Time: 4 months Yield: 6 kg/m² -> 60T/ha ~5000 kcal so 2,5 days of energy for a human Basically a good normal yield is 40T/ha per year. Wich is good since maybe you can plant twice more potatoes (3x4 months) if you have a greenhouse and lead to maybe 15-18kg/m² per year. 4 times the usual yield. 60m² would be enough to feed a man (but only with potatoes haha).
I like the aussies and kiwis talking about winter, while they're standing in their garden wearing shorts and t-shirts. Can't get better than that for everything you do.
Australia is a big country ranging from great snow fields near Jindabyne to tropics at Cairns and arid at Yulara. It's easy to forget we nearly have the same land mass as the USA.
@@SeamusHarper1234 Here in South Africa we sometimes get sub zero temperatures in the interior. Then our farmers wear two pairs of shorts and they also wear socks with their shoes.
I reckon those rotten spuds you've harvested are the initial chitted potatoes from the start of planting. Seeded spuds usually rot out after they establish themselves in the ground. So I wouldn't worry too much about it.
Oh my god between the autopot float valve and the quick release hose connections you've just solved some of the biggest annoyances I've been dealing with related to my hydroponics systems at home. Thank you so much.
I don't know if anyone has mentioned; It matters if you are using a determinate or indeterminate variety of potato. Determinate will make all their potatoes at the base of the plant, indeterminate will branch out into mulch cover and make potatoes the whole way up. Great video!
@@andybilakshow260 Most are not identified, from what I understand. But if yoy know the exact name of the potato, you can google it to see if it is determinate or indeterminate.
You've got the right idea with the wicking bed (I use a wicking trough with large plastic rain barrel cut into two halves). The problem you ave is the "mulch" you're using. Watch videos on Ruth Stout growing method. You'll learn that method merely lays the potatoes on the growing medium (I use 50/50 Promix and Black Cow manure) then cover the greens as they grow with chopped hay. The "root" as you call it is really a stolon. The seed potato roots itself into the growing medium for nutrients and moisture. It then sends up green shoots forming leaves for production of photosynthesis. The stolen grow at the base of that green shoot with nodes developing into tubers - potatoes. The "hilling" process is requried only to prevent sunlight from getting to the developing stolen nodes/young tubers. Potatoes are a heavy feeding veg so you need a fortified medium. I use Master Blend in the wick system and drip nutrient directed down to the grow medium near the seed potato. The potato roots feed on nutrient flow form the wicking action into the substrate and "fuel" stolon development. The dripped nutrient down through the straw providing a moist environment to keep the stolon nursery in a moist protected environment. I've seen potatoes also grown in 5gal buckets (bato would work)the seed potato is dripped nutrient as it sits in a large 6in net cup. The bucket has no substrate which allows stolon development inside the protected bucket. A misting aerator gently mists nutrient within the bucket (think cloning environment). So in your instance address the heavy dry mulch and switch to straw. Also you really only need to "hill" up to 12inches. I think the density and weight of your dry mulch was smothering things. Your plants were not close to harvest. The plants need to blossom and then 3 weeks after that you'll begin to see die back. This is when the stolon work overtime providing nutrients to the growing tubers. You really need to allow the plants to turn brown and die. Good luck.
I've been doing hydroponic potatoes for thirty odd years. I build a box, line it with plastic sheet then part fill it with straw. A drip feeder for nutrients and off you go. Just keep adding and mounding the straw up as they grow. Potatoes grow just below the surface.
Exactly like hay bale gardening. 👍 They have to grow in the dirt. Bonus is the longer season if you're in zones 6-8 or thereabouts, due to the heat generated in the composting medium. 😊
I'm new to hydroponics and excited to try new things. This setup is interesting, but the cost is much higher than I'd be willing to spend. I am growing mine in buckets, and new for this year, I will be growing them under heaps of bark mulch, which I get free at the city yard. Cocoir is super costly, so is perlite. In a bucket I can grow 2 layers. Under the bark mulch, new soil is being made as the potatoes thrive, based upon videos I have watched. Besides cost, I am leary of growing potatoes in hydropinics simply because they don't like soggy medium... damp, yes, soggy, no. Other growers do it successfully, but you have to watch closely... not my cup of tea. Still, I enjoy watching and learning. Thanks!
