Here is another DIY post, the kind that I've been making about some of my crazy ideas. I did a post about an upside down plant, the first one that I posted. There was a radish plant on the top, and a potato plant poking out the bottom growing upside down. There will be no upside down planting in this one. We are heading sideways!r
I have been playing with the idea of growing potatoes for a while. One thing I have found during that process is that potatoes, as they sprout up, can be covered with soil up to the first leaf. When you do that, it not only supports the stem which sometimes bends and breaks, but it also allows the stem to sprout more roots and possibly produce more potatoes underground.
So let's start with some potatoes. I had a few that had eyes coming out of them and I cut them into sections leaving enough meat inside the potato to nourish the buds as they break ground and start their competition for sunlight.
I started with a clay pot about the size of a basketball in circumference and about knee-high. I put about 3 in of soil in the bottom of the pot and placed the potato sections in a circle on top of the soil. Then I buried those with another three or four inches of soil.
This is a progressive project. I have to wait until the first group sprouts up. Then I place new budding chunks of potato plants in between the first rising stems. I bury the second group and wait for those to break ground. If an y come up in the middle of the pot, meaning not near the walls of the pot, I start coaxing them toward one side or the other.
Every time the plants get four or five inches tall, a new round of potato buds are planted and buried. I am layering my plants as they grow upward. That is not the fun part yet. The idea is to make a potato tower. Let me explain...
I grabbed a section of plastic netting and rolled it up into a large tube, the circumference of the pot that I am using. When my layers filled the pot about 3/4 from the top, I shoved the netting tube into the pot and made more layers of potato buds - waiting for each to sprout. I secured the netting with zip ties so that it keeps its shape.
The first layer after inserting the netting was buried in dirt and then I put a layer of wood chips and dry leaves on top of that soil. Then, I waited until all plants had sprouted as well as the ones that were coming up from the bottom layers. The ones that were growing since the beginning have all been coaxed to be near the edge of the pot. Now, they are being coaxed to go through the plastic netting.
Some that are coming up from the lower levels work their way up and through the netting on their own. Here is a picture of the project at its infancy with most of the plants being directed outside the netting already.
As you can see, the project will be nearly as tall as the refrigerator next to it. Here is an example of how I lead the new plants toward the netting. Once they are there, I pull them through the openings.
I use a wooden skewer to keep them growing toward the openings in the netting. If the leaves are too big to pull them through, I cut a larger opening to pull the plant through. This takes time daily to check how high they are and bring them out through the side. I am hoping it will eventually become a potato bush made of many, many potato plants.
I am using a loop of wire to pull them through. I cannot get my hands inside to push them through because the structure is too tall for me to reach down inside it.
Then it is time for a layer of biodegradables to be poured in, then another layer of dirt and more potato buds.
I have taken photos at various stages so far. The idea is that each layer gets a good quantity of leafy substance layered into the mix and the plants that come up should sense light from whatever side is nearest to them and grow out through the netting. When that doesn't happen, I coax them through it.
The leaves that are in the soil will decompose and turn into new, fertile dirt as the process progresses. I am certain it will be quite a mess at harvest time, but it should result in a ton of potatoes.
I will make a Part II when I get it half way to its maximum height. It is winter where I am and we can grow all year around but the growth rates are super slow in the 40 to 50 degree range (F).
What do you think of this idea?
