Planting potatoes in tires?

[CHICKENHEAD]

Has anyone used the tire tower to plant potatoes in? You start with 1 tire and as the plant grows you add a tire and add more dirt. This keeps the plant growing up and more potatoes are produced where the leaved where once above the dirt, which are now under the dirt.

[Deberosa]

I did this years ago with a special plastic bin and I plan on doing it again this year since I have two sets of old tires laying around here. They worked great in the bin, if I remember right I used peat moss instead of soil and when I removed the bin I had a big batch of potatoes inside!

[lostinthewoods]

Chicken,

I've tried this before and I never got any potatoes anywhere but in the ground. for whatever reason they never grew in the tires at all. However, don't take me best effort as a measure for the success of this method, because I stink at root crops! >:(


lost

[Deberosa]

It works well with potatoes because the more of the stem that is under the surface, the more potatoes will form on the plant. Carrots would still only generate one carrot per plant, but the warmth of the tires might increase their rate of growth, not sure.

Other plants that like warm roots would work in tires - like tomatoes I would think. I've only tried potatoes this way though.

[pergammano]

I have been growin' "taters" in this manner for 20 plus years..and have been totally successful. There are so many bonuses, including water conservation, and ease of harvesting. Depending on type of summer, last year I had a stack of 6 tires & pounded in reddi-rod on 4 sides to keep them upright. Love the harvesting, just lift a tire off, harvest, then the next one! I wrap a tarp around the tires first, then lift the soil in the wheel barrow, add it to my compost.

Any plants from the "nightshade" family truly benefit from warm roots & this direct watering! Cheers!

[DM]

I tried it a couple times, and it didn't work for me either. I just hill up around the plants with dirt a bit, and then mulch "heavy" after that.

In early summer, i lift the mulch, and pick out the bigger ones to eat right then, while the rest keep on growing.

DM

[CHICKENHEAD]

I really want to try this. Now Im having second thoughts, some of you have had bad results.

[CHICKENHEAD]

I also thought about making some 3'x3' squares out of 2x8 boards. and just keep building it up.

[CHICKENHEAD]

how long could you keep the potatoes in the tires after the summer? Would they keep in there throughout the year?

[tospol]

Be careful using tires. They contain a number of toxic chemicals that can leech into the soil. Including cadmium which can cause heavy metal poisoning. But I don't know if it would be at levels that would be dangerous to us. It would probably be safer to use older tires, as they would have had time to leech off some of their toxins.
But I also know people who have used tires in their gardens for years and haven't had any noticeable problems from them.
Just thought I'd let people know of the potential danger.

I'm going to be trying this with wooden frames for my potatoes this year. I'm all for using space more efficiently in my garden.

[MooseToo]

this year i'm gonna try it with plastic barrels - cut in half to allow banking and if they continue to grow bank and bank again even if the second half needs to be stacked on - secured with a t-post driven down the center of the stack -

[annabella1]

I can't eat potatoes (nightshades) but I read that this will work with sweet potatoes (not nightshades) also. So I may give this a try.

[maverick996]

i live in ohio and i will try
the tires this summer

[MooseToo]

just remember - if you're gonna work with tires, and, if you are gonna put them in early for a jump start on the season - you have to use snow tires -

[annabella1]

Oh good all the snow tires just went on sale around here :D

And after we harvest we can just shake all the dirt out and mount them for next years snow!

[msta999]

I have three tires coming tomorrow, so I can try this. I was thinking of putting two different potatos in it. Little red and the larger for baked potatos. Has anyone done this and did it work?

[msta999]

Anyone try'd grass clippings and peatmoss along with the tire metod for growing potatos? Rather than bringing in a bunch of topsoil. I have a pile of grass clippings from last year and the year before, I would think they would be good to use for this. I almost never use fertilizer, so they should be clean.

I bought a book "Grow Fegetables by Alan Buckingham". It says to not use store bought potatos, to only use seed potatos. Can anyone confirm this?

[john0203]

From what I have read store bought potatoes have been treated to keep them from sprouting.

[AlchemyAcres]

Anyone try'd grass clippings and peatmoss along with the tire metod for growing potatos? Rather than bringing in a bunch of topsoil. I have a pile of grass clippings from last year and the year before, I would think they would be good to use for this. I almost never use fertilizer, so they should be clean.

I bought a book "Grow Fegetables by Alan Buckingham". It says to not use store bought potatos, to only use seed potatos. Can anyone confirm this?

It's hard to keep grass clippings from matting, going anaerobic and turning nasty.(That may not be so much of a problem with aged grass clippings). Peat moss works fine.


Store bought potatoes will eventually sprout, the caution against using them is mainly due to disease concerns.

Last year, certified seed potatoes at the feed store cost less than potatoes at the grocery store!!! :o


~Martin :)

[msta999]

Thanks, I'll just go with the seed potatos and peat moss.