I'm not a potato farmer, but perhaps "the 1st layer offers the path of least resistance" I'm growing vertical aquaponics. I'm here because "no" information is worse that bad information. I've seen a guy grow potatoes in stages in buckets. It worked really well for him. I been contemplating growing carrots vertically. Thanks for uploading your experience(s).
Hoocho, I am not sure that anyone else has commented yet, but in regards to the potatoes that spoiled, are you aware that the potatoes that you originally planted will by the end of the cycle spoil? this is because their nutrients are used by the plant as a feeder or mother that the rest of the plant feeds from. Also, as for all of your potatoes growing on one level along the bottom, check the potatoes you purchased to see what they are, there are actually determinate and indeterminate potatoes. The determinate variety only puts out new growth in one layer along the bottom, whereas an indeterminate variety will put out potatoes along its stem. I hope this helps you in some way. Thanks for all you do, I just love all of your videos.
Hi! Great vid! First time at your channel. We have some experience in growing potatoes in wooden crates, and then hilling with a thick layer of straw mulch. I think the reason you don´t get tubers further up the stem is that most of your top layer is simply too dry. The mulch is not able do wick up much humidity from the hydro. We didn´t use drip watering as the straw holds it´s humidity quite well once it´s wet. Just a sprinkle of water now and then. But the medium needs to be humid for new tubers to develop further up the stem.
I loved its structure and design. I found it ingenious, functional and beautiful. A brief punctuation: hydroponics is a management of cultivation in water, as there is soil, it is a protected system with irrigation. Otherwise, I loved your project.
You can still have hydroponics with a solid medium. In my university they are using rockwool or perlite as a soil medium. As long as the medium he is using is inert then it can be considered as hydroponics.
Only downside to this video is having to wait to see the outcome. Brilliant idea and I do believe it was perfectly executed. Gives me an idea for indoor winter grown potatoes
I actually started doing an hydroponic potato experiment 2 years ago, using a 250 gallon tote cut in 1/4 section and used all perlite using a flood and drain system and it did so well I had tons of very large red norlands.
Dude…. this is impressive for a tubular plant! It got me thinking if this could work if you were to attach a line from a closed aquaponics system how it would work. Ty for this!
Great video, enjoyable presentation and camera angles. I have been an AutoPot user for years and wanting to do potatoes this year. What a well timed video!
You probably know this but there are two varieties of potatoes one grows potatoes only at the bottom of the plant so you plant shallow and the other puts on potatoes up the plant stalk(for lack of better terminology) these you plant deep and hill as high as you want to go. Most failed hi hilling technique is due to incorrect variety. Love your channel and you provide awesome information thank you for showing your build out of this flood drain system. I'm definitely going to be using your design.
I think you said "early potatoes" so they are determinate and no point in earthing up as they grow only on one level. It's indeterminate potatoes (main crop) which grow on many layers and need earthing up for more crop. Or so I'm told...
Switch up the grass to "Chicken Forage Mix", look up Eden Seeds they sell the pack. Mix of edible plants the chooks will love, setting it up like that would keep it growing constantly and provide far much more nutritional value than just grass. Also make a Circular ring about 20CM High, shove it in the chicken pen. Throw kitchen scraps in there, they'll jump into the ring peck, scratch and shit. Give it a week or two and the ring is filled with compost for non hydro plants, so you could technicaly feed your chooks with a garden bed and kitchen scraps without any need to buy feed. a Black soldier fly breeding bin since you're in QLD would also produce larvae which are packed with protein and calcium, chooks love em.
