Found this, 100# of taters in a barrel...

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by Pakanohida, Jun 26, 2012.

  1. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    Just wanted to share.

    https://www.questionandplanter.com/2012/06/you-can-grow-100-pounds-of-potatoes-in-a-barrel/

     
  2. NJNative

    NJNative Junior Member

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    I saw a different version of that yesterday. Very interesting. I'm currently growing potats on strawbales, but I wonder if growing in barrels would be more efficient, since you're able to grow more vertically by piling dirt up as the plant grows. Interesting concept, especially for those with limited space!!
     
  3. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    I am going to admit I WISH I was growing in barrels... the height of the straw with my current taters is getting out of hand. It's getting really tall, and looks out of place, much like the Ski Mountain on I-95 in Rutherford, NJ.
     
  4. aroideana

    aroideana Junior Member

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    So , whats wrong with using old tyres to do this ?
     
  5. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    No one said anything is wrong with tires being used. :think:
     
  6. NJNative

    NJNative Junior Member

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    Don't mean to make anyone nervous here, but don't tires off gas cadmium unless they're buried underground?
     
  7. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    Nope, never heard of that. If that was true the gas would be burning off all the time as tires go round and round.
     
  8. adiantum

    adiantum Junior Member

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    I just harvested a mediocre crop from four barrels here. I think it can work in climates where temperatures are amenable to a long growing season for white potatoes. In climates where hot summers force potatoes to mature earlier, I doubt that yields can be increased significantly by any method of deepening the soil while the plants are growing, as compared to just planting them in the garden. I'm about to turn around and try sweet potatoes in the same barrels, which are a full season crop in hot summer climates, and see if they do any better....
     
  9. Grahame

    Grahame Senior Member

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    I'm not sure about off-gassing. But there are studies that show tyres leach heavy metals such as lead and cadmium and other vulcanised rubber compounds. It depends on who has done the 'study' as to the overall levels and effects, but most agree that they do leach. There are some suggestions that the levels are 'within the acceptable limits'. I'm not one to really believe in acceptable limits...

    Pakman, there is a hell of a lot of rubber worn off of car tyres every year and it all contains these compounds. There are studies that indicate it makes its way into the groundwater and can be pretty toxic.

    I guess it's up to the individual to decide if growing food in old tyres against moist soil is a risk worth taking. Also remember that potatoes are a root crop, which as far as I understand are more likely to accumulate heavy metals than other plant foods...
     
  10. Benjy136

    Benjy136 Junior Member

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    P0tatoes?

    I lived just down the road from a cedar sawmill in Bismark, Ark. thirty years ago. I brought back several pick-up truck loads of the sawdust. (aromatic native cedar. actually a member of the juniper family) I dug shallow furrows, laid the "seeds" on top of the ground, Piled up the sawdust between the rows and put about six inches covering the "seeds".I then placed chicken poop on the areas between the seeds in the rows. The first rain started grubs coming up to get out, which the birds happily took care of. When the sprouts got up about 5 or six inches I added some of the sawdust from between the rows to almost cover the sprouts. This continued till all of the sawdust between the rows was gone and the sawdust was piled up arround the potatoes almost three feet deep. The plants grew very nicely and when the potato beetles got after them I collected a half of a mason jar full of them, blended them and let them set overnight in a gallon of water. I strained the product through a piece of window screen and sprayed my plants with it. That was the end of my beetle problem ( Within each organism are the seeds of its own destruction) I forget where I heard it. Anyway, when the first blooms were a few days old I reached into the sawdust and pulled as many new potatoes as I would need for a few days and placed a marker. There were three 75 Ft. rows and I kept this up starting where I left the marker from the last run. By the time I got back to the first plant I was pulling larger spuds. After the tops died I kept harvesting potatoes on into late november. By that time they were starting to get a kind of sweetness to them, but the sawdust insulation kept them preserved right where they grew. No rotten spuds in the crop. It is important to note that the sawdust was not your table-saw dust, but from a very large circular saw and therefore larger flakey composition. I have tried duplicating it with the finer dust from my power tools without the same results. lol

    Benjy
     
  11. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    When I lived in the hell hole known as Redding, CA I placed my taters in rings of hog fencing and kept filling it with compost. At the end of that evil summer the yield was insanely high and all I did was spread the compost all over the growing area where the bed was.

