Can Potatoes Grow in Almost Anything? - Part 3 of the Potato Grow Bag Trials

[@kurt5490]

This whole potatoes in a bag series is one I'll be watching over and over! I'm curious to see what an automated irrigation system would do.

[@REDGardens]

Yeah, the irrigation system will help a lot!

[@KnowledgeNerd123]

Really appreciate your calculated and scientific approach to gardening. Even though this wasn't a perfectly controlled experiment the results are pretty clear. A lot of questions answered but still a few more uncovered in the process. Amazing stuff, love the content you put out, thanks for doing what you do

[@REDGardens]

Thanks! I learned so much from this experiment even before I harvested anything, just watching things grow. It was an amazing teach aid for a course I taught last summer, wheee we were able to see how differently all the plants were growing. The participants could not believe they were all the same variety. Really showed the importance of good fertility.

[@thebraziliangardener8481]

@@REDGardens did you see the rat hiding in the straw or only i have eagle eyes ? ?

[@thebraziliangardener8481]

at 11:16

[@kingjames4886]

potatoes have long been known as the best crop to break new ground, between their tolerance for varying conditions and their promoting turning the soil.

[@REDGardens]

That promoting of turning the soil, but us doing the digging!

[@Tsuchimursu]

at least in my area they don't work if I plant them in grass/meadow/hayfield, I get a lot of root eating yellow larvae digging holes into the spuds...

[@jarodmohling2969]

@@Tsuchimursu Same here. Wire worms.

[@Tsuchimursu]

@@jarodmohling2969 click beetle larvae. in the genus agriotes. :)

[@bradcarby3765]

I grow potatoes hydroponically in 200 litre grow bags of coco coir. Yields depend on a lot of things obviously, but my favourite thing about doing it this way is how clean they are. It's like washed potatoes from the store. Absolutely nothing clinging to the potatoes and hardly any blemishes or deformities. I tend to rat around in the bag for a couple of big ones for dinner occasionally and in doing so I feel I increase the growth of the smaller ones. I don't really have numbers on total harvest because of the selective harvesting, but I'm sure it is close to what I would get out of the same space in other media. Dr. Kratky grew potatoes hydroponically in shredded newspaper so I'm sure you could get some kind of harvest out of anything. In the future, once I have collected a sufficient amount, I intend to grow some chilli plants and potatoes in a grow bag with my dog's hair. He is a long haired, Italian sheep dog (Mareema), so the bags are filling up fast.

[@REDGardens]

That is so interesting. I would love to explore hydroponic growing. I was thinking of trying to grow some potatoes in shredded corrugated cardboard that was liquid fed.

[@joefization]

It must be gratifying to see your own compost doing so well against professional mixes and fertilizers. Your COF blend too!

[@REDGardens]

Yes.

[@gailthornbury291]

I did an embarrassingly small experiment with just two pots, one with bought bagged compost and one with my own leafmould. Same amount of added fertilizer in both. The leafmould pot yield was a bit better than the bought potting compost. What is most striking is that the bought compost cost me £3.30 to fill the pot and the leafmould was free.

[@kajsan760]

I'm thinking of planting potatoes in leafmold. How old was your leafmold? How had it been treated since falling off the trees? (pile, bags, shredded, mixed with grass clippings, etc)

[@gailthornbury291]

@@kajsan760 about a year old with a handful of blood fish and bone fertilizer. I have a lot of trees and just pile up the leaves in a pallet bin for a year or so. Sometimes some of the leaves are shredded by the lawnmower if I use it to pick leaves from grassy areas. After using it for potting mixes( or in this case by itself) with compost I sieve it and use it to grow carrots leeks or I add it to raised beds. Then the whole cycle starts again..

[@REDGardens]

Interesting. Definitely worth collecting and making leaf mould!

[@swadarma7]

Man i really appreciate what you do. Success!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks!

[@FireflyOnTheMoon]

A good experiment. It was good to see how well your own homemade compost did, compare to other methods.

[@REDGardens]

Yeah, it was interesting.

[@bartdebondt8663]

This one is for the books! Good job.

[@REDGardens]

🙂

[@sc0tt500]

What a great example of how complex the needs of plants are. So many variables go into a good growing medium such as moisture retention, drainage, aeration, available nutrients and the need for a healthy living soil. I'd be keen to see how combinations of the above mix could improve on this years results. I've read that 1/3 normal soil, 1/3 compost and 1/3 good quality potting mix is a good balance. Another well put together video. Thanks for sharing.

[@REDGardens]

Yes, there are so many variables, and I really didn't pay close enough attention to it all. But it was interesting to noice that when harvesting from the bags after a lot of rain, som of the soil based material was quite clumpy and wet, and others was much more friable and easier to work through the sieve. It could be just a random issue, or the sign of something interesting going on.

[@robertcline7603]

I really appreciate this video as someone whos done potato trials on a much much smaller scale with a much younger compost pile. I had massive success using my compost which was a mix of used 65/35 coco choir and perlite from my hydro setup, used reptile bedding, and grass clipping from my back yard. I think the secret ingredient in this was the used reptile bedding but i am having a hard time securing more of it!

[@REDGardens]

Cool. Any type of high fertility material seems to work well.

[@happyhillsfarm9598]

That was so awesome to see the spuds emerge from the soil when you screened the bag! It was like magic! Thanks again for the great video!

[@REDGardens]

Yeah, it is pretty cool to watch!

[@catherineemerson99]

Great series! Appreciating your scientific approach and comparisons, having just found your channel yesterday.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks! Glad you found my channel.

