Dowding’s No Dig Potatoes

MsCowpea
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Dowding’s No Dig Potatoes

#1

Post: # 3651Unread post MsCowpea
Sun Dec 29, 2019 8:12 am

I love Dowding’s videos on YouTube. He is an actual experienced market grower and author out of the UK. Alot of the videos are from planting to harvesting-all in one video. Plus he does lots of experiments and comparisons. This one is very interesting and I am going to try some of the ideas.

"When we kill off the natural enemies of a pest we inherit their work."
Carl Huffaker

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TheDante
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Re: Dowding’s No Dig Potatoes

#2

Post: # 3660Unread post TheDante
Sun Dec 29, 2019 9:04 am

I second that! ;)

Just hope you don´t have voles playing pushing up spuds out of the soil like ours did! :lol:
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Karen´s current status - tomato nutcase :D

Kind hearts are the gardens, Kind thoughts are the roots, Kind words are the blossoms, Kind deeds are the fruits - Karpal Singh

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Re: Dowding’s No Dig Potatoes

#3

Post: # 4383Unread post Paquebot
Wed Jan 01, 2020 11:11 am

No-dig for potatoes is something anyone can achieve if they understand how the plant grows. There will never be tubers formed below the seed piece and no roots above it. The medium above the piece can be pure sawdust for all the plant cares. That/s why it works great under straw. My favorite material is shredded pine boughs mixed with soil. Pine creates a temorary acidic buffer to prevent scab and keeps the soil loose for tuber development.

Martin

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bower
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Re: Dowding’s No Dig Potatoes

#4

Post: # 4639Unread post bower
Thu Jan 02, 2020 1:36 pm

Brownrexx does spuds in straw - they look amazing.
I didn't know that acidic material would help to prevent scab. That may be worth a try since scab is common here - and we have plenty of conifer brush to shred for that.
Another thing used to prevent scab is crab or shrimp shell meal. I always save any shrimp shells or tails for the compost, because they are great for the soil.
The old fashioned method here is to dig a trench on either side of the potato bed, and use soil and the weeds growing in the trench to hill up around the potatoes. Caplin is a small fish that spawns at the water's edge, and many of the males wash ashore and die, this used to happen every year in late June or July, just at the time potatoes needed to be trenched. We would come home with buckets of fish, lay them on the ground in around the potato plants and then cover them with soil from the trench. This helped to decompose the weeds quickly and a good yield of spuds - never a trace of fish left at harvest time. :) It is no longer reliable that there will be any caplin, or that they'll be spawning at the right time. Some years they've been very late, others not at all. But in my father's day it was a crucial resource for farming here. They would camp on the beach sometimes, just waiting for the fish to come in.
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brownrexx
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Re: Dowding’s No Dig Potatoes

#5

Post: # 4728Unread post brownrexx
Thu Jan 02, 2020 8:13 pm

Thanks [mention]Bower[/mention] I like growing potatoes but they always got a lot of ugly scab. I tried decreasing the pH of my soil with sulfur but I still got it so I started growing my potatoes in straw with very good results. The secret is to plant the seed potato in the soil and cover it with a shallow layer of soil. I pile the straw on top of this and the sprouts come up through the straw. The tubers form on the stems so they are in the straw rather than the soil. They are almost totally scab free. I have to add additional straw after the plants get big or else the tubers will get too much light and turn green.

Last year I tried starting the seed potatoes directly in straw but they wouldn't grow so I uncovered them and placed them in shallow soil and they took right off growing.

I use no tools to "dig" my potatoes, just my gloved hands.

ImageDSC00880 by Brownrexx, on Flickr

ImageDSC00795 by Brownrexx, on Flickr

Here is what it looked like when I pulled the straw back with just my hands. Somehow a red volunteer got in there!

Image20180812_122732 by Brownrexx, on Flickr
Last edited by brownrexx on Thu Jan 02, 2020 8:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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bower
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Re: Dowding’s No Dig Potatoes

#6

Post: # 4735Unread post bower
Thu Jan 02, 2020 8:24 pm

Very nice potatoes! I don't have access to that amount of straw but maybe I can rent a chipper shredder for the boughs and try that. Your spuds are so nice and clean and scab free... way to go!
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Nan6b
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Re: Dowding’s No Dig Potatoes

#7

Post: # 4738Unread post Nan6b
Thu Jan 02, 2020 8:32 pm

Can't argue with those beautiful results!

