Comments on: Potato Tower Project: The Results Are In!

By: heidihoe

heidihoe — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 23:17:00 +0000

There are 2 types of potatoes. Determinate and indeterminate. One type only puts on spuds at the original roots, the other will do great in a tower. I planted the wrong type my first year

By: Sayward Rebhal

Sayward Rebhal — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 21:39:00 +0000

Hmm, I hadn’t heard that! Not sure what I used, but I wonder if that had something to do with it . . .

By: Briannon English

Briannon English — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:17:00 +0000

I’m curious what “season” type of potatoes you used? I’ve heard this wont work if you don’t use late season potato seeds.

By: bethametoo

bethametoo — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:26:00 +0000

This is good to know. Now I will not be making this experiment myself this year, as I was tempted to do.

By: Sayward Rebhal

Sayward Rebhal — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:08:00 +0000

Wow, fascinating! Thank you! I’m imagining a modified tower project for next year now . . .

By: Sayward Rebhal

Sayward Rebhal — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:08:00 +0000

Ooh awesome info, thanks lady!

By: Chocolate_bananabug

Chocolate_bananabug — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 17:15:00 +0000

Thanks so much for sharing your experiment! We tried this this year as well, but I attributed the 7 potatoes to the fact that I got my eyes in pretty late. I didn’t actually stack the tower though because I was so late. Glad to know that the plants do better not stacked…although I did hear from someone I know who’s parents grew potatoes that there are certain kinds that do much better being stacked. Next year I’ll skip the towers. Thanks again!

By: Monika {windycityvegan}

Monika {windycityvegan} — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:47:00 +0000

Re: sweet potatoes: You don’t plant seeds, you plant sprouts – called slips – that have been cultivated from healthy sweet potatoes. We started our own slips just sort of for fun last spring as something to do indoors with the Neenster – but timing was on our side and the happy accident of too many indoor slips meant a nice patch of sweet potatoes! I’ve seen nurseries carry sweet potato slips, and I know a couple of local organic farmers who would just give them to someone if they asked. Sweets take up a lot of space – they have the prettiest vines. They can probably be trellised, but we let ours sprawl so that the deer could snack on them.

Re: chickens: Our girls stopped laying a couple of months ago, and they *sort of* molted. Our weather has been unseasonably warm and unless I just didn’t notice, none of our hens fully molted this year!

I love watching Nina feed the girls – especially when she hand-feeds them their scratch.

By: Annie

Annie — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:50:00 +0000

Solanine is a poison found in nightshade plants (potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco and others). It’s normally in the stems and leaves only, but sun exposure to the tubers increase solanine production and it can be present in the potato.
This wiki article explains it overall:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanine
Highlights on green potatoes:
“When potato tubers are exposed to light, they turn green and increase glycoalkaloid production. This is a natural defense to help prevent the uncovered tuber from being eaten. The green colour is from chlorophyll, and is itself harmless. However, it is an indication that increased level of solanine and chaconine (another related glycoalkaloid) may be present.” (So green taters = been exposed to sunlight)
“The United States National Institutes of Health’s information on solanine says to never eat potatoes that are green below the skin.”

There’s arguments and evidence on Solanine being carcinogenic and causing nerve damage long term, and the general solanine poisoning doesn’t sound very nice. In a nutrition class discussion, my teacher told me that *mild* solanine poisoning is somewhat common, but many people think they’ve got bacterial food poisioning and no one ever thinks ‘potato = food poisoning’. There’s also some arguments of its relationship with neural-tube defects.

This article also explains it pretty well, and seems ‘more legit’ than wiki:
http://www.organicfoodee.com/inspiration/craig/nightshadefoods/
(Sorry the quantities used are in metric, though.)
“ A study in Belfast showed that mothers who had given birth to a child with spina bifida or anencephaly [neural-tube defects] could reduce the risk of a similar defect in the second child by 50% if they maintained a potato-free diet.”

Yeah, so pretty much, after all that, there’s more of a chance of the tubers being exposed to sunlight being grown in a patch, vs mounds or towers.

Hope that’s helpful, without being confusing and super scary!

By: Sayward Rebhal

Sayward Rebhal — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:15:00 +0000

Interesting! I really *wanted* it to work. I was all ready to finally give up, and now you’ve got me curious again, ha!