[@vincentpetit2109]

Very interesting. It's useful data!

[@REDGardens]

🙂

[@themoorlandsallotment7159]

Great experiment, interesting results table. Glad to see your compost did so well.

[@REDGardens]

🙂 So was I.

[@NoQuinn]

Thank you very much

[@REDGardens]

🙂

[@fxm5715]

When you get around to your final analysis, I'd be curious to see some kind of yield to space, effort, cost ratios. I have vastly more growing space than I use, and it's already paid for. It might make sense for someone like me to simply plant more potatoes with moderate amendments than to try to get maximum yield from each plant. Providing more plants with moderately good soil could be a reasonable tactic. As always, thanks for sharing, Bruce.

[@REDGardens]

the effort/yield/space factors is a big one. Growing as much as possible in a small space with high effort and inputs, is very different than methods for easily growing enough with a lot of space. Two very different approaches. And then with the grow bags or other containers it is different again.

[@fxm5715]

​@@REDGardens It certainly is. But you are very good at combining/interpreting your results and hard data in ways they might apply in varying circumstances. Sure, much is conjecture, but your informed speculation is far more valuable and insightful than my slip-shod, poorly documented or quantified efforts!😄

[@mauriciorico216]

The amount of yield depends greatly on the variety of potato, in my opinion. Yet is very interesting to see how what you put in the soil affects the yield. Great experiment...

[@REDGardens]

I would love to include different varieties in this trial, as I agree that yield does seem to vary quite a bit. But that would add too much of a variable in this trial.

[@simtyful]

Brilliant! What would be great would be to establish a repeatable baseline growing medium so one day we could explore how different varieties coped with growing medium variation. I should add: From my experience (I've trialled going on for 100 varieties) I've definitely come across varieties that performed unexpectedly well compared to others. But I've never been able to establish whether it was down to certain varieties being better suited climatically to the East of England or something to do with my local soil composition.

[@kgarden8960]

Interesting to see how well your spuds did in self-made compost. I dig out my (permanent) greenhouse Tomato bed in the winter and replace with my rough compost (poorly made using a "just pile it" system). I get a great crop of Tomatoes and at the end of the season the "soil" being removed is beautifully friable, and I use that for anything that needs good compost.

[@REDGardens]

That sounds like a good method of getting some use out of the compost while it matures.

[@ibethcristina]

I love your videos! Love the fact that you try your best at quantifying. Greeting from BC!

[@עפריאוקון]

Exellent video! Really appreciate the data set collection👌🏻

[@REDGardens]

🙂

[@scrappyquilter102]

WOW! This was really interesting. Thank you for maintaining conditions through the growing season and thank you for sharing such detailed results. It appeared that some conditions were less likely to create potato scab than were others. Much appreciated! Best, Liz in Canada

[@REDGardens]

Yes, some potatoes had a lot less scab, especially the ones in growing medium without soil. We have high pH soil here which apparently will cause a lot more scab.

[@nickthegardener.1120]

HI Bruce maybe check the pH too as potatoes don't like higher pH. Maybe a trial with bags containing some percentages of ericacious compost might give some good results? Im thinking of trialing some in spring.💚🌱🙏😁👍

[@davegaskell7680]

I was going to suggest similar. I notice in the video that a number of the batches had very little scab whereas others seemed to have a lot and I wonder whether COF might be a contributory factor as I know that COF (at least the Steve Solomon version of it) contains quite a lot of calcium in either calcium carbonate or calcium sulphate form. I use something similar to COF in all my vegetable plots and I do notice that my potatoes are scabby so have already decided to try to keep PH under 6 in my potato containers next year to see if it makes a difference.

[@REDGardens]

That is an issue, but I am kind of stuck with quite high pH with the calcareous topsoil we have.

[@nickthegardener.1120]

@@davegaskell7680 👍

[@REDGardens]

@@davegaskell7680 We have quite hight pH calcarious soils here, so scab seems to be a common issue. Gettgin it under 7 would apparently take a lot of additives. The really clean potatoes were harvested out of the alternate growing medium like the woodchip.

[@davegaskell7680]

@@REDGardens I have alkaline soil here too but do all my potatoes in containers so will be able to try a lower ph medium relatively easily. I guess you don't have that luxury given the scale of your gardens. Watering with a very dilute vinegar is something I will also try but,again, that would be far too much effort at your scale. Ultimately, scabby spuds are still edible so not a major problem. Best wishes and keep up the great trials. Excellently interesting videos.

[@jimmys60ny]

Again thanks for giving us your time. The results are interesting. The mischievous side of me says why didn't you try a couple of pots with a bit of everything,. I use the old fashioned method, dig two spits deep spread a thick layer of well composted (2 years minimum) strawy manure. Place seed spuds on the muck and turn over the next drill. After earthing up I always soak the resulting hollows, I earth up at least 4 times a season. I was told that tatties need large amounts of water., but that they like lying in a warm bed.

[@REDGardens]

🙂

[@qtpwqt]

Beat you to it Leo

[@REDGardens]

haha, you did!

[@leontienfrieldarrell2032]

You think that's gonna stop me??

[@qtpwqt]

@@leontienfrieldarrell2032 Nothing is going to stop you , and that is why we all love you so much .

[@prunaadrian-nicusor6509]

Thank you so much for all the information you provide. I love to watch your videos and it helps a lot.

[@REDGardens]

🙂

[@Qopzeep]

What a satisfying result for your own compost! Must have made you really proud :). I've recently noticed a stray potato growing out the back of my compost bay. It's quite large, lush and green already, so they must like the on-going fermentation process. Or at least, they don't seem to mind it.