MsCowpea
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Re: Dowding’s No Dig Potatoes

#8

Post: # 4780Unread post MsCowpea
Thu Jan 02, 2020 9:34 pm

Wow, you have certainly found a great method for you. I have heard about growing potatoes in straw but you have perfected It. Those look fantastic. How do you prepare the soil? And do you have to fertilize as they grow? Thanks.
"When we kill off the natural enemies of a pest we inherit their work."
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brownrexx
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Re: Dowding’s No Dig Potatoes

#9

Post: # 4811Unread post brownrexx
Fri Jan 03, 2020 6:46 am

[mention]Bower[/mention] I collect straw bales after Halloween/Thanksgiving. If I see someone throwing away their decorations I grab the straw bale but I didn't get enough last year so this year I put an add on Facebook Marketplace that I would clean up Fall decorations for free. I got about 15 bales and then I asked at the local Retirement home who decorates heavily and I got another 11 bales! I have the nice dry bales stored in our shed but here are the ones that will be used for the potatoes. I won't use ALL of these for potatoes but they were wet already so I am storing them outside. I will use some of them for mulch during the summer.

I also mulch the entire garden with straw in the Fall after we roto till it. Using anything that you have chipped/shredded should work as long as it does not get too compact like grass clippings and block water from penetrating. It also needs to block the light from the developing tubers.

[mention]MsCowpea[/mention] I do not add any fertilizer, just water if they need it. I garden organically and I have added lots of compost over the years and my soil now has an excess of nutrients so I add nothing except for some feather meal for nitrogen on the tomatoes.

I don't do anything special to prepare the soil. My entire garden gets roto tilled in the Fall and mulched for the winter. When it gets warm I just pull the mulch back and plant the seed potatoes just below the soil and recover them lightly with straw. I add more straw as they grow. I wouldn't add lots of straw at first or it would keep the soil too cool.

Image20191125_155657 by Brownrexx, on Flickr

Here are my 2 gardens, and my compost pile sleeping for the winter.

Image20191107_115232 by Brownrexx, on Flickr

Image20191107_115049 by Brownrexx, on Flickr

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SusieQ
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Re: Dowding’s No Dig Potatoes

#10

Post: # 4817Unread post SusieQ
Fri Jan 03, 2020 7:33 am

Oh, I'm so jealous! Whenever I've tried straw in the garden (potatoes, strawberries, asparagus, mulching, etc.) every slug in the county finds its way here.
Do you have a slug problem with your straw technique? If so, how do you organically combat it? (If not - count your blessings! :D )

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bower
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Re: Dowding’s No Dig Potatoes

#11

Post: # 4835Unread post bower
Fri Jan 03, 2020 8:41 am

What a beautiful place, brownrexx!
Straw bales are not a part of the landscape here - people don't use them as decorations either because there are none. Some hay is grown for animals, and occasionally I'll see some in fields, baled for the winter, but there isn't a surplus as you have in a more agricultural place. Lucky you! :)
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Re: Dowding’s No Dig Potatoes

#12

Post: # 4843Unread post Gardadore
Fri Jan 03, 2020 9:39 am

I’ve grown potatoes and covered the plantings with straw but love the idea of planting them more shallowly and then covering with lots of straw as they grow. Will try this method this summer as I hate having to dig them! Thanks for providing this info!

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brownrexx
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Re: Dowding’s No Dig Potatoes

#13

Post: # 4846Unread post brownrexx
Fri Jan 03, 2020 10:29 am

[mention]Bower[/mention] don't use HAY as it is full of seeds. Straw has some seeds but it is mostly wheat stems so weeds are not a big problem. You could use shredded leaves or pine branches with leaves over top or something like that, just so it does not leave the potatoes in too much light and it lets water through. How about pine needles?

