• @UnderpantsWeevil
    link
    English
    325 months ago

    Neighbor tried to plant potatoes. She got about six pounds worth of top and no tuber.

    We spent weeks debugging and still don’t know what went wrong.

    • @HatFullOfSky
      link
      English
      415 months ago

      Potatoes you have to keep mounding up with dirt to force the plant to grow more roots (tubers) instead of the leafy tops.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          46
          edit-2
          5 months ago

          Potato tubers are not actually roots. They are modified stems. So the surest way to force more potatoes is to “hill” them. In the commercial fields this is done with a huge tractor raking soil from in between planting rows and piling it up on the plants. You essentially bury the plants stem as it grows taller. Then the buds on the stem will push out stolons (horizontal underground stems.) these will terminate in tubers, aka: potatoes!

          Source: did potato disease research for my PhD.

          Additional edit: loose/sandy soil is critical. Too dense of soil and your tubers can’t expand well.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              55 months ago

              Warning: I am not a beet expert. But I believe beets are actual roots. Just like carrots. And I think you only get one beer per plant? Burying the stem would just make it harder for new leaves to come up.

              Potatoes are pretty unique in this sense. Even sweet potatoes are not the same.

        • @Doolbs
          link
          English
          35 months ago

          Don’t plant them too close to each other. It doesn’t work.

    • Panda (he/him)
      link
      fedilink
      English
      215 months ago

      six pounds worth of top

      Where is this neighbor located? Asking for a friend 👀

      • @NegativeInf
        link
        English
        65 months ago

        All stems and leaves and flowers and shit. But no potatoes growing in the roots of the plants.

      • AutistoMephisto
        link
        English
        15 months ago

        The leafy top is called a haulm and on commercial farms the harvester has a header that removes the haulm before the main part of the harvester scoops up the potatoes. Anyone who’s played Farming Simulator is familiar with these machines, such as the Ropa Panther 2.