I use compressed coco blocks, hydrate, then wash with 5 gal water in a bucket with a net cup in the bottom, then put in a bin and cover with water and pH adjust to 6.5, then drain again.
Try asking the city if they could help you connect with a local buisnesss that would be willing to let you create a green roof that helps with storm water managment for city, might add some insulation and thermal mass for the Buissness, and give you a place to garden. Or just ask anyone for help to see if you can grow on some of their unused land. Just ask for help. Tell them what you want but more importantly why! Also look up gurilla gardening too, worth whole concept. As long as you don’t plant stuff in straight lines they don’t notice. Just try reading about it more to see how people do it. And to give you an idea about green roofs, while solar panels are a better use of them if just picking one thing, (you might be able to do both) just know the city of chicago has set a goal to create over 6k greeen roofs around the city, why not make one a garden for you!
YOOO another Aussie gardener I can get behind!!!! lots of interesting and informational content that isn't droning on and boring, and it's being all eco-friendly and all that! You have a new subscriber lol, I adore all this crafty gardeny goodness xD Where abouts in Australia are you? the butcher birds in the background and your accent sound very WA-like, are you WA-based? xD
Very interesting method. You should check out the work of Gericke; he was the first pioneer of hydroponic crops way back in the 1930s. He reckons he got a yield of 200 tons per hectare!
Somebody else must have said this already, but I didn't see it. Potatoes like it wet. Look at the countries where they do well; they tend to have damper climates. I saw that the potato cropped at the level of the damp substrate. It might be because of this 'determinate vers' indeterminate' type of crop. Or it may simply be that the upper layers of substrate appeared way too dry.
If you cut the "eyes" (where the roots start on the potato) and cut an inch or so around them, produces a better crop yield. Had grown potatoes for 10 yrs. Kinda miss my garden
the "rotted" Potatoes were likely the seed potatoes. The dry line ended the growth zone of the potatoes. I saw an aeroponics growing system and their roots were brown. I think watering from the top will grow better quantity of potatoes.
21:00 "Going to do just enough to cover it and protect it from things that want to eat potatoes." Dang, I didn't know 2 inches of mulch is all I needed to be invisible to the Irish.
That is such a hard way to grow potatoes we in Ireland we dig up the soil then we place well rotted cow manure on top of soil. Then we place the potato seed on top and cover it over with soil when it has comes through the soil about 4 leaves we put more soil on top to cover it up again we do this about twice or three times. That is it the ground keeps it at the correct watering. We have to spray with copper sulphite and washing soda dissolved in water to kill the blight the blight is a fungus.
Your initial base looked like 4 x 2 inch, potatoes like to grow down before they grow up. I used to grow them in a bale of straw or hay starting at the third biscuit down or wafer. I suppose you could use the hydroponic way of drip feeding through the straw. Just a thought.
About the 3D printable fittings: Your first mentioned problem, a lot of failure points using the generic fitting from the big box store. Design a printable fitting that is a tee with the center outlet being a hose quick connect and the others as barbs, now you don't have a bunch of failure points
Very nice. I do this on a smaller scale with the same medium… though I use soak pots that sit in a drainage bed (bottom of totes). I like your method better.. they have more room to spread.
I think the potatoes didn't grow higher up in the mulch is because the mulch didn't wick up much moisture or nutrients. I don't think it has to do with weight. maybe try adding more coco and perlite ontop instead of mulch for next experiment?
Neat. So the original cover/hill you were wanting more layers of potatos, yeah? You'd probably get it from mixing the hay/cane with some of your soil mix. I wonder what the maximum amount of hay you can mix in before it starts hurting your yields would be
Would it be better to put the valve in the middle (lengthwise) of the bed, instead of on one of the edges? Also, what is growing in the bins with the pipe/wooden platform on top?
You need an indeterminate variety. Determinate varieties tend not to send out new roots, they just grow longer stems. Indeterminate varieties will send out new roots as they get covered.
