Hi DL, I'm sorry to hear about your arthritis--when your joints hurt everything nearby hurts too.

We WS seeds, but this seems a marvelous method for growing potatoes, you'll have a lot of success with it.

I live in zone seven and I've grown potatoes in my raised beds--when you dig them up it's hard to get all the potatoes as the small ones break off or you can halve a potato with your spade and not find the other half. These little spuds can winter over under the mulched soil and grow the next year into vines.

DL, I would love to hear of your progress on this method. I've heard of growing potatoes in stacked tires, but the plastic can is lightweight in comparison and certainly a lot cleaner to touch than dirty old tires. For anyone who is mobility impaired this is going to be a lot easier than working with a stack of tires or digging in the soil for planting and harvest.

I think that digging a hole at least as deep as a few inches above the potato level and sinking the can into it, then packing around with soil and mulch is going to help anchor the can and keep it from falling over in a harsh storm--when frozen plastic tips over with weight it often cracks when it hits the ground--that would be a shame. I don't know if digging it in will provide addtional insulation from cold, but at its base it will provide insulation from wind.

The article you linked to ends with "give it a try" but to do so with a small patch. I think this is prudent advice. The first time you do this will be a learning event--I expect that you will have some success, but if it is great or little is something you won't know until next year.

Good luck with this--it's an idea with a lot of promise. It sounds good and is worth seeing it through to its fruition.

T

What a great idea DL, I love home grown potatoes but this past season decided not to so I could conserve space for other veggies. I've been increasing my container grown "stuff" too but have not considered growing potatoes in them. Trudi I never did the tire thing but have grown them in my compost bins, great results.

The only thing I would be concerned with is unless you have a clear trash can (do they even make them) I wonder if they will get enough sun. Yes please keep updated with this.

Most solanums will do fine with about six hours of sun each day to still provide ample fruiting. Solanums include tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, potatoes, pepinos and tomatillos.

There's no worry about attracting pollinators, we're looking at developing roots as the crop and solanums that I know are mostly self-pollinated--as an example butterflies prefer to visit flowers in full sun but because it's roots and not seeds which are the crop I think the need for attracting pollinators is moot.

I think that the can wall, though not clear, will still absorb heat instead of reflect it and that warmth will go into soil. There will be overhead and direct sun on the stems for a few hours at midday, but there will be indirect sun for several hours more.

In the method for growing potatoes in tires you need to add another ring as the plants grow longer--so it might be a good idea to add more soil as the stems develop and lengthen because that will place more stem under soil to grow more potatoes. Eventually those stems will grow over the top of the can and tumble over the sides. A small handful of fertilizer when new soil is added might be a good idea.

I found a link at Humes Seeds with information that shows the planting of potatoes in tires. Adding soil as the stems lengthen I think is information that will work for growing potatoes in the plastic can. The Humes page does make a point that in the plastic containers the soil does dry out faster--it's good to know to be aware to check on the moisture in that soil and maintain it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Humes Seeds ~ Growing Potatoes

trudi_d & rich_manure:

Thanks for your encouragement and the info about sunlight requirements. I plan to "top off" the potato plants as they grow with peat moss which is acidic and potatoes like the ph of peat moss. I will also be topping them off with dry leaves if any are left. I will be using Hollytone fertilizer because it is good for acid loving plants. I recently discovered it is not only for Azaleas and Rhodos.

I am gonna love this forum!! There I was getting my indoor hydroponic system going so I could grow some lettuce inside over winter and found this forum!! DH is gonna pull his hair out --- Oh that's right he doesn't have any :=))..........

DL

Hi All,
DH and I believe this method will work - when he lived in Iowa some years ago, he used the tub of a discarded washing machine to plant potatoes in because the drainage was perfect; he started similar to the method suggested by dancinglemons, and covered up the vines after they successfully leafed out on each soil "level". Said he got about 20 pounds of little "taties", they would have been bigger had they a longer grow season than he gave them. So we are going to try again here in N-Colo.

Hi DL,

Well, I just learned something, I would never have thought to use hollytone for potatoes. I would likely use a veggie/tomato fertilizer, but next time I do spuds I'll try it.

And before I forget, I gotta say that I love your online name "Dancing Lemons". How cute is that!

Trudi

PS: I left a message for you at the base of my tomato sase thread in the exchange.