[mention]SusieQ[/mention] I only ever have a slug problem with my leafy greens and sometimes bush beans so I keep the straw pulled away from those crops but I usually have to spread some organic slug bait in those areas. I use iron phosphate pellets which are called Slug Magic but I am sure that there are other names, just make sure it's iron phosphate which is OK for organic gardening. I also save eggshells and crush them and spread them around the leafy greens. The slugs don't like to slither across sharp, crushed eggshells. I start saving them in the spring and spread them when I plant my bok choy and cabbage seedlings.

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Re: Dowding’s No Dig Potatoes

#14

Post: # 4850Unread post bower
Fri Jan 03, 2020 10:59 am

Aha, that explains why we don't see straw here... no wheat grown in this area.
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Re: Dowding’s No Dig Potatoes

#15

Post: # 4894Unread post Paquebot
Fri Jan 03, 2020 5:11 pm

Bower, check out garden centers. They should have several types of straw available. Most have wheat, barley, or rye. May also have marsh hay which is usually clean of any weeds. Various drawbacks to using straw are slugs, snakes, and voles. Also, barley. oat, and rye have virtually zero NPK when it breaks down and tilled in. Wheat is higher but all take up a lot of nitrogen to break down.

For full control of common scab, the pH must be 5.5 or lower, That is almost impossible to maintain economically with sulfur alone. Cheaper to avoid using pure soil for tuber development. Some fresh pine needles may have a pH of less than 5.0 and work great for creating a temporary acidic buffer. As the needles break down, they do lose much of their acidity but it lasts long enough to deter scab. And when it begins to break down, it has enough of its own nitrogen to do the job.

Martin

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brownrexx
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Re: Dowding’s No Dig Potatoes

#16

Post: # 5014Unread post brownrexx
Sat Jan 04, 2020 9:13 am

Paquebot wrote: Fri Jan 03, 2020 5:11 pm
For full control of common scab, the pH must be 5.5 or lower, That is almost impossible to maintain economically with sulfur alone. Cheaper to avoid using pure soil for tuber development. Some fresh pine needles may have a pH of less than 5.0 and work great for creating a temporary acidic buffer. As the needles break down, they do lose much of their acidity but it lasts long enough to deter scab. And when it begins to break down, it has enough of its own nitrogen to do the job.
Martin
I have access to plenty of pine needles due to having a border of white pine trees so I think that I will add some to the potato rows next year in addition to using my straw method. The pH in that garden has been as low as 6.6 the year after I added sulfur but it came back up to 7.1 and 7.2 in succeeding years due to all of the compost. Maybe adding pine needles will help.

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Re: Dowding’s No Dig Potatoes

#17

Post: # 5036Unread post Paquebot
Sat Jan 04, 2020 10:31 am

Pine trees will change the soil pH gradually over the years. The change is gradual and there is a formula for rate of change. 5.2 is the absolute cutoff for common scab. Once you have scab, you are stuck with it for life. I never had it until I ordered Caola from Pinetree probably 25 years ago. Been fighting it ever since. Tried sulfur at first but would have been cheaper just to buy potatoes. Found it even more effective to just acidify the narrow row where the tubers would form than the entire garden. The pH there is now down to the low 6s and the soil almost 100% humus. Only digging is to make the trenches to lay in compost and plant.

Martin

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Re: Dowding’s No Dig Potatoes

#18

Post: # 5038Unread post Nan6b
Sat Jan 04, 2020 10:42 am

My soil is almost pure Pennsylvania clay. I could conceivably grow potatoes this way...

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Re: Dowding’s No Dig Potatoes

#19

Post: # 5041Unread post Whwoz
Sat Jan 04, 2020 10:48 am

Nan6b wrote: Sat Jan 04, 2020 10:42 am My soil is almost pure Pennsylvania clay. I could conceivably grow potatoes this way...
Indeed you could Nan, I have done so on our Trafalgar swamp silt, which locks up really tight when dry, very similar cultural techniques to clay needed in a lot of respects. Had to stop when the cost of alfalfa bales went through the roof with the dry setting in. Could not morally justify growing in alfalfa/straw at the moment down here.

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Re: Dowding’s No Dig Potatoes

#20

Post: # 5045Unread post Nan6b
Sat Jan 04, 2020 10:57 am

Would wood chips work in place of straw, do you think? I might be able to get those free.

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