Hi, Just wondering why you didn't cover the potatoes with coco and perlite mix as in your previous potato grow nothing grew in the sugar cane only in the coco perlite mix??? Cheers Steve
Good stuff mate not a bad yield. I thought I read that hilling doesn't really increase yields? I tried in a growbag, burying the potatoes a few times throughout the season by topping up the bag. Didn't increase yield for me tho.. I really like how your reticulated nutrient pipe let's you try all kinds of beds..
Hi Toby and Hoocho I noticed the same hilling didn’t increase the yield in my attempts to grow spuds. Thought I did something wrong. Then I stumbled upon a UA-cam video about different potatoes.Determinate potatoes only grow around the depth they are planted. Where as indeterminate potatoes respond well to hilling.
Potatoes are like tomatoes in that some are determinate and some are indeterminate. The reason you may not have gotten potatoes growing all the way up the stem is probably that reason. Generally late season potatoes are the indeterminates, and early season are determinate, mid season can go either way.
it looks like a good system but potato fields are often flooded like what your doing in the wet dry cycle. if you do the first system again you would want to soak the mulching to keep it moist.
Time: 4 months
Yield: 6 kg/m² -> 60T/ha
~5000 kcal so 2,5 days of energy for a human
Basically a good normal yield is 40T/ha per year. Wich is good since maybe you can plant twice more potatoes (3x4 months) if you have a greenhouse and lead to maybe 15-18kg/m² per year. 4 times the usual yield. 60m² would be enough to feed a man (but only with potatoes haha).
Love this.
are there any good companion plants for potatoes?
60 square meters= .015 acer. Not bad at all for feeding a man.
totally useless method. the cost of the substrate is greater than the cost of potatoes
@@mario1299 subtrate can be reused
I like the aussies and kiwis talking about winter, while they're standing in their garden wearing shorts and t-shirts. Can't get better than that for everything you do.
Yeah, right? For me, I'm reaching for my winter jacket in spring...
Australia is a big country ranging from great snow fields near Jindabyne to tropics at Cairns and arid at Yulara. It's easy to forget we nearly have the same land mass as the USA.
Also, kiwis gardening in their shorts are just tougher than you
@@GRolla101 That might be true :-D
@@SeamusHarper1234 Here in South Africa we sometimes get sub zero temperatures in the interior.
Then our farmers wear two pairs of shorts and they also wear socks with their shoes.
I reckon those rotten spuds you've harvested are the initial chitted potatoes from the start of planting. Seeded spuds usually rot out after they establish themselves in the ground. So I wouldn't worry too much about it.
I did think this might be the case. Though I thought it would be misleading not to mention their existence.
@@Hoocho I appreciate you sharing as much data as possible, thanks!
@@Hoocho you working through your mistakes (either real or perceived) is totally my favorite part of your channel. keep up the great work!
I came here to second what @ozsmiley07 said
Oh my god between the autopot float valve and the quick release hose connections you've just solved some of the biggest annoyances I've been dealing with related to my hydroponics systems at home. Thank you so much.
I don't know if anyone has mentioned; It matters if you are using a determinate or indeterminate variety of potato. Determinate will make all their potatoes at the base of the plant, indeterminate will branch out into mulch cover and make potatoes the whole way up. Great video!
Thanks for that~!
How do you know the difference?
@@andybilakshow260 Most are not identified, from what I understand. But if yoy know the exact name of the potato, you can google it to see if it is determinate or indeterminate.
Early potatoes are determinate and Late are the indeterminate.
