Thursday, June 14, 2012

Potato Grow Bag Progress

I figure it's probably about time for a progress report on my potato grow bag.  Things are going quite well!  The potato plants have gotten huge, and there's even a small flower bud on one of the stems.  The flower hasn't actually opened yet, but give it time!  It's not actually potato harvest time in this region until July, so I'm happy to wait.



That's quite a lot of leaves for one reusable grocery bag, don't you think?  I'm actually a bit worried as I look at this.  I mean, sure... the potato plants are happy in their DIY grow bag,  but I'm concerned about the harvest itself.  How big (or small) are my potatoes going to be?  I'm not sure there's enough dirt surrounding them for adequate growth.  I honestly didn't expect to have quite so much greenery shooting out of this bag!

I also noticed that potato plant stems are heavy.  These things are about half an inch thick at the visible base, and the stems are very long.  This has posed a problem.

At some point during growth, soil got jostled around, and I ended up with a larger amount of dirt toward the center of the bag than on the edges.  This would have worked out just fine if the potato pieces had all been placed in the middle, but since they were spread out, I ran into a bit of a problem.

I discovered a broken stem.


Strangely, that potato plant is still alive.  It's still green.  The full stem is growing as though nothing bad had happened.  There is still a small portion of the potato stem that's attached, but it's such a small portion that most plants wouldn't even consider surviving in this situation... and certainly wouldn't thrive!

I'm not sure what to make of this.  It's just... odd.

Of course, I'm not complaining.  This is rather exciting!

I went ahead and grabbed some more dirt so that I could help secure the stem.  I didn't want to press my luck, after all.

Overall, I'd say I'm making pretty good progress.  My potato grow bag appears to be working as it should, if not better, and I'm still looking forward to a great harvest... even if I do end up with itty bitty potatoes!

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