One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered Part 31

Advise me how to keep my potatoes. What is the best way? Would a dark room be suitable? Some people are digging holes in the ground to put them in.

Potatoes, if properly matured and free from disease, will keep for a considerable time in dark rooms kept as cool as possible. They must be kept away from the reach of the moth, which is parent to the worm producing long black strings inside of the potato. If they are thoroughly covered with boards or sacking or straw, so as to keep the moth from reaching the potato, they may be held for a long time in the open air, and covering with earth, as your neighbors are doing, will be all right until the rains come and cause decay by making the soil too wet. The main point is to keep the tubers as cool as possible and out of reach of the potato moth.

Potato Yield.

What is the yield per acre of potatoes on the best land around Stockton, Cal., where work is done properly; also what is the yield for potatoes along the coast?

The average yield of potatoes in California, taking the whole acreage and product as reported by the last United States census, is 147 bushels to the acre. In Stockton district, on good new reclaimed land the yield has been reported all the way from 300 to 800 bushels per acre - the crop declining rapidly when continued on the same land. One year's crop in the Stockton district was estimated at 45,000 acres averaging 125 sacks per acre. The coast yield would be more like the general average for the State as first given.

New Potatoes for Seed.

Can I plant American Wonder potatoes for the first crop, and let enough of them mature to use for seed for the second crop, to be planted the first or middle of July?

It is possible to use potatoes grown the same year as seed for the later crop, providing you let the potatoes mature first by the complete dying down of the vines, and second by digging the potatoes allow them to lie in the open air, with some protection against sun-burning, until the potatoes become somewhat greenish. If this is the case the eyes will develop and seed will grow, while without such treatment you might be disappointed in their behavior. Of course, the question still remains whether it would be desirable to do this or to plant some later variety earlier in the season when the growing conditions would be better.

Potato Growing.

In what locality are the best early potatoes grown in California? Can they be raised on wheat lands without irrigation as an early crop?

Early potatoes are grown in regions of light frosts in all parts of the State - around the bay of San Francisco, on the mesas in southern California, and to some extent at slight elevations in the central part of the State. The potato endures some frost, but one has, for an early crop, to guard against the locations subject to hard freezing. Most of our potatoes are grown without irrigation because, on uplands, winter temperatures favor their growing during the rainy season. The middle-season and late potatoes are grown on moist lowlands where irrigation is not necessary. In proper situations, much of the land which is used for potatoes has at some time produced wheat or barley, corn or sorghum, and other field crops.

Potatoes After Alfalfa.

I have been a successful potato grower in Ohio. I have the best alfalfa soil and it is now in its fourth year of productiveness in that crop. I would like to grow potatoes in a small way.

Proceed just as you would at the East in getting potatoes upon a red clover sod. Turn under the alfalfa deeply now if the soil will work well, and roll your sandy soil. You must use a sharp plow to cut and cover well. If there is moisture enough the alfalfa, plowed under in the fall, ought to be decayed by February, when you could plant potatoes safely, probably, unless your situation is very frosty. If you plant early you ought to get the crop through without irrigation if you cultivate well and keep the land flat.

Flat or Hill Culture for Potatoes.

Is it better to hill potatoes or not?

During the dry time of the year potatoes should be grown with flat cultivation, except as it may be necessary to furrow out between the rows for the application of irrigation water. Potatoes grown during the rainy season in places where there is liable to be too much water, can often be hilled to advantage, but dry-season cultivation of practically everything should be as flat as possible to retain moisture near the surface for the development of shallow-rooting plants.

Bad Conditions for Potatoes.

Our potatoes were planted early and were frosted several times while young. As we come to harvest them we find them with very large green tops but the potatoes are about the size of a hen's egg and from that they run down to the size of a pea. The larger ones are beginning to send out roots, four or five to a potato. The potatoes have not been irrigated lately and the ground they are in is dry.

The ugly behavior of your potatoes is doubtless due to irregularities in temperature and moisture which have forced the plants into abnormal or undesirable activity. Potatoes should have regular conditions of moisture so that they shall proceed from start to finish and not stop and start again, for this will usually make the crop unsatisfactory and worthless. Excessive moisture is not desirable, but the requisite amount in continuous supply is indispensable.

Potatoes on Heavy Land.

Will potatoes grow well in adobe land, or partly adobe, that has not been used for seven years except for pasturing?

Although potatoes enjoy best of all a light loam in which they can readily expand, it is possible to get very good results on heavy land which has been used for pasturage for some years, providing the land is broken up early and deeply and harrowed well in advance of planting and thorough cultivation maintained while the crop is growing. The content of gra.s.s roots and manure which the land has received during its period of grazing tends to make the soil lighter and will also feed the plant well. For this reason better potatoes are had on heavy land after pasturage than could be had on the same land if continually used for grain or for some other crop which tended to reduce the amount of humus and to make the land more rebellious in cultivation.

Storage of Seed Potatoes.

We need potatoes for late planting and have found a good lot which is being held in cold storage at temperatures from 34 to 36 degrees F. They have not been there long, however. Would that hurt them for seed, and also how long could they be safely left there now before planting?

Seed potatoes would not be injured in storage, providing the temperature is not allowed to go below the freezing point. They should not, however, be allowed to remain longer in storage, but should be exposed to the sun for the development of the eyes, even to the sprouting point being desirable before planting. The greening of the potato by the sun is no disadvantage. We would not think of planting potatoes directly from storage, because, owing to the lack of development in the eyes, decay might get the start of germination.

Potatoes and Frosts.

Can I keep frost off of potato tops by building smudge fires! I would like to plant about February 1, but we usually have a few light frosts here during March. If I were to turn water in the field when too cold, would that keep the frost off, and if so, would I have to turn water down each row, or would one furrow full of water to about every fourth or sixth row be enough?

You can prevent frost by smudging for potatoes just as you can for other vegetables. The potato, however, needs little protection of this kind and will endure a light frost which would be destructive to tomatoes, melons, and other more tender growths. Unless you have a very frosty situation, you can certainly grow potatoes without frost protection, and they should be planted earlier than February first if the ground is in good condition. The great secret of success in growing potatoes in southern California is to get a good early start before the heat and drought come on. Water will protect from frost if the temperature only goes to about 28 degrees and does not stay there too long. The more water there is exposed the longer may be the protection, but probably not against a lower temperature.

Growing Sweet Potato Plants.