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Post by brian1985 on Sept 27, 2019 14:52:34 GMT
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Post by feather on Sept 27, 2019 15:03:21 GMT
Let's see, I had to look at your posts to see where you are. Nebraska, and you planted around the beginning of June. June July August most of september, you are at about 16 weeks?
Potatoes need about 17 weeks and you are almost there. Your plants should be dying off any day now. If you can wait a week, then you should be just fine.
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Post by Maura on Sept 27, 2019 15:13:40 GMT
Agree. You don't harvest until the plant is done, so watch for die off. Then, you have time to pick, you don't have to do it right away.
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Post by Cabin Fever on Sept 27, 2019 16:28:37 GMT
Wait to harvest your potatoes for a week or two after the above-ground green plant dies. By doing this, the underground roots/rhizomes that are connected to the tubers have time to rot away. It makes harvesting easier, IMHO.
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Post by solargeek on Sept 27, 2019 16:48:37 GMT
How long after plant is dead and gone can I leave the potatoes in the ground? SO MUCH RAIN and the beds they are in drain great but the soil is too heavy to dig.
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Post by feather on Sept 27, 2019 17:48:39 GMT
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Post by bowdonkey on Sept 28, 2019 12:40:07 GMT
Get some out now. If I leave them too long, they get bug damaged. Not all of them but enough to tick me off . Also we get fall rains. I'd rather take them just as soon as they show signs of dieing rather than deal with wet muddy potatoes. If that happens you have to be sure to roll them daily so they dry faster. In my climate and soils wet potatoes spoil in a day or two. I lay big sheets or a lot of little sheets of cardboard on the garage floor and put the potatoes on that and roll them daily with a shop broom so they dry faster. I find cardboard works better than just the concrete floor. It's the bottom part of the potato that's still damp that will spoil. So roll them! Martin once said for every day in the ground they can cure equals 2 extra days of storage. I find this to be true if the weather cooperates. I harvest when most of a variety shows signs of dieing. Not dead. 8 varieties this year, short season to long season and staggered plantings within variteties. So i have alot of harvests over a couple months. The potatoes are kept in milk crates in a crawl space under the house. They last till June. I replant the egg sized ones. I have no idea how long this will go on. I've read where the potatoes will lose their viability, and will get small and stunted. Anyway that's my findings in a Zone 3 bog in northern MN.
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