You've got the right idea with the wicking bed (I use a wicking trough with large plastic rain barrel cut into two halves). The problem you ave is the "mulch" you're using. Watch videos on Ruth Stout growing method. You'll learn that method merely lays the potatoes on the growing medium (I use 50/50 Promix and Black Cow manure) then cover the greens as they grow with chopped hay. The "root" as you call it is really a stolon. The seed potato roots itself into the growing medium for nutrients and moisture. It then sends up green shoots forming leaves for production of photosynthesis. The stolen grow at the base of that green shoot with nodes developing into tubers - potatoes. The "hilling" process is requried only to prevent sunlight from getting to the developing stolen nodes/young tubers. Potatoes are a heavy feeding veg so you need a fortified medium. I use Master Blend in the wick system and drip nutrient directed down to the grow medium near the seed potato. The potato roots feed on nutrient flow form the wicking action into the substrate and "fuel" stolon development. The dripped nutrient down through the straw providing a moist environment to keep the stolon nursery in a moist protected environment. I've seen potatoes also grown in 5gal buckets (bato would work)the seed potato is dripped nutrient as it sits in a large 6in net cup. The bucket has no substrate which allows stolon development inside the protected bucket. A misting aerator gently mists nutrient within the bucket (think cloning environment). So in your instance address the heavy dry mulch and switch to straw. Also you really only need to "hill" up to 12inches. I think the density and weight of your dry mulch was smothering things. Your plants were not close to harvest. The plants need to blossom and then 3 weeks after that you'll begin to see die back. This is when the stolon work overtime providing nutrients to the growing tubers. You really need to allow the plants to turn brown and die. Good luck.
I've been doing hydroponic potatoes for thirty odd years. I build a box, line it with plastic sheet then part fill it with straw. A drip feeder for nutrients and off you go. Just keep adding and mounding the straw up as they grow. Potatoes grow just below the surface.
Exactly like hay bale gardening. 👍
They have to grow in the dirt.
Bonus is the longer season if you're in zones 6-8 or thereabouts, due to the heat generated in the composting medium. 😊
I feel like I’m learning so much here!
I like your videos before I even watch them because I know they're going to answer my questions. Thank you so much for your dedication to all this!
I'm new to hydroponics and excited to try new things. This setup is interesting, but the cost is much higher than I'd be willing to spend. I am growing mine in buckets, and new for this year, I will be growing them under heaps of bark mulch, which I get free at the city yard. Cocoir is super costly, so is perlite. In a bucket I can grow 2 layers. Under the bark mulch, new soil is being made as the potatoes thrive, based upon videos I have watched. Besides cost, I am leary of growing potatoes in hydropinics simply because they don't like soggy medium... damp, yes, soggy, no. Other growers do it successfully, but you have to watch closely... not my cup of tea. Still, I enjoy watching and learning. Thanks!
I'm not a potato farmer, but perhaps "the 1st layer offers the path of least resistance"
I'm growing vertical aquaponics.
I'm here because "no" information is worse that bad information.
I've seen a guy grow potatoes in stages in buckets. It worked really well for him.
I been contemplating growing carrots vertically.
Thanks for uploading your experience(s).
Hoocho, I am not sure that anyone else has commented yet, but in regards to the potatoes that spoiled, are you aware that the potatoes that you originally planted will by the end of the cycle spoil? this is because their nutrients are used by the plant as a feeder or mother that the rest of the plant feeds from. Also, as for all of your potatoes growing on one level along the bottom, check the potatoes you purchased to see what they are, there are actually determinate and indeterminate potatoes. The determinate variety only puts out new growth in one layer along the bottom, whereas an indeterminate variety will put out potatoes along its stem. I hope this helps you in some way. Thanks for all you do, I just love all of your videos.
Set up something that flies can lay eggs on above your chicken feed area so maggots fall out and feed your chickens.
Lots of flies in Australia.
Hi! Great vid! First time at your channel. We have some experience in growing potatoes in wooden crates, and then hilling with a thick layer of straw mulch. I think the reason you don´t get tubers further up the stem is that most of your top layer is simply too dry. The mulch is not able do wick up much humidity from the hydro. We didn´t use drip watering as the straw holds it´s humidity quite well once it´s wet. Just a sprinkle of water now and then. But the medium needs to be humid for new tubers to develop further up the stem.
Your videos are so great, I think I've watched a couple dozen in a few days. Great work man.
