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New Brunswick

We have had rain, rain, this year, and I am wondering if I pile hay around my potatoe plants this year (to prevent sunburn) if it will rot my growing potatoes. The ground is really wet. Could I apply hay if it ever dries out or does it matter how dry the soil is? I used hay last year and lost one entire row of Green Mountains. They rotted days after picking...and ground was quite wet. The other potatoes of different types were ok however. I did not have any colorado potato bugs this year and wonder if last years hay could have killed them out, as last year we picked them by the dozens. So the question is use hay or not? Suggestions anyone?

7/27/2006 12:42:15 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

We normally plant in to a mulch of straw. I run the bottom plow to create a trench. The Girls throw the seed potato in. Then Cover with dirt. Once they emerge it is cover with 6-8 inches of straw. Normally we have no potato beetles. This year the new place had no straw for mulch we had potato beetles from hell. Funny thing is we seen in the store Potato Beetle Beater..active ingredient Merit. So I know something that will get sprayed next year when the field gets sprayed.

7/27/2006 3:39:07 PM

New Brunswick

Do you think it would hurt to lay the hay (in our case) around the potato plants and between the rows even tho' the ground is still fairly wettish from rain? It wouldn't cause the potatoes to rot would it? I was thinking maybe to shake out the hay well and apply it fluffed upas opposed to letting it remain in flakes. We have horses and these particular bales of hay are a bit too heavy to feed. I never heard tell of Merit...always opting for Rotenone instead.

7/27/2006 11:03:53 PM

Montoursville, PA

Potato plants love mulch. Git 'er done. Any way you can.:)

7/28/2006 3:44:18 PM

New Brunswick

Thanks...gotta wait till it stops raining. It is pouring again. GRRRRRRRRRRR.
I didn't grow A.G.'s this year. Planted strawberries in the punkin patch last year. Got 28 boxes of the best strawberries I ever ate this summer...and a lot less work. But I do miss the pumpkins...but then again they aren't as good eatin'. LOL

7/28/2006 10:41:50 PM

Long Island,New York

You made the mistake we all make sooner or later Desert storm....growing veggies in our pumpkin plots. I planted tomatoes in my pkn patch and have 8ft high plants that stretch 8 feet wide in all directions.....only thing is its planted at 4 ft spacing like the book says. My beans are 3 ft high and wide and the nieghbors won't make eye contact anymore....too many veggies from this super-juiced soil. Carrots are about 8lbs before they rot and I have cucumbers out my ears. Tall corn is...well....really tall, and sunflowers will be over 12 ft easy. Skyrockets are climbing the roof of my house for two weeks now. So, when the pkns don't grow you still have a few years of ammendment free growing of the good-to-eat stuff.....G

7/29/2006 8:06:42 AM

New Brunswick

Some mistake! LOL Congrats on your wonderful garden!

7/29/2006 10:03:58 PM