Which Mulch is Best for Growing Potatoes? - Ultimate Mulch Test

[@carolparrish194]

Very interesting comparison. In all fairness if your wood chips would have been aged 2-3 years before using on the potatoes you would have gotten a better harvest. Your video was very helpful.

[@ruthcowden1386]

This was a great experiment and I thank you for showing us the time lapse of the growing season. You have changed my thoughts about my potato plantings.

[@BalticHomesteaders]

Glad it was helpful :)

[@haggispixie]

Thank you for all your efforts to bring us this video. The straw certainly seems like much less effort which is handy for my age and my back! All the best to you and yours in the coming winter.

[@michaelmcclafferty3346]

A friend is thinking of starting a big potato bed in a wild area of her garden in north east Scotland. (58 north). This video is so helpful to help us plan that. The good news is that she has access to loads of straw. Thanks again for such an interesting and helpful video.

[@BalticHomesteaders]

If she has loads it might be worth laying out the beds now to mulch/kill back the weeds/grass for next year.

[@michaelmcclafferty3346]

@@BalticHomesteaders Good idea, thanks.

[@estereberena]

Wonderful video. Thank you so much for sharing this experience!

[@WesthavenRetreat]

Awesome, so great to see. Thanks for all your effort, really really helpful

[@BalticHomesteaders]

Glad it was helpful :)

[@grahampartridge9335]

Hello. A very interesting video. Really good to see how you got on i think I'll try the straw method maybe even with a thin layer of compost to. I've only just planted and ridged before and only once done lazy beds where you turn turf over on top

[@BalticHomesteaders]

It’s well worth a try. We grow our main rows of spuds under straw no problem. They surely would benefit from more compost we just cant make enough!

[@coastkat1742]

Love your various techniques and explanations 👏

[@almostoily7541]

I have a lot of leaves. This year I'm layering them with soil in buckets and feed sacks for potatoes. I'm planting my potatoes that go in the ground today and tomorrow. I have hay but here in the States, a lot of hay is sprayed with herbicides that linger. It was bought hay so I might put some on one corner of the plot and see if it seems alright. I think I will layer the rest with leaf mold and dirt. We'll see what happens. If nothing works here, we planted a lot at my Dad's this week so I know I will get some 😊 He grows traditional in rows and hills it up a time or two each season.

[@eddiebarrera-ws8vu]

Thk you for going thru the troubles of making this kind of videos,makes our lifes much easier.🎉🎉🎉

[@michelemoffat9731]

I really appreciate all of your work. I have planted potatoes using a modified Ruth Stout method. I didn’t prepare it in the fall, but laid down cardboard, added a few inches of compost, manure, and bone meal in the spring when I was ready to plant. I placed the potatoes on that base and covered with straw. I didn’t need to weed or water and ended up with an amazing crop of midsized potatoes. I’m preparing a new bed now and have been debating whether I should try anything different. Thanks to your work, I’m going to stick with what I’ve had success with. Warmest thanks!

[@luzvigerminal558]

Very interesting. I am using a 1 year old woodchips too and a combination of weeds, autumn leaves and Guinea pig bedding. I will see how much I will get this year.

[@chrishamilton-wearing3232]

A great vid comparing 4 different methods of mulching, saving us the effort of having to trawl through hours of other videos. We get loads of cockchafer grubs in the tubs where our spuds grow. I`ve not seen any evidence of them eating the potatoes but I believe that they might be eating the roots which might explain why I have had relatively small yields.

[@BalticHomesteaders]

Glad it was helpful! I think we have those too, when we have chickens they will become chicken food :)

[@chrishamilton-wearing3232]

@@BalticHomesteaders I gather them up and take them round to our neighbours chickens. They love them !

[@laurathompson956]

I wonder what would happen to the results if you spread a light layer of compost over the ground, then covered with hay or straw, then planted the potatoes on top of the compost layer and recovered with straw. This way the compost would do more beds. Really enjoyed the experiment. Thankyou!👍

[@BalticHomesteaders]

The folks over at Edible Acres did something like that, they reported not much difference if I remember correctly. I guess it depends on how much.

[@twirlingswirlinggirl]

Great experiment -- very helpful as a gardener new to potato growing.

[@BalticHomesteaders]

Thank you :)

[@mysticalrose6576]

What would happen if you planted them in a layer of compost and then heaped straw on top of that?

[@BalticHomesteaders]

There’s no reason not to but the compost itself acts as a mulch covering.

[@mysticalrose6576]

I was just thinking compost for the higher yield and straw for the benefits of the Ruth Stout method. Best of both worlds, maybe?

[@BalticHomesteaders]

@@mysticalrose6576 I’ll give it a go and let you know. Might not be until next year though as our season is so short.

[@janetrush8340]

Glad I found this video, now I don't have to do the experiment myself. I had planned on going with wood chips. Not now thanks to you.

