I think you will be amazed at how much growth has happened, and I am only half done planting. This is an update on the DIY potato tower from my last post. As you will see in thr full frame standnig photo tower, below, some of the plants droop off to the side of the tower.
For that reason, I am upping my game to use zip ties to hold the stems of the plants close to the netting. Potatoes never do well aginst the wind. The stems can bend only so far and then they break. When I was growing potatoes, a single level in a normal pot, I would bend the stems little by little so that the grow to the side and stay close to the ground. Many potatoe patches bend theirs so they grow along the ground as well to avoid breakage. When the stems break, they split open, up and down wise, and they lose all the moisture inside and die. That even happened to the first "upside down" potato plant that I posted. The wind even got that one. (the others that come out of the bottoms of the pots are all doing well.)
The plants are growing in height and surpassing the new planting of potatoes spuds. The netted stalk which will one day be full to the top is currently only half full of dirt. I will not fill it to the top until I have enough layers of planted spuds. One layer of dirt, planted potatoes with eyes, covered in dirt, then another layer of dry leaves or wood chips.
Here you see some of the taller stems growing strong even though it is winter here. They need a loose fitted zip tie to hold them from falling and breaking in the wind. I put a tie every 10 or 15 inches as they grow. If I need to reposition one of the zip ties, I just put a new one where needed, then cut off the old one. The yellow zip ties are the ones that hold the tubular netting to keep its shape, kind of like a big, round fence.
As you can see, the growth is far out growing any new plants that come up. I think I may have gotten behind on my planting at some point. It takes longer for them to find a place to poke through the netting. I occasionally need to help them through it. I have found several that have leaves, too large to get through one square opening, that are growing large while still behind the netting.
There are at least 7 layers of spuds planted above the rim of the clay pot. Many have not broken out into the open air yet. Some of the taller potato plants have stems that are as big around as the opening that they are growing through.
Here, I am taking an ordinary wire cutter to cut through the netting and give the stem some breathing room. This is the base of one of those that I showed with zip ties toward the top of the plant.
Below is the result of that modifications...
You can also see roots poking out, trying to find level ground (more dirt off to the side) to take root in. I am not sure what will happen when they do not find more earth to take root in. As of now, they appear to be turning green and may become stems.
Here is one that I did not find right away. When I found it, I had to cut open a larger opening, pull the leaves through, and now it is one of the tallest ones. You can see this same event in the next photo.
I am considering more verticle gardening experiments. Maybe lettuce or spices. In order to test this idea, I have planted one chili pepper plant in the midst of all of this potatoe madness. I have the place where I planted it marked with a broken skewer. It should sprout one or two squares above where the skewer is placed.
The seed for this chili plant came from last year's yeild. I have them sprouting in a glass jar with wet cotton in it. I can see which seeds have sprouted through the glass and which ones have not. If the one that I planted grows, I will probably use zip ties to keep it on the straight and narrow road upward. This will be the potato and chili tower if it is sucessful.
Here are a couple angles of the entire project so far...
Top right, you can see some more new ones that will need to be tethered to the netting or risk breaking. they are weak and falling off to the side. When I went out to take these pictures, there was a broken one that was limp from a broken stem.
I know that the tube of netting leaning a bit. I am not planning to fix it at this point. I may possibly do it close to harvest time in case the entire thing is ruined and falls over. Then at least I can havest some of the spuds that have been growing for a long time instead of ruining the entire experiment. It likely started leaning when I tried to move it to clean.
That is part of experimenting with something new. It sometimes 'goes sideways' as they say. As I said, I still want a havest. I am looking to have a few of these towers planted and ready to go all gang busters before the warm weather hits in another three months or so.
What other plants do you think I could grow vertically? The netting is configurable as far as stem size goes. Let me know your thoughts.
