adding every week or month as they grow. Not sure if that would be easier, or harder, given whatever your garden schedule would be, but it may allow you to have the best of both worlds. There's probably a million ways to plant them, but it would be an interesting experiment to see if it works better next year that way.
I think the volunteer method is a good idea, same as the Ruth Stroud method, there's a gardener around here that uses that method and he gets great yields. Thanks again for all the information you provide to everyone, many blessings.
I did 3 potato towers with with 1 part pete 1 part mushroom much & 1 part potting soil I got less potatoes than I planted
Do you allow the greenery to grow from the potatoes and cover the greens with the soil mix surrounded by straw nest gradually (as the foliage pushes up higher, cover and repeat all the way up the tower) or do you fill the entire tower with seed potatoes and let them grow as a full tower? I’ve seen several videos where they layer the entire tower at first planting with sweet potatoe “nests,” in essence setting it and forgetting it. However I thought the idea was allow the foliage to grow up and cover that gradually Increasing the tower height throughout the season.
I hope that makes sense! What’s your thoughts?
Sorry the potato towers didn't work out! Looks as though the container method may be best :-)
I tried them too with same results. Never again.
Wonderful video. Do you remember if you let the potatoes died after you cut them? Because it's possible that the potatoes that didn't grow rotted from water.
We tried the towers several years ago. Total waste of resources!
Will try again in 2021 but with fertilizer or added nutrients? These towers have very little soil meaning very little nutrients. It could explain why growth was minimal.
This year, I am trying to use a 5gal bucket with 2 layers of seed potatoes. I will be adding fertilizer. My guess is that as long as there is space to grow and enough nutrients to support that growth, they will grow just fine.
Interesting that the yield was so poor.
I wonder if it has to with the towers or just a bad year.
Evidence seems to lean towards the towers, but other tower technique videos have pretty decent yields, but that might also have something to do with their climates.
Really interesting results though.
I wonder if sweet potatoes might fare better with this setup?
Lol my best potatoes are the "volunteers" too! But....how do we get "volunteers" anyhow? Answer that for the KEY to good potatoes! "Volunteer" potatoes are the ones buried deeper than you dug-- and they're in the soil before you think it's warm enough to garden. SO...Plant potatoes in early Spring, deeply (deeper than your potato spade reaches).
If i may add, you REALLY need to understand the difference between determinate and indeterminate potatoes , this is very important. Determinate potatoes (like tomatoes) grow only to a certain height but indeterminate potatoes will keep putting out roots as you hill the and would be the best choice for planting in your towers or in the ground and hilling.
Ok you stated you overwintered the small potatos. The question is what growing zone are you in? I am in zone 5 Michigan Detroit side. Warmer states you might be able to overwinter.
I let the local Amish farmers grow the potatoes. They do it better than anybody I know. And their chickens have great eggs.
My experience with towers is similar. All things being equal ground potatoes outproduced towers as much as 10 to 1. Looking at your towers at harvest two things stand out. Very little growth if any on the levels below the top. You should barely be able to see any straw after 6 to 8 weeks. Should look like the top. Second, the soil dryness and lack of growth from the seed potatoe tells me they weren't watered enough. Twice a week that you mentioned is OK the first few weeks if they were watered enough at planting. As it warms up they require more frequent heavier watering. By August 4 to 5 times per week unless it rains. Regardless, in my experience unless you have no available dirt, towers are a waste. You will do better even if u only use the same footprint as a tower and improve that soil down to 18 inches, plant deep using indeterminant varieties only, and once the foliage gets to 6 to 8 inches mound the dirt so only a few inches is exposed. Repeat every six to eight inches. After two months or so u will have a hill almost as tall as your tower but it will be full of potatoes. Much less watering involved too. Towers are a gimmick/hack for first time potato growers. I have a neighbor who invested almost 100 bucks last year in fencing, straw, bagged fortified soil$$, and 20# seed potatoes. He grew 4 towers, spent countless hours watering them and ended up harvesting less than 20#. His family was elated. To each his own I guess. He can't wait to do it this season. I'll stick with the raised bed, 4x8x18" deep, which is roughly 25% larger than the area his towers take up. Use half the seed and rarely water and end up with 100# or more of larger potatoes. I do leave some of the smallest potatoes in the ground.
What potato varieties are indeterminate?
I gave up on towers. I just use containers. Goes well.
You need indeterminate varieties for a tower
You were right! They were in an artificial environment.
Just plant the potato seed on the sides of the tower and not putting them on layers since pkants grows up and not sideways.
Its always a toss up whether we'll get a hard freeze this winter or not. I'm hesitant to plant anything major, in case its one of the rare years a cold snap kills everything. But I'm also itching to get food in the ground. So I'm torn. Maybe I'll try a few cauliflower and brocolli. At least you broke even on your taters---I'd carryover the harvest to try a different method next year. What, no stripey cat to leap out of a cage to scare everyone? You missed a trick!
The problem is that you have to find indeterminate varieties. They will produce offspring all the way up the stem.
New potato's will grow out of the sprouting green parts as you cover them.
The only down side of these towers is? Fire Ants love them
What zone are you in?
Shame it didn't work out for you. I must remain on the other side of the fence however - I will never plant another spud in the ground again, its just so much more effort (for less return in my instance). I generally grow in 5 gall felt pots in an acidic compost (2 year old horse manure & straw) & they go crazy. I don't need to bend over or put a fork in the ground to get them out, the soil is so friable you just reach in with your hands.
Give it another go some other way is my advice. For anyone over the age of 15 your back will be thanking you if you grow in raised beds!