[@REDGardens]

Yeah, they don’t seem to mind it.

[@richm5889]

Terrific experiment, thank you very much for doing it. Really disclosed a lot of things for me, reinforcing some things I already believed but also providing some new knowledge. Thank you again.

[@REDGardens]

Excellent! Glad you found it valuable!

[@marier1498]

Thanks very much for your experiment! I will use your results to improve my strategy next year 😊

[@REDGardens]

Great! Glad I could help.

[@Neenjapork]

Great vid as always. Hope you do one where you grow potatoes in different kinds of manure. Im sure they can handle it

[@REDGardens]

Thanks. I should get some manure to try.

[@KPKENNEDY]

Interesting results, I was surprised at the woodchips plus COF

[@REDGardens]

So was I, it was the most surprising result for me!

[@TheEmbrio]

Where I am, municipal compost is basically composted woodchips. Your COF sure brings a nice boost to ’compost’ that is just a growing medium, not nutrient rich ! I can’t see the difference between your municipal compost test and the municipal + COF tests. I’ll re-watch

[@Katydidit]

Thanks for doing this trial. I would be curious to see you test the Ph in each type to see how that variation affected the scab on some of these potatoes. Here in the states we adjust Ph with elemental sulfur. My natural clay soil is also fairly alkaline. I was surprised how well the wood chips did! I am now about to hill up my potato bed. I will use my composted wood chips on half the bed. And on the other half the soil base under my compost bin! I am excited to see the results. Also looking forward to see your continuation on this experiment! Thanks for all you do!

[@REDGardens]

I should do a pH test. It would be interesting to compare the pH to the amount of scab. I was also surprised how well the woodchip did!

[@buffalopatriot]

Great information. Thank you again.

[@REDGardens]

🙂

[@PeterSedesse]

This is interesting. It makes me wonder if it would be worth the while to use our compost heaps as part of our long term crop rotation system. In other words, if we set up our compost pile locations so that after we harvest the compost, we then plant into that spot and move the compost heap to a different location.

[@REDGardens]

Yes, I think that could be a useful process.

[@gailthornbury291]

I do something a little bit similar with two large compost bays. I fill them with good stuff in autumn and then in late spring plant them with uchiki kuri pumpkins which do very well. Then after the pumpkins are harvested I take the compost - now a year old- for deployment elsewhere and start over. I’m my mind the pumpkins are a free byproduct of compost making.

[@lizzybarbosa6857]

Extremely interesting.. thank you for your efforts.

[@REDGardens]

🙂

[@petpawteek8776]

Pretty interesting data, I love watching all your experiments. I keep a portion of my garden dedicated to growing in straw bales. I use the “second year” bales to grow my potatoes in and I love it. Keep in mind though, before planting in the bales for the first year they go through the typical conditioning process as outlined in Joel Karsten’s book. By the second year they are quite composted before I drop the potatoes in them. Looking forward to next year’s results!

[@REDGardens]

I have not tried straw bale growing yet, but I want to.

[@petpawteek8776]

@@REDGardens I love it for growing potatoes, sweet potatoes and determinant tomatoes.

[@samvimes1482]

I certainly enjoy these experiments and to me they are very valuable. This year I tried to grow potatoes in containers as well. I hadn't before used containers and just wanted to try it for myself. It was difficult to keep them hydrated, even when using a drip feed where it was possible to give the plants 4 liters of water a day.

[@REDGardens]

Yeah, keeping them well watered in the summer is hard!

[@HelenRullesteg]

I found it very interesting to see how poorly the chicken manure amended soil did, might explain why my potato harvests are usually so disappointing. I'll definitely want to try out the soil from under the compost pile method as it was so succesful for you. Have made a video of what's in your COF?

[@REDGardens]

I think I just didn’t add enough pellets for the soil, and that bag also didn’t have any compost added. For the COF I follow Steve Solomon’s recipe/advice. Googling Steve Solomon COF should bring you to useful info.

[@HelenRullesteg]

@@REDGardens Thanks.

[@charlesdevier8203]

The chicken manure used here was pelleted. I helped operate a pellet machine and the pellets get extremely hot while being pressed. Basically, the manure is cooked in the process. Regular manure would be much better to use.

[@REDGardens]

@@charlesdevier8203 That is interesting.

[@samhenderson2947]

Love this test

[@REDGardens]

🙂

[@kimmyj1512]

This is very educational. I tried potatoes in grow bags first time this year but had abject failure and gave up. But I'll try again next year using a couple of your top media, prob soil + compost + COF. Also will try old hay just to see. Thanks 👍👍👍

[@REDGardens]

Hope you have a better crop next year.

[@VerdantSoul]

Very interesting. Thanks a mill. I look forward to see what type of organic manure (& perhaps at different level of decomposition) would be best for growing those in bags.

[@REDGardens]

🙂

[@Liselykkedenmark]

Love your content! Will you consider revealing recipe for your COF mix and sourcing of meals? Here in Denmark i would love to have such an organic mix at hand

[@REDGardens]

I follow the general advice of Steve Solomon, with his Complete Organic Fertiliser mix. There are a bunch of recipes online including this one www.growgreatvegetables.com/fertilizers/a-great-organic-fertilizer-mix/

[@frederickheard2022]

Thanks for another great trial video, Potato Daddy. Looking forward to seeing how they progress next year. I have grown potatoes in bags filled with homemade potting mix (similar to your rooftop mix), but I’ve never been very impressed with the yields. I may need to adjust the fertility, or it might just be that Virginia is a much different climate than Ireland.