I loved its structure and design. I found it ingenious, functional and beautiful.
A brief punctuation: hydroponics is a management of cultivation in water, as there is soil, it is a protected system with irrigation.
Otherwise, I loved your project.
Yeah, I was just looking for this comment... Not really hydroponic at all if the roots are in soil.
You can still have hydroponics with a solid medium. In my university they are using rockwool or perlite as a soil medium. As long as the medium he is using is inert then it can be considered as hydroponics.
Only downside to this video is having to wait to see the outcome. Brilliant idea and I do believe it was perfectly executed. Gives me an idea for indoor winter grown potatoes
I actually started doing an hydroponic potato experiment 2 years ago, using a 250 gallon tote cut in 1/4 section and used all perlite using a flood and drain system and it did so well I had tons of very large red norlands.
Great idea simple techniques using hydroponic system with small pump with ploter to survive the level of water and moisture from plant so great.
One of the scariest looking time lapses I have ever seen 😳
Love the time lapse
Dude…. this is impressive for a tubular plant! It got me thinking if this could work if you were to attach a line from a closed aquaponics system how it would work. Ty for this!
Great video, enjoyable presentation and camera angles. I have been an AutoPot user for years and wanting to do potatoes this year. What a well timed video!
i love the potato time lapse theme song - perfect for how alien it looks! great footage!!
Ikr? It is one of the best outdoor plant timelapses i have seen/heard
Anyone who says this won’t work for growing them are so wrong
I’ve been growing potato’s like this useing my pond water,, works a treat
Tomatoes and Potatoes are never used in rotation, as they are prone to the same diseases. So, for reuse, not from tomatoes. Great set up x
You probably know this but there are two varieties of potatoes one grows potatoes only at the bottom of the plant so you plant shallow and the other puts on potatoes up the plant stalk(for lack of better terminology) these you plant deep and hill as high as you want to go.
Most failed hi hilling technique is due to incorrect variety.
Love your channel and you provide awesome information thank you for showing your build out of this flood drain system. I'm definitely going to be using your design.
even the dog was thinking "one valvu for the WHOLE bed?"
Very interesting. Really like your videos. Now to search for your tomato rain gutter system
I think you said "early potatoes" so they are determinate and no point in earthing up as they grow only on one level. It's indeterminate potatoes (main crop) which grow on many layers and need earthing up for more crop. Or so I'm told...
Thanks for sharing your potato adventures with us. Excellent video!
Switch up the grass to "Chicken Forage Mix", look up Eden Seeds they sell the pack. Mix of edible plants the chooks will love, setting it up like that would keep it growing constantly and provide far much more nutritional value than just grass. Also make a Circular ring about 20CM High, shove it in the chicken pen. Throw kitchen scraps in there, they'll jump into the ring peck, scratch and shit. Give it a week or two and the ring is filled with compost for non hydro plants, so you could technicaly feed your chooks with a garden bed and kitchen scraps without any need to buy feed. a Black soldier fly breeding bin since you're in QLD would also produce larvae which are packed with protein and calcium, chooks love em.
relating to or involving hydroponics, the process of growing plants in sand, gravel, or liquid.
I use compressed coco blocks, hydrate, then wash with 5 gal water in a bucket with a net cup in the bottom, then put in a bin and cover with water and pH adjust to 6.5, then drain again.
Lol, that "on Hoocho's" at the end. Almost thought it wasn't going to happen!
Great video! I would love some basic info like the number of days of growth and amount of water used.
I really love seeing harvest from a garden.. i wish i have my own land
Try asking the city if they could help you connect with a local buisnesss that would be willing to let you create a green roof that helps with storm water managment for city, might add some insulation and thermal mass for the Buissness, and give you a place to garden. Or just ask anyone for help to see if you can grow on some of their unused land. Just ask for help. Tell them what you want but more importantly why! Also look up gurilla gardening too, worth whole concept. As long as you don’t plant stuff in straight lines they don’t notice. Just try reading about it more to see how people do it. And to give you an idea about green roofs, while solar panels are a better use of them if just picking one thing, (you might be able to do both) just know the city of chicago has set a goal to create over 6k greeen roofs around the city, why not make one a garden for you!