@@TheProvidentPrepper Hi there & thanks for the reply. First I meant to say 15 gall pots not 5 gall! A bit bigger even if I have them around. I live in SE England, 40 miles South of London - so cool and humid as you say (though it is prob the hottest part of UK & one of the driest). I've been moving the pots under cover today to try & get a bit more time before I have to pull them. They're done growing now & the rain is constant at the moment! Anyway, I'm a new sub & enjoying your shows. Cheers, Rafe
@@TheProvidentPrepper Just a thought: maybe a really deep Hegel culture bed would work for you better for moisture retention? I'll be playing around with them next year as I'm a lazy gardener & I like the idea of having to water less often!
Yield was not worth the amount of effort, it seems. How much was due to the process you used?
Potatoe towers work very well if you have indeterminate potatoes. Problem is pretty much everyone tries to do this with determinant potatoes. Don’t work that way
@@TheProvidentPrepper typically your early crop potatoes tend to be determinant and your late harvest will be indeterminate. Also you really only need about 5 potatoes for a tower as big as yours. Plant once at the bottom and cover as it grows. You don’t need to use soil either you can always just keep piling hay in to fill the gaps as the season goes. Too much work for me I have the space so I do mine in the ground. But towers when done right can produce some ridiculous yields 20x1 +
This is so true!!! Towers need IN-determinate varieties to succeed (amongst other things).
It’s VERY important to know the difference between determinate (bush plant - tuber) potatoes and Indeterminate (these are a Vine and grow up to 7ft! ) potatoes.. they’re have completely different needs. Determinate potatoes are harder for gardeners to grow. Indeterminate potatoes grow from the vine NOT the roots.. so perfect for raised towers.. you only cover the potatoes with soil at the beginning.. then as the plants grow.. cover with hay/straw leaving two inches of greenery .. and keep repeating . Potatoes take about 120 days.. only pick them after the greenery dies. .. obviously they need watering through the year. .. this way they will grow big!. .. your friend is right.. he is doing the right way.. leave 10% in the ground .. and start again in the autumn.. not spring.
It’s VERY important to know the difference between determinate (bush plant - tuber) potatoes and Indeterminate (these are a Vine and grow up to 7ft! ) potatoes.. they’re have completely different needs. Determinate potatoes are harder for gardeners to grow. Indeterminate potatoes grow from the vine NOT the roots.. so perfect for raised towers.. you only cover the potatoes with soil at the beginning.. then as the plants grow.. cover with hay/straw leaving two inches of greenery .. and keep repeating . Potatoes take about 120 days.. only pick them after the greenery dies. .. obviously they need watering through the year. .. this way they will grow big!. .. your friend is right.. he is doing the right way.. leave 10% in the ground .. and start again in the autumn.. not spring.
Both the containers and towers look too dry for a thriving soil food web which is what breaks down nutrients and makes them bio-available to the growing plants.. try using ollas next time you grow potatoes in towers or containers... not only do they reduce the amount of water consumed but they regulate the soil moisture so that it is in an ideal condition for critters like worms, nematodes and fungi to thrive... (remember they need to eat and drink too).
basically the more alive the soil is, the better your plants will thrive..
when you tip over a tower or container you should see all sorts of critters crawling around and a lot of white stuff called mycelium.. if you don't then your mini ecosystem is not functioning as good as it could which means more work for you.
Also potatoes do not need full sun in summer.. they will grow just fine in containers directly under shady trees etc.
Full sun is only needed during cooler times of the year so the soil gets warm enough for the potatoes to sprout.
You keep saying that everything is a lot of work, come try a few days in my life.
@@TheProvidentPrepper we must look at things differently, your work looks like what I call fun work.
Potato Towers work extremely well but not when built with cage but with planks and potatoes should be planted always on top not sides
maybe packing the sides with straw made it difficult for them to break through..
normally all I see is an old lady doing all the planting an harvesting by her self with out any issues, now I do understand why some people rather work by them self !! quantity doesn't = quality !!
Next time you try to use old tires
You need to point the eyes toward the straw
lack of water for sure...
You have great videos, but terrible sound. Could you invest in a better mic, so we could enjoy them more?
You put too many in that space. Maybe it’s 2feet
We had very bad results. Spent more money building and mounding, ended up with a few hold ball sized potatoes
Indeterminate potatoes, most idaho brands will grow up the tower and you keep covering as growth shows. Others are only ground cover growers. Where you plant them, they grow there. Not up. Research is important so there is no wasting time and energy. I found this out as I explored planting potatoes. Not after the fact.
I have heard this about potatoes being determinate or indeterminate but its really hard to know which is which-- haven't found a list anywhere-- also I grow many from last years harvest which we didn't eat, and organic ones from co-op. Never buy seed potatoes as they are very spendy and not organic (unless getting online which are about 7 or 8 bucks a pound when you add in shipping).
Straw was too thuck use a minimal amount
Towers produce SMALL potatoes with too much effort. get them in the ground
Twice a week on watering for 30 minutes on a straw/soil compost layer. Complaining about less potato yield but not using common sense. 5 people with no logic, may be rude and insulting but come on! I can clearly see right off the bat what's wrong. You watered from the top and most of the water runned off to the sides because of the straw. You added way too much straw and compacted it to much plus the distance apart is too far as well (you working with a thin layer of wax material). Lastly, the inside (center core) has less moisture due to alot of mistakes done as I mentioned. Easy fix is put a pvc in the middle of the heap, drill holes and close the bottom pvc pipe. Whole idea is too water from the inside out.
🤔 you set yours up for failure.
You don’t put potatoes every so many inches. You put down one set the as the set grows you add more compost.
When the plant dies/ turns brown you harvest the potatoes.
Then replant the small potatoes and harvest them next year.
I think you are using way too many potatoes when you put it up, there should only be like 6 potatoes pr layer. you put so many there was not enough for the potatoes to live of.