[@REDGardens]

Fertility seems to be the key factor, and adding more during the growing season. But your climate is also very different.

[@dubcindub15]

The hay and straw soaked in urine is interesting. Many studs or stables will have a muck pile from day 1 so you could find some incredibly well aged and decomposed straw/manure there which could be useful as a different medium or additive to other media. There's numerous horsey places around Tipperary and the midlands so surely someone will be happy to let you take it off their hands.

[@REDGardens]

I have picked up some of that stuff from a friend, and wasn't impressed with the growth potential form it. I think it needs a lot more nitrogen added.

[@tonisee2]

Very interesting trial - as always! 🙂 I wonder though, is there any difference in taste or how healthy those potatoes were (I noticed that in some bags they showed different amount of different types of common potato problems)?

[@REDGardens]

I didn't have the capacity to do a taste test, or even to test the BRIX. Also, this was really a start to things, to see what did well, and what did poorly, so that I could do it better next year.

[@jeffmartin693]

Very good! Thank you

[@REDGardens]

🙂

[@gailwarrington3841]

Fantastic trial! Thank you for sharing 👍

[@REDGardens]

🙂

[@Zufriedenheit]

I love your scientific gardening experiments with the charts etc. That's exactly why I am subscribed to your channel. Thank you for your work! It would be very interesting to have one batch of just sand amended with the right amounts of nutrients. That would show how much of an impact soil structure and biology have on growth or if it's mainly just a question of the right amounts of nutrients.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks for the comment. The sand option would be interesting, but I think it would need to be fertilised very frequently as the nutrients would just was out of the sand

[@gregbluefinstudios4658]

it will be interesting to see if the final bags of each type will match the average or not. Bigger sample size may even out any extreme caused by differences in seed potato. Although, mu gut tells me, the bags growing well are in well fertilized mediums, so, unlikely that there will be extreme outliers

[@REDGardens]

There is definitely an evening out of the extremes with more bags being harvested. But I am fairly confident in the overall direction of the harvest data, as it correlates the general health of the plants and how big they grew. I measured the height of each plant in the middle of the season (yep, I was that obsessive!) and plotting the yield compared to the plant size produces almost a straight line, so very closely related, with a few outliers.

[@glassbackdiy3949]

Outstanding, huge thanks for sharing! I'm switching to 20x30L pots for potatoes next year so your trial gives me a really good idea of the level of fertility I can expect from the different materials I have available to fill them. My soil is heavy clay/silt dredged from a narrowboat marina 10yrs ago, dries like concrete, I spread ~20 M3 of ramial woodchip spread over an area a ft deep where I'm putting a greenhouse last Spring, digging the footings atm the soil has turned into a rich dark loamy consistancy underneath, I had planned to import some compost to fill the beds but seeing your results from woodchip has convinced me to see how it goes without the extra cost and risks associated with importing compost.

[@REDGardens]

That is really different soil to the sandy loam stuff we deal with! Hope you have a successful crop from the containers.

[@akicarus9508]

appreciate the content!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks!

[@8Jory]

Has anyone else asked about correlation between the different grow mediums and things like potato scab from higher alkalinity? I noticed in the video that some of the spuds had a bit of scab while others looked really clean and well developed. Just curious if you noticed any difference like that between mediums, or if it was sporadic and random throughout. Thank you as always for a very well put together and informative video! Cheers!

[@REDGardens]

Yes, there were definite differences, with those form the soil based bags having scab to varying degrees (our soil is naturally high pH), and the ones from bags without soil tended to be a scab free. I want to look into this more, and will probably add it to another video.

[@8Jory]

@@REDGardens Thank you. I'm not sure why the way you present your videos works so differently, but I feel like I learn a lot more watching things from you than I do watching other gardening channels.

[@julianvanostrand3275]

I used grow bags in addition to my regular raised beds and other places in my Chicagoland garden with reasonable success. Used perlite, a lower quality purchased compost, some peat moss and some higher quality compost that I made myself saw roughly the same results as you with tomatoes. I have always ignored potatoes because I feel like they are so cheap that it made less sense to grow them but I think I will next spring using the same 30 gallon grow bags. Thanks for the inspiration I always enjoy your videos

[@REDGardens]

I like that you got similar results. You are right that potatoes are not a very valuable crop, but I used them in this trial because they are fairly low maintenance when growing, and I could harvest them all at once and store them.

[@prjndigo]

Yup. Potatoes even grow hanging from a rope. Get discarded clothing from local charities to shred up and use that as "soil" and see what happens! I've literally seen them grow in a pile of old fishing nets and leaves. Know a guy who used slightly modified mop buckets to grow them in a very rainy climate so he could roll them under the porch to manage moisture.

[@REDGardens]

Shredded clothes would be a really interesting one!

[@OldSchoolPrepper]

fascinating. Very interesting as well. I love doing experiement and utilize Urine as Fertilizer in my gardens on the regular. I have a yearly series on this topic (several different plant types with a control, Miracle Grow, Urine and Urine with Woodash mix) this is my 5th year of testing. Thanks for the info!

[@pomicultorul]

thank you!

[@REDGardens]

🙂

[@tomjones4318]

I've gone to composting directly in the plots for now. Spreading all material as mulch or piling it up. So much is lost from the piles from rain it might as well go directly into the garden. Less moving and tossing also.

[@REDGardens]

That is an interesting option!

[@r3d984]

Truly amazing work!!!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks a lot!

[@BalticHomesteaders]

Another fascinating study, thanks Bruce. I could be wrong but from what I've seen biochar improves soil biology over time and gets better year on year if left in situ.