Great information. Might try this. Thanks.
YOOO another Aussie gardener I can get behind!!!! lots of interesting and informational content that isn't droning on and boring, and it's being all eco-friendly and all that! You have a new subscriber lol, I adore all this crafty gardeny goodness xD
Where abouts in Australia are you? the butcher birds in the background and your accent sound very WA-like, are you WA-based? xD
Eu fiz um plantio com a base neste seu, a diferença é que eu usei serragem e a minha agua está misturada com o chorume da compostura, obrigado Hoocho.
Very interesting method. You should check out the work of Gericke; he was the first pioneer of hydroponic crops way back in the 1930s. He reckons he got a yield of 200 tons per hectare!
Somebody else must have said this already, but I didn't see it. Potatoes like it wet. Look at the countries where they do well; they tend to have damper climates. I saw that the potato cropped at the level of the damp substrate. It might be because of this 'determinate vers' indeterminate' type of crop. Or it may simply be that the upper layers of substrate appeared way too dry.
well done i love the grass idea .
i really dig your potato video hoocho. lol. cool to see the ones that didnt make the final cut too with that fodder setup
If you cut the "eyes" (where the roots start on the potato) and cut an inch or so around them, produces a better crop yield.
Had grown potatoes for 10 yrs.
Kinda miss my garden
Also you can go to a dairy or horse farm and get there manure, lota good nutrients from bigger mammals.
ok but the time lapse part was insane!! sounds like king gizzard?
It is, Polygondwanaland
the "rotted" Potatoes were likely the seed potatoes. The dry line ended the growth zone of the potatoes. I saw an aeroponics growing system and their roots were brown. I think watering from the top will grow better quantity of potatoes.
Your local bunnings must love you 😂 love the content
Love the content mate!
21:00 "Going to do just enough to cover it and protect it from things that want to eat potatoes."
Dang, I didn't know 2 inches of mulch is all I needed to be invisible to the Irish.
That is such a hard way to grow potatoes we in Ireland we dig up the soil then we place well rotted cow manure on top of soil. Then we place the potato seed on top and cover it over with soil when it has comes through the soil about 4 leaves we put more soil on top to cover it up again we do this about twice or three times. That is it the ground keeps it at the correct watering. We have to spray with copper sulphite and washing soda dissolved in water to kill the blight the blight is a fungus.
Your initial base looked like 4 x 2 inch, potatoes like to grow down before they grow up. I used to grow them in a bale of straw or hay starting at the third biscuit down or wafer. I suppose you could use the hydroponic way of drip feeding through the straw. Just a thought.
About the 3D printable fittings:
Your first mentioned problem, a lot of failure points using the generic fitting from the big box store.
Design a printable fitting that is a tee with the center outlet being a hose quick connect and the others as barbs, now you don't have a bunch of failure points
Good job!!🎉🎉🎉
A mans dream. just ALL Potatos!
Very nice. I do this on a smaller scale with the same medium… though I use soak pots that sit in a drainage bed (bottom of totes). I like your method better.. they have more room to spread.
Great information 👍🏾
You can cut up the seed potatoes so each piece has an "eye" and get more plants
Excellent 👌😊 and nice 👍 sir
I think the potatoes didn't grow higher up in the mulch is because the mulch didn't wick up much moisture or nutrients. I don't think it has to do with weight. maybe try adding more coco and perlite ontop instead of mulch for next experiment?
Nice content as usual man 👌
Cheers mate. Thanks for the comments. Appreciate it
Next year 1 side you should plant half as many as the other side to see if you get more potatoes from per plant on the side with less plants
Neat. So the original cover/hill you were wanting more layers of potatos, yeah?
