White potatoes slow to start

Hi everyone,

So I experimented this year with planting potatoes into woodchips.  I have heard this is a great way to get a good harvest of very clean potatoes.

I went out and bought roughly equal volumes of red, yellow, and white potatoes about 6 weeks ago and placed them directly into woodchips.  The red and yellows have pushed up new plants but I have almost no growth from the white potatoes.  Do white potatoes take longer to push up than reds or yellows?  I actually got a bit discouraged so I planted a second bed (also in woodchips) and once again the reds and yellows are showing top growth, but the white potatoes are mostly still in the ground.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks in advance,

Eric

Eric Hanson wrote:Hi everyone,

So I experimented this year with planting potatoes into woodchips.  I have heard this is a great way to get a good harvest of very clean potatoes.

I went out and bought roughly equal volumes of red, yellow, and white potatoes about 6 weeks ago and placed them directly into woodchips.  The red and yellows have pushed up new plants but I have almost no growth from the white potatoes.  Do white potatoes take longer to push up than reds or yellows?  I actually got a bit discouraged so I planted a second bed (also in woodchips) and once again the reds and yellows are showing top growth, but the white potatoes are mostly still in the ground.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks in advance,

Eric

Eric, my potatoes do the same. Reds planted at the same time as other varieties always come up first for me.  I always have some varieties that take longer than others.

I have three varieties in one bed, red, white and blue.  The Purple Majesty potatoes were the last to come up and ironically are going to be the first to flower.  In the next bed, it was the Yukon Gold that came up last.  I think it just depends on the variety and days to harvest.

Thanks Trace,

I have never really noticed this before, but I have two variables at work.  First I planted completely in woodchips for the first time.  Secondly, this is the coolest spring I can remember since living here.  I can definitely believe that the excessive cool weather would delay the white potatoes a bit.

Thanks again,

Eric

Hi Eric,

As you know, I live pretty close to you.  I planted 3 beds of potatoes.  One has been up and healthy for a couple of months. Another just began looking decent a week ago.  I have seen that with all the rain we have had, the weeds are doing exceptionally well.

Eric Hanson wrote:Thanks Trace,

I have never really noticed this before, but I have two variables at work.  First I planted completely in woodchips for the first time.  Secondly, this is the coolest spring I can remember since living here.  I can definitely believe that the excessive cool weather would delay the white potatoes a bit.

Thanks again,

Eric

I planted mine last year in wood chips and had good results.  I posted it here on permies somewhere.

Trace,

Actually I did plant potatoes in chips last year but the chips were only about 6” deep.  This year I plopped potatoes on top of well composted chips and then piled on 8”-12” of fresh chips on top.  I can believe that it takes a while to grow through a bunch of chips, but I know others have grown through more.

The more I think about it, I think I planted a bit earlier than in the past.  To boot, the cool weather has probably slowed things down a bit.

The reds and gold potatoes have already grown through the thickest part of the chips and I do have just a couple plants from the white potatoes just starting to break through the surface of the chips.

Thanks for helping to keep my sanity in check,

Eric

John,

I am guessing that you and I are in a similar situation, what with the cool winter.  I bought my seed potatoes from Rural King back when they first came out which is earlier than I have purchased in the past.  I am sure that you are feeling the cool start to spring—which typically I love as our summer heat and humidity I find oppressive.  

Thanks for the feedback,

Eric

Hi Eric,

I seem to remember an earlier series of posts where I planted potatoes a tad earlier than you. I don't know how the weather is at your end, but around here the rain is crazy.  

It is hard to say without knowing the actual cultivars, but the commercial red types in particular tend to be early maturities, which means they have probably been sitting in cold storage for a while and exhausted their dormancy.  Whites and yellows tend to be mid-season types and maybe haven't been sitting as long.  If the whites are actually russets, then they are most likely late maturity types with much better dormancy.

You can avoid the suspense by chitting your potatoes before planting.

William Whitson wrote:You can avoid the suspense by chitting your potatoes before planting.

I had to look this up:

The process of chitting potatoes is simply encouraging the potato seeds to begin growing before they are planted into the ground. From growagoodlife