[@REDGardens]

That is what I have read as well, so I am interested in continuing the trial for another few years.

[@martinengelbrecht5384]

Much appreciated amazing!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks!

[@MeandYouHello]

Looked like a lot of biochar, love your videos

[@REDGardens]

It was a lot, but didn't have a huge impact, at least not in this season.

[@TheEmbrio]

Was it soaked biochar ?

[@viridiansandals]

Have you experimented with Korean Natural Farming solutions (FPJ, LAB, etc) or JADAM liquid fertilizers? Would be interested to see how they compare to compost tea in the soil+compost+amendments category, especially a combination of JMS+JLF.

[@REDGardens]

I have not explored that yet.

[@joycedimaggio3816]

I use horse manure. I let it sit for a week or two then add lime and work together with a tiller. Usually I do both processes before it rains.

[@REDGardens]

That should work!

[@Vanamutt]

The hay was a classic example of carbon rich organic material soaking up all the nitrogen while decomposing. Hay is useful as mulch where it can't soak up al the nitrogen.

[@REDGardens]

I see straw as that, which is useful for soaking things up. Hay, which is dry grass, is a nitrogen rich material used to feed animals. Anything that can feed animals can feed plants.

[@growingstuffs]

Straw definitely needs to break down a bit before you grow stuff in it. In straw bale gardening you have to pre treat the bales with large amounts of water and fertiliser (synthetic or organic) and let them sit for a while. When garden centres were closed during lockdown I grew courgettes and peppers in straw bales, it worked pretty well. I used a mixture of synthetic potato fertiliser, chicken manure, blood/fish/bone and urine.

[@REDGardens]

I'd like to try straw bale gardening.

[@Pixieworksstudio]

You do such top-notch trials, you really do. I would think they will be of great importance as we go into an uncertain climate for the future, and for different countries! Some black top soil has just been dumped here nearby and I'm going to ask if I can have some. I'm going to try carrots, parsnips and potatoes in it. I'll check the ph but I expect something will grow anyway. It was under concrete so I don't expect it to be great. Potatoes are such a staple crop, and due to the drought will be in shorter supply in England, at least, this and next year. Lots of people will be growing their own and I really hope they find your video.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks! the uncertain future is one of the key reasons for doing this trial, to figure out what it takes to grow potatoes in a huge diversity of material.

[@Pixieworksstudio]

@@REDGardens It's a fabulous thing that you do. Have you thought of writing a book (as if you have time :) ) Your material may be in the lectures of the future - no joke. They are very informative. I'm doing Climate Change Policies in uni this year for sociology. And what an absolute nightmare their decision-making is!

[@REDGardens]

@@Pixieworksstudio I have had a few books in mind, but finding the time to write them is definitely a big issue. Interesting to hear about the bad decision-making. Do you have an example?

[@Pixieworksstudio]

@@REDGardens that would be fabulous. Yes, they play what they call the prisoners dilemma, but thankfully, now, they are allowed to know what each nation (Russia and China mostly) is offering the ipcc. It is a theoretical model, where one nation must cooperate with the other. Side payments to the more developing nations are also interesting, as they say they are hard done by because they get no help with their push to economic stability where they must (or must not, depending on what they are offered) use fossil fuels. In the prisoners dilemma each player has a choice between 2 courses, they either cut emissions and cooperate, or 'cheat' and not cut them. The game allows for 4 possible outcomes, of cut or don't cut. It isn't that simple in real life, and in ongoing cops the nation that cheated gets treated badly next time and has to pay more. Its all to do with gains and losses in cutting emissions and states economic growth, winners and looser. If say the US chooses to not cut emissions, China receives more money for cutting emissions but looses in the long run because it affects their economic stability. Swings and roundabouts. The US would be better off not cutting emissions. It is a dilemma of collective action. However, like the ozone problem the USA was ahead of everybody else, and helped immensely. Hundreds of good deals are done though at the end of every cop. The ipcc is a decider on a lot of things, however they are a bunch of scientists who use other scientists papers in some cases to appease and bend slightly to big nations. For instance one year (I can't remember which it was) china had the the rules changed for that year, by having the wording changed from very likely to likely - in emmisions getting higher. However it wasn't changed on that cop, it was only changed at the next cops agreement. A lot of it is dirty dealings, and sometimes when a country like the UK this time offers a load of money it just goes into the system if the developing countries and not much changes. It is sooooo complicated. No wonder they take so long thrashing it out.

[@nathanbrink6415]

What an interesting series. Be curious how amended sand would do... Obviously would dry out quickly, possibly not enough biology to break down organic fertilizers? Have quite sandy soil around here, and potatoes planted deeply in the soil here yield very well...

[@REDGardens]

Amended sand would be a really interesting one, but definitely would need much more frequent watering!

[@mundanestuff]

Very cool. My bag grown peppers did terrible. Store bought plant soil, plenty of water but not too much. Didn't prune enough. Terrible yield. I think I'll switch to potatoes in my bags next year.

[@REDGardens]

hope you have better success next year.

[@MalkiZee]

Nice sifter

[@REDGardens]

🙂

[@martinengelbrecht5384]

Compost plus worms allowing for better nutrient uptake.

[@REDGardens]

That is probably part of it.

[@bobaloo2012]

One suggestion for a better harvest, plant your potatoes deeper. You can put in 6" of growing medium, add your potatoes and then fill the bag. The potatoes will have no problem growing to the surface and your yield should improve, as well as having far fewer green potatoes. As I'm sure you know, potatoes only form above the seed potato, you you effectively only had 6" or so for them to grow in from what I saw of your planting. Another great video, thanks.