    You can certainly increase tater yields by adding more soil, compost, humus, or even just straw.
     
  12. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    Perhaps this is why I thought the way I did Grahame.

    The Off Gasing Non-Issue
     
  13. NJNative

    NJNative Junior Member

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    Pak, that's exactly why I said "unless they're buried underground". That link you posted is what I was basing that off of, but that doesn't mean that when they're not entombed in layers of clay and straw that they won't leach into the soil that you are growing things in. As grahame said, even if it's an "acceptable level" of toxins, I don't know if I'd feel comfortable with any level of toxins. Better safe than sorry, imo.
     
  14. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    I was merely explaining why I thought what I did, relax.

    So, my question is why can't we paint or seal them in another way to make them non-toxic for this very application?
     
  15. Benjy136

    Benjy136 Junior Member

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    Pakanohida;

    By the time I spend the time and money to "seal" them, wouldn't I be better off using a (fencing) cage and wrapping it with burlap to tone down any sun that could damage any potatoes close to the edge? Or even cardboard. I don't know how it is in your area, but here in SC the trash collection areas have certain times when they accept old tires. They're used in some "blacktop" formulas. Just a thought. I'm always open to suggestions that may improve the statis Quo. lol

    Benjy136

    Looking back on your erlier thread, looks like that's what you already did. My bad.
     
  16. NJNative

    NJNative Junior Member

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    Sorry if that came off as agitated or something, I was just expanding on your statement. :) Didn't mean to sound argumentative, I apologize. :handshake:

    I suppose you could make a clay/dirt/concrete/whatever mound around them, but I thought main attraction of tires was because it was very simple, just plop em down, throw dirt in, and plant. Add more tires and dirt as the potatoes grow. I wonder if there's anything that is commonly available that would be just as easy/simple, without the worry of toxins. You could probably use a 55 gallon barrel, or even a simple trash can could work I think.
     
  17. Ludi

    Ludi Junior Member

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    Maybe used food-grade plastic containers, if you want to use something plastic?
     
  18. aroideana

    aroideana Junior Member

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    hehehe knew this would happen .. clip from Sustainable Green Building site ...."Therefore, in our minds at Earthship Global, it is looming out there as a hypothetical issue coming from those who have never experienced the concept in person. In view of the above, and the serious issues surrounding current tire disposal globally, we think (but accept the fact) that those who are trying to make an issue out of this are irresponsible themselves."
     
  19. Benjy136

    Benjy136 Junior Member

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    Aroideana;

    Where space is an Issue Potatoes can be grown in bales of hay or straw. I've done this also, but if you have an ant problem they would have to be supported off the ground. Before my current garden was ready,I spread diatomatious earth under them, cut holes (2 in each) into the bales, cut my potatoes, sulphured the pieces, put them about 6 inches into the bales,spread composted chicken poo on top and watered it in. Compost was added on top after the "seeds" sprouted. The bales were kept moist at first and then just watered when they needed it. When the plant was beginning to die, the strings that bound the bales were cut and the potatoes were gathered up out of the straw, which went into my compost bins. It gave me more potatoes per plant than my first year's garden harvest, It has taken 5 years of rebuilding garden soil to get comparable results from my garden. The bales were cheap, I used less DE than I would have had to with the plants in the ground. They actually used less water. I had everything on site anyway, and there were no tires lying around catching rainwater for skeeters to breed in when I was through. Worked for me. lol and hooroo

    Benjy
     

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