[@dzintrarowe4272]

Very interesting. I guess we all need to get ducks. Good job

[@BobRooney290]

thank you for going through all the rigors of all this testing. i figured as much that hay would be ideal as there's many videos of farmers using them over the alternatives. they are affordable, at about $5 each bale, and easy to spread and use. the only concern there is on using hay is how and when you use it. hay keeps things cool, so you probably dont want to use it in early cold weather on young plants and likely start using it in the summer, depending where you live.

[@amyblueskyirl16]

Thanks for doing this, you answered something I’d been wondering…

[@Lorellehb]

How about the straw with some compost mixed in?

[@lauras5312]

Thank you for this video

[@riverunner9978]

That is some stout mulch! 👍

[@lindavalcq3130]

Using a plastic swimming pool, on top of a palate...live in Alaska, heavy equipment to peal back tundra. Im only 1, also not in the budget to hire someone to strip back the tundra. Question is, how deep of base please, and thank you!

[@BalticHomesteaders]

The mulch was maybe 25cm deep? Everything is put on top of the soil nothing is dug up.

[@crossingtheline4372]

I planted some of my potatoes in leaves not leaf mold. Lot's of foliage, curious what's going on below. Thanks for the video.

[@saethman]

Did you do a flavour comparison? I saw one youtuber report a distinct difference in flavour depending on the media the potatoes was grown in, would be interesting to see your take on that one :)

[@BalticHomesteaders]

I didn’t do a flavour comparison no but strangely you’re the second person to mention the taste difference based on media in the last couple of hours. Someone I know was talking about his grandfather collecting sheep manure for his potatoes and it made a difference.

[@saethman]

@@BalticHomesteaders Sounds like a sign! lol It does sound probable to me that a different media can give a (slightly) different nutrition and a different flavour profile

[@almostoily7541]

A KZbin channel I watch compared , I believe, twelve fertilizers. He and his wife tried the radishes and turnips grown in each. Some were very sharp and spicy while others were milder. It was interesting.

[@rizkhan-lo8cu]

❤

[@hermanhale9258]

But why is straw and compost almost the same?

[@BalticHomesteaders]

I don’t know, it’s just the result that year and for better data I’d have to repeat the test for many years. Another year it might not be the same.

[@leohorishny9561]

I agree with your conclusions as to effort in and results from. You are making me think more about doing cardboard box planting, but maybe cut back on filling the box with all compost, instead doing 1/3 compost, and covering the box and potatoes with straw.🤔

[@leohorishny9561]

Living in the high desert as I do though, you are spurring me to look for desert setting gardeners.😉

[@ovidiudonciu9865]

Minute 14.01 clearly shows how some results must be presented in a way that everyone can understand. If these differences in quantity were to be preserved for several years in a row, only then can some conclusions be drawn. And some complete conclusions could be obtained if some chemical analyzes of the nutritional elements were also presented for each type of mulch. It is also very important to know if the moisture in each type of mulch was the same and if it was sufficient. Good luck!

[@BalticHomesteaders]

It was more anecdotal than scientific but thanks.

[@sandravalani359]

May Our Precious Creator of liFe bless you greatly for sharinG your very important experiments foR Humanity's Benefit especially durinG these turbulent times!😍🌹🥔🥔🥔🌹I lovVe to grow potatoes in a grow baG on my apt balcony as they grow niCe and biG and clean!👍I really appreciated youR experiments as I am goinG to be doing a Soilless experiment thiS yeaR as I am tryinG to figure out wayS to Create Potatoe AbundanCe foR Humanity!👍I used to liVe a cozy duplex where I had a niCe biG yard to grow potatoes with compoSt and straw too!👍Happiii SpRinG fellow Gardener!✌😀🙏😇🌹🌞🌹☕🍵☕🍹🍻

[@BalticHomesteaders]

Thank you, all the best with your experiments.

[@sandravalani359]

@@BalticHomesteaders ✌☕☕☕

[@aussielass5621]

i live in the tropics our dry season might be ok to grow potatoes. How often did you water? by overhead or drip system

[@BalticHomesteaders]

Only once from memory when it was particularly dry but otherwise just rain. Water by hand watering can but I have installed drip irrigation in the greenhouses.

[@riutaskitchen9715]

Wonderful

[@joeyoliver579]

Do you eat by the weight of the potatoes, or by amount of potatoes?

[@BalticHomesteaders]

I only weighed them for this video normally I don’t bother. I guess we eat whatever we get, I think once we had to buy an extra bag due to a bad harvest. Not sure if that answers your question or not or was it about portion size?

[@rodrigueswilliam]

Surprising no roots or leaves on the potatoes like it just has been put there

[@BalticHomesteaders]

Not sure what you mean? You can clearly see the potato plants growing during the video.

[@julia1234]

You can’t be serious ? You sound like a bitter old man

[@allisonshockley381]

Potatoes are harvested after the foliage dies back at the end of the season.