[@REDGardens]

Good suggestion, thanks!

[@johnkeenlyside993]

Farm yard manure? I use no dig with 3 - 4" cattle manure atop cardboard with potato seeds planted into a handful store bought compost producing a yield around 700g/plant, particularly for breaking new ground. But there tends to be a fair bit of wireworm damage. I also tried biochar mixed into topsoil about 5kg/m2 but it didn't significantly improve yield (in N Leitrim)

[@REDGardens]

Couldn't get my hands on any decent quality stuff (most farmers around here rely on a slurry pit), but would be interesting to try. Or relatively fresh horse manure.

[@johnkeenlyside993]

@@REDGardens Thoroughly appreciate your channel, keep up the good work!

[@mossconfig]

Perhaps try fermented hay instead of dry? Also, could you show yourself mizing the COF/recipe?

[@REDGardens]

That would be an interesting option. I'll try to do a video about the COF.

[@REDGardens]

But I think people should look to Steve Solomon for the recipe, rather than work from my interpretation of it. www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/complete-organic-fertilizer-zebz1309znsp/

[@rubygray7749]

The straw and hay experiments proved that potato roots need to go down into actual soil, and that the top mulch serves a different purpose from feeding the plants. An average break-even yield from commercial potato farms in Tasmania is at least 20 tons per acre, or 5 kg per square metre. Large applications of fertiliser are required, as well as hilling up and regular abundant irrigation. The growing area is rotated with pasture grazed by livestock, returning a large bulk of organic matter to the soil when it is ploughed up again for potatoes. Charles Dowding's annual trial of 24 plants grown no dig with the potatoes planted in the soil beneath about 3 cm of compost, watered little and given only one small scattering of compost in lieu of earthing up, regularly yields about 2 kg per plant, or 4.8 kg per square metre, on a par with commercial farming, with much less effort. Allotment Diary's 30 litre pots give phenomenal yields of the heavy producing Sarpo Mira variety which almost burst through the sides. He uses a commercial potting compost base with 3 ounces of blood fish and bone added. Plenty of water, pots stacked close together so they aren't getting too much sun which would scorch the black pot sides, and the bottom 3 inches buried in soil to allow a good root run and access to moisture at all times. It's certainly a fascinating topic, and Potato Reveals have become the gardener's spectator sport, with a delicious, nutritious and economical benefit for those of us who grow our own.

[@REDGardens]

I am not sure it proves that potato roots need soil. I think it proves that if you are going to grow in material like this it needs to start decomposing first.

[@rubygray7749]

@@REDGardens Potatoes are heavy feeders, and the higher the fertility, the greater their potential yield. What are the plants supposed to live on, in a pot of straw? Even if it was broken down, it would not have the mineral profile of soil.

[@youngoldboy3430]

Years ago I accidentally grew a potato plat (Suttons Foremost) in concrete ruble, not the highest yield ever but very tasty.😊

[@REDGardens]

That is cool!

[@aCitizenOfTheEarth]

In my opinion, maximizing the yield doesn’t give us a complete picture. Financially, self-made compost is free (although quite some work) and produces quite some yield as you showed. Also: which of the options continue to produce the same (or even higher) yield in the ongoing years? I doubt that one can amend the same soil with the concentrated NPK fertilizer each year and expect the same yield. A slow degradation of (top) soil like it is the case on fields is probably expected. Hence, sustained yield for the least possible price should be pursued. Nevertheless: great video, as always!

[@REDGardens]

Very interesting points/questions. One of the reasons I want to continue this trial is to see how things change over several/many years, because that is so important.

[@markmeyer9571]

Allowed your potatoes to suffer stress due to lack of watering? To the stocks with you! 😂 excellent study, thank you 💯🫡👍

[@REDGardens]

I know, right! A serious transgression!

[@nefraial]

I love following your growing experiments. It is interesting to see what differences you are getting in growth and yield using so many various mediums. How do these compare when it comes to labour in setting up and harvest, and have you noticed differences in amount of disease or problems with potato tubers that does not seem to align with the differences in growth of the plants?

[@REDGardens]

I haven't really thought about the labour aspect, as this trial wasn't really looking into what method was the best for growing potatoes in containers, though that is something I want to pay more attention to next year. I do like the non soil based bags, as they are a lot lighter, and easier to manage and harvest from. In terms of disease, there was a lot more scab on the potatoes in the soil based bag, but I expected that a two have very high pH soil around here.

[@nefraial]

​@@REDGardens That is interesting. I did a potato experiment a few years back (not so large as yours) where I took our 3 favourite varieties and grew them using different medium. All fed the same home made liquid feed. Basically, the straw based potatoes had a flush of growth then stayed hungry and did not yield as well. Plus pests loved it. A sandy soil prepared showed the most issues with scabby potatoes. My dense kaolin rich soil produced well, as it usually does, but I also took the top few inches of enriched soil from where compost gets made, like you dug from your compost bay, and received the best yields from that. Unfortunately, I don't think I could ever produce or get access to enough of this life enriched soil that takes time to develop under huge piles of composting material to always have access to use as much as I want for everything throughout the entire year. I'm always trying to source more compost materials to make good compost, as I'm sure you are too. That municipal "compost" is just mulch, or "cooked food" for making compost with. There's never enough "proper" compost... sigh... My soil is always so hungry it could eat a dozen dinosaurs without a trace of grease left behind. What I took away from my experiment was that the potatoes, apart from liking the enriched soil as everything else does, seemed to like the denser soil. I'm intrigued now to set up some side by sides and see if there is a pH factor affecting differences as I did not monitor this.

