Ruth Stout potatoes very slow

Hey all,

I threw together a Ruth stout potato bed about six weeks ago because I had the materials just lying around. I’m just curious because I seem to be getting very little growth—is this normal? Just a small amount of roots and a few tendrils of what look like Asian bean sprouts.

What kind of potato did you plant? Unsprouted store bought potato or seed potato with eyes? Either way, it doesn't look normal to me.

North Dakota State University has a checklist for potato emergence problems with pictures. potato emergence problems

I saw this photo of "candelabra sprouting" and it looks similar to yours. Check out the article in the link here.growing produce

Do you have any university extension office nearby to help with diagnosis?

Where are you located?  My hay mulched potatoes always take longer to get going than my neighbors that till.  The hay just keeps the soil cooler.  Nothing to worry about in my case.  I do try to get some soil contact with the seed potatoes, so they can get some roots into the soil right away.

May Lotito wrote:

I saw this photo of "candelabra sprouting" and it looks similar to yours. Check out the article in the link here.growing produce

Oh, yeah, that’s definitely it. Makes sense too—the straw was from a neighbor and it’s totally possible it was herbicide-contaminated. Thank you!

I feel more likely it's carry over within the seed potato. Maybe you can dig it out and transfer to another safe growing medium and see what's going to happen. If you suspect the bed is contaminated, then sow some beans to test before you grow sensitive plants in there.

I know little of potatoe growing but this video reminded of your situation:

https://youtube.com/shorts/vbuKvwOCQyE?feature=share

This tracks with the cool soil therory.

After the potatoes, it might be good to grow either ryegrass or soybeans to remediate the soil.

Mushrooms will work, too.

If you have wood chips available those will help improve the damage that has been done.

https://permies.com/t/120453/Great-Wood-Chips

https://permies.com/t/98472/Building-soil-Nutrient-Dense-Foods