I love eating Irish potatoes, those red or golden fleshed spuds cooked on the skillet for breakfast or roasted as a side dish. These underground gems can be grown successfully in the Brazos Valley region, and with a little bit of moxie, know-how and can-do attitude, you can grow them in your backyard in a raised bed or in a fabric bag on the patio.
Southern Cousins, Global Traveler
A brief background and contemporary cultivation info is in order. These beauties are members of the same plant family as tomatoes, the Nightshade Family (Solanaceae). Modern potatoes originate in South America along the Andes, from coastal Chile to Argentina, Bolivia and Peru and estimated to arrive in Europe from expeditions in the 1500s. Potatoes are a major global commodity, and commercial Texas production includes four areas: The High Plains – Panhandle, extending from Seminole northward to Dalhart; the Rolling Plains – Munday; the Winter Garden (includes Frio, Dimmit, Zavala and La Salle County, generally north of Laredo and south of San Antonio); and the Rio Grande Valley.
Red Irish Potatoes; image TX A&M AgriLife Communications
The eyes have it! Potatoes are starchy tubers that express buds we call eyes that produce stems rising above the ground, as well as initiate rooting and future potato development. To get more bang for our buck and have the potential to grow pounds of produce, we divide a single potato, called a seed potato, into chunky two-ounce pieces. You can purchase them from a local feed store or garden center, or reputable catalogue. These seed potatoes have been stored and prepared for veggie production. Use the potatoes you bought from the grocery store for eating as these are stored and prepared for longer store shelf life and not appropriate for planting.
When choosing seed potatoes from your collection, use those that are well-formed and three to four inches in length. You will be cutting them up into quarters or half and depending on the size of the tuber. Colleague Dr. Joe Masabni put it best: you will wind up with a piece about the size of a hen egg. Remember that cut seed potatoes are energy packets, providing food for the developing plant. Smaller seed pieces will not be very productive for you as there are not enough starches to draw on and fully develop the plant. Ensure that you have at least one good eye on these new seed pieces. Dry for several days to a week in a well-ventilated room, allowing the exposed cut pieces to produce suberized tissue and scab over, sealing wounds and exposed surfaces. You can pretreat these pieces with fungicides rated for ag products and specifically for potatoes just prior to planting and after drying, a common one being dusting sulfur applied by coating pieces in a paper lunch bag. As with any pesticide application, wear a mask, gloves and old clothes. Sulfur will stain clothes, can irritate your respiratory system, some may have an allergic reaction to the dust, and keep in mind that slightly rotten egg smell will linger in the room.
Now is the time to plant spuds, approximately three weeks before the last spring frost. Preparing a well-draining, enriched planting bed is an important step. Create berms up to 12-inches high. Once prepared, flatten the top of the berms to 8-inches and 12-inches wide. You are preparing the planting site to apply a band of fertilizer in 4-inch-deep trenches and on each side of the row. Apply 2 cups in each trench per 30-foot row with a balanced fertilizer. After this action, create a trench down the middle of the row 3-inches deep and place the seed pieces up to 12-inches apart, then cover at this planted depth and water in the rows. We don’t want to plant the seed pieces too deep as they have the potential to rot. The seed potato will form roots and send shoots above ground, developing tubers along the stem and above the seed potato. You will be pulling up soil along the sides of the row as the emerging stems elongate. Note that developing foliage resembles tomato leaves, a characteristic of the plant family. Apply 3 tablespoons of fertilizer per 10 feet of row when the plants are about four inches tall and alongside the plants.
Maintenance watering potatoes can be an art, and the basic rule of thumb is maintaining adequate moisture but not oversaturate the soil as the plants and tubers develop. Adjust watering per seasonal rain events. Harvest time relies on visual cues from the plant; once the above-ground plant begins to die, it is time to harvest. Estimate this phenomenon to occur at about 100 days from planting. To dig out, use a spading fork and aim for about ten inches away from the plant to prevent damaging the spuds. Push down the fork and lever up the soil. Shake away soil from the tubers as you can but don’t hose them down. We want them to dry and harden their skin first before dusting off excess soil. Store in a cool, well-ventilated room such as a bench in your garage or in a dark pantry.
Goal achieved! Roasted Yukon Gold with sprigs of lemon thyme; image Stephen Brueggerhoff
Red or white Irish potatoes? Each varietal has unique characteristics in texture, flavor and color. Tried and true varietals include red flesh Norland, LaSoda and Viking, white Kennebec and Superior, and popular yellow flesh Yukon Gold. For me, growing potatoes is a lot like growing carrots, excitement building for about ten weeks after planting and harvesting like gold for late spring and summer meals. Check out resources about vegetable gardening from Aggie Horticulture online, don’t forget to visit our Brazos County Master Gardener website for upcoming events. I also host a call-in gardening radio show on KAMU-FM 90.9 called Garden Success, weekly on Thursdays from 12 to 1pm to talk about your garden challenges and successes. Spud on, my friends, and I look forward to seeing you in the garden.