You'd probably get it from mixing the hay/cane with some of your soil mix. I wonder what the maximum amount of hay you can mix in before it starts hurting your yields would be
Maybe have a wick(s) that you kept pulling up through each added layer of hay?
Not only its very airy but it's probably realtivly dry. Try a top feed mb will get pototas growing in to top half.
Would it be better to put the valve in the middle (lengthwise) of the bed, instead of on one of the edges? Also, what is growing in the bins with the pipe/wooden platform on top?
I wonder if you just lay a plastic shade covering over them to keep the sun off if it would work?
The Gizz really added to the video!!
You need an indeterminate variety. Determinate varieties tend not to send out new roots, they just grow longer stems. Indeterminate varieties will send out new roots as they get covered.
Hi, Just wondering why you didn't cover the potatoes with coco and perlite mix as in your previous potato grow nothing grew in the sugar cane only in the coco perlite mix??? Cheers Steve
I think that maybe top watering once a week might help those side shooting spuds from the stock to produce
excellent video! thanks.
Try Sand as growing media for potatoes, I hope you will get better yields and it will cost pennies compared to cocopeat
Dude the chicken hydro set up would have actually been really good for Geese, they graze a lot more!
Hoo-ray!
Good stuff mate not a bad yield. I thought I read that hilling doesn't really increase yields? I tried in a growbag, burying the potatoes a few times throughout the season by topping up the bag. Didn't increase yield for me tho.. I really like how your reticulated nutrient pipe let's you try all kinds of beds..
Hi Toby and Hoocho
I noticed the same hilling didn’t increase the yield in my attempts to grow spuds. Thought I did something wrong. Then I stumbled upon a UA-cam video about different potatoes.Determinate potatoes only grow around the depth they are planted. Where as indeterminate potatoes respond well to hilling.
We grew potatoes on straw, alternating layers of soil and straw.
This is interesting. I'm wondering if this could be used to grow yams in Africa, to save land
Nice use of the safety thongs :)
Potatoes are like tomatoes in that some are determinate and some are indeterminate. The reason you may not have gotten potatoes growing all the way up the stem is probably that reason. Generally late season potatoes are the indeterminates, and early season are determinate, mid season can go either way.
you should mound your potatoes, if you want better yields!
and mix rabbit sand with your soil!
Have you tried the Kratky potatoes in just water? I have seen it done, and the potatoes di real well.
Need to try out the aeroponic potatos to see if the youtube video is just paintshop. Though doing in scale would be difficult.
I don't know if this has been said or not, but
The boxes already exist for these valves
Can you do an experiment with saltwater hydroponics? With a crop like Samphire?
Can you make an estimate of the total costs of such a system? I'm guessing the mulch makes the evaporation losses quite small?
very good video!! i am french and i would like to know what sort of nutriments you use?thank tou veru much for your good work and your answer!
mister Hoocho, hello ! why haven't you grafted upper , leafy parts with tomatoes ?
Might the few rotted potatoes you discovered actually be the seed potato remains from first planting? What do you think?
Just use soil/coco to hill the tomatoes. It'll work much better than using mulch :)
Excuse me for asking, but you reference “nutrient” and the water being charged with it. Is it an a diy nutrient mix or is it a prebought mix?
Hydroponically; with soil?
GENIAL !!
Hey hoocho where is your review video for EC and ph monitoring devices I can't find it ?
it looks like a good system but potato fields are often flooded like what your doing in the wet dry cycle. if you do the first system again you would want to soak the mulching to keep it moist.
Thanks for sharing..... C
an you experiment with yam?
Japanese safety boots for the win
Is the later system out in the open? Wouldn't that just fill up with rain water?
We cut out seed potatoes into 1/2 or quarters based on where the eyes are
Constantly amazing. Where can we find this smart float valve please? Again, thanks to share all these awesome contents, ON HOOCHOOOO!
Are they outdoor? What happens when it rains? Will it be flooded?