[@notaregistereduser3446]

I wonder if the soil from under the compost bin would be fairly representative of an established deep mulch no till garden?

[@REDGardens]

It might be, though I suspect there is a lot more nutrients in it.

[@michelemarble6799]

Being so fascinated with growing potatoes I really loved your video. It showed the many different ways that you can take care of potatoes in regards to the different types of soil and amendments that you could use to grow potatoes. I have grown 18 different types this year and have found a major problem with scab. Do you have a suggestion for that? In regards to that problem I am going to grow more potatoes in bags and containers next year. What size container do you recommend as the best size for growing potatoes?

[@REDGardens]

18 different varieties is a lot! I get a lot of scab, I think mainly because of the high pH soil we have here, and I was happy to see a lot of potatoes without scab coming out of the bags without soil. I don't have any real experience with different size containers, as I have only used this 35-40L bags, but I don't know how they compare to other sizes.

[@Bobby-di1vr]

Honestly from my experience with spuds,20-20-20 ,and space them 8" apart in a 6 " trench . When they get about a foot tall add a little more 20 then hill them up about 8 " . When they fall down in the fall harvest what you need . Remove before the hard freeze

[@REDGardens]

A simple method.

[@insidethegardenwall22]

You probably have heard of Elaine Ingham who an American microbiologist and soil biology researcher and founder of Soil Foodweb Inc. She said growers don’t need amendments of any kind. Just cover crop and don’t till. Your experiment with just the soil underneath the compost pile may be the closest match and did have the highest yield, although short marginally by that with added homemade compost. Another commercial farmer, ‘I am organic gardening’ on KZbin, said that he grew vegetables from A to Z doing just cover crop and no till. I wonder if you would be interested in running an independent trial in your context? I myself can’t always do cover crops because I do succession planting and cover crops don’t sprout by the time I finish harvesting my fall crops. Nevertheless, I like the idea of no added fertilizers in home gardening.

[@rubygray7749]

"I Am Organic Gardening" seems to me rather a froot loop. He has some wacky ideas like allowing large weeds and even trees to grow in his vegetable rows, imagining this is beneficial. "Just growing cover crops" is problematic on many fronts. Depends on how much garden space you can afford to have lying unused for half the year, whether you have months of snow or can grow some edible crops throughout the year, whether you need irrigation, what type of cover crop you sow, how you kill it off, how long you need to wait after that till you can plant your food crops, and other logistical concerns. If you are intensively gardening every square yard for your own food, as many need to, you cannot afford to cover crop and have large areas of land out of production. If you are harvesting 5 or 10 kg of food from every square metre per year, then you are depleting that soil of the minerals the crops removed, and those soil nutrients must be replaced from external sources. Fortunately, many others' waste products are gold to gardeners, and they belong on the soil. Manures, kitchen wastes, crop residues, prunings, leaves, weeds, coffee grounds, manures and animal bedding, feather waste, wool crutchings, blood fish and bone meal, cardboard, natural fabric and clothing, wood chips, etc etc all need to be composted and applied to soil somewhere. I don't know what Elaine Ingham suggests we ought to do with all these mountains of waste that are constantly being created whether she uses them or not. They all once mined the soil of valuable nutrients, and it is a criminal waste to burn or bury or flush any organic material. Charles Dowding's knowledge and decades of practical experience far surpass "I Am Organic Gardening" who once imagined he was qualified to tell Charles where he was going wrong. Charles uses about 10 cm of compost initially when starting a new bed, then about 3 cm once annually thereafter without digging, and gets great results, with some crops continuing through winter. He makes huge volumes of great compost, as well as buying in some manure, wood chips and municipal compost. He has only just begun some cover crop trials in new beds that suffer from soil pests after having been in pasture for many years. His recent videos on this subject are interesting.

[@REDGardens]

One of the soil amendment types I used followed Ingham's suggestion of dowsing with activated compost tea, to fill the soil with 'good' biology, and I want so impressed with it so far, but want to continue to explore.

[@TheEmbrio]

Ingram’s way is probably for very large staple crop culture on a mechanized farm level. Can’t spread 10cm of household compost over 40 hectares. Liquid compost tea or diluted urine soulds more feasible to spread over that. But ! Could some grow bags in your trial, Bruce, have overwinter cover crops ? For kicks ? To maintain soil life alive ?

[@NilsNone]

what do you do with the stuff that was in the bags? You throw it all on a big Pile and let it rest to mix something "ok" or do you put it on the compostpile? edit: never mind, seems like you keep it where it is. But general, what do you do with "spent soil" stuff?

[@REDGardens]

Yeah, I am keeping it in the bags to continue the trial, but if I do have stuff from other pots or containers that I don't want I generally add it to the compost pile.

[@happyhillsfarm9598]

I bet a blend of the soil from this trial will be pretty awesome for pots next year once composted over the winter!

[@Tomhohenadel]

Bruce, there were videos describing how to grow 100 pounds of potatoes in one 4 foot cube box. I tried this once but came up woefully short of the target. Do you have any suggestions or comments. Thanks

[@REDGardens]

I think that 100 pound thing is a scam, or at least a completely overblown idea based on a a comment someone once said a long time ago. I have seen many people try it, and no-one gets anything like that kind of yield.

[@________-by2px]

There is a lot of nonsense about "potato towers" and other similar contraptions. Most of them don't show the results and the few that does have either very bad results or just normal yields.

[@REDGardens]

@@________-by2px That is something I have noticed as well. A lot of people with posts/videos about starting one, with great anticipation, but no followup video, which I always find suspect. If it worked anywhere close to the claim, then I would expect there to be a lot of posts/blogs/videos about the results, but searching online only brings up mainly people starting one. And so the cycle continues.

[@DK6060]

Great series! ‘Garden Fundamentals’ did a review of the science of how potatoes grow, and why that wouldn’t support the claims of the tower people. He also reviews 3 YT videos of people who showed the poor results, rather than the hopeful builds: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pn3KoKmZbtqfobs

[@thuyvinguyen6998]

Amazing experiment!!! Very impressed!!!!

[@REDGardens]

Thanks!

[@TheEmbrio]

So, excellent nutrient density might mean water is your fertility ’limiting factor’. Let’s have a test with half your own compost, half topsoil from’under compost, charged biochar, vermiculite, liquid feed, and drip irrigation, in a high tunnel ;) Perhaps the growth would be strong so fast the plants might get disease !

[@Katydidit]

Sounds like a "super potato" experiment. Yes, to disease... or maybe alot of green growth and limited potato production... or perhaps a few "super sized" potatoes!

[@REDGardens]

That sounds like a super charged option. I didn't really set out with this experiment trying to find the best way to grow potatoes in bags like this, but now that I have finished the first season, and seen the errors I made, I think I might focus on that.

[@baconbits9]

If you were using plastic sheeting under the straw and hay filled bags then that will slow/prevent infiltration of insects and slow the breakdown of the more complex organic matter. I would guess your results would have been much better just using your own compost with all those visible worms than with the municipal compost which is usually very in macro biology.

[@REDGardens]

Yes. it did take a while for the biology to get in there to do the work, but now it seems to be a really good base for next year.

[@charlespalmer3595]

I wonder how many people grow potatoes in their kitchen gardens. I never do as they are very cheap to buy (less than a dollar a pound) and my precious garden space is better filled with high value crops. Same goes for garlic, however I do grow the small cloves from the center of the bulb for green garlic which I can't get at my market. Why is that? Welp, break time is over, back to shredding neighborhood leaves for my compost piles!

[@REDGardens]

Yeah, in some ways growing potatoes is a waste of space, as you mention, but they can also be such a great crop!

[@DK6060]

One advantage to growing your own is the different varieties available. I’ve only grown potatoes for two years in a home garden but I have tried 10 varieties so far, and 8 are not commonly available at shops near me, which is in a large city.

[@kgarden8960]

I grow potatoes for early varieties - fabulous taste when fresh (similar effect with fresh picked Sweetcorn), and "New Potatoes" are expensive in the shops. Also for specific varieties that we like ... rarely any choice of variety in the Supermarket. We like Pink Fir Apple (Who names these things?!!) ... but for main crop, in the winter, I agree. Farmers have excellent long term cold storage and a bag of spuds from the farm shop in mid winter is cheap and mine would all be sprouting by then

[@HelenRullesteg]

True, potatoes are very cheap, but nothing beats a freshly dug up first early potato straight from the garden.

[@davidb9708]

Could you do some cost analysis per pound, per bag.

[@REDGardens]

Not with this trail, which was simply a test to see what would happen. I didn't try to grow them in a way that maximised yield in each growing medium type. But that would be something to possibly explore this year.

[@andrespkpasion]

Next time consider trying biochar + fertilizers. As it itself doesn't provide much nutrients but helps with efficiency of whatever you put with it. It'd be interesting to see what fertility goes better for the battery like qualities of biochar

[@REDGardens]

I did soak the biochar, but I think you are right that additional fertilisers added over time will improve things.

[@andrespkpasion]

@@REDGardens yes, i like to conceptualize biochar as a soil battery. So adding it but never charging ,or recharging it is kind of missing the point. You can take advantage of the water holding capacity anyway but for biology and nutrients you gotta take those worthy extra steps

[@REDGardens]

@@andrespkpasion The idea of biochar being like a soil battery is a good one.

[@magnushemlig3099]

Can y post a Link where to buy the growing bags, please…. Nice work… im on my 2y going for 3y on my potato test.😅

[@REDGardens]

dekerhort.ie/products/grower-products/polythene-plant-pots/ 🙂

[@TommasoScappini]

Maybe the problem of your soil is not the grade of fertility but the texture, perhaps you need to add some sand to topsoil...

[@REDGardens]

That is a possibility. We have a fairly sandy soil already, and if I was to add anything to it I think I'd add a good clay, to help hold more nutrients and water.

[@vvdv3444]

Thank you for the trials but which potatos tasted the best?

[@REDGardens]

I didn't get a chance to try, too many options.

[@mirisagedondamindasampath5307]

👍

[@REDGardens]

🙂

[@doinacampean9132]

So, your compost is about the same as a professionally mixed growing medium!

[@REDGardens]

In this one trial ...

[@crossing3790]

what did they do 500 years ago i use mainly 6 month old and fresh horse manure

[@REDGardens]

That would work, if you have it!

[@GratefulWarriorMom]

I'm new at this and just learning. I just planted my first raised bed garden and planted potatoes. They are doing well so far in horse manure compost. I have a question about nitrogen. Is left over coffee good for that?

[@REDGardens]

Apparently coffee grounds are a good feed. But there might be enough in the horse manure.

[@toddgillespie5198]

How did you charge the biochar?

[@REDGardens]

Soaked it in liquid feed I bought in.

[@hotmalm]

👌😊👍

[@REDGardens]

🙂