Can I grow potatoes in straight compost?

[Sabriel]

I have a container and lots of compost. I know I can do it with straw, but can I just stick them in compost and keep adding it as the shoots appear?

Or is compost too moist and rich for taters?

[Denninmi]

1. Unless there is something unusual about ...

... the properties of this particular batch of compost, I would say it would probably work great. The only way I see it not working is if this batch is somehow too high in salts and burns the plants, or somehow compacts down a lot and holds too much water. But, if its properly composted, the first isn't an issue, and if you think it's too heavy, just mix some sand or perlite with it before planting.

[Sabriel]

3. Good point. Maybe a little peat moss to lighten the compost? n/t

[applegrove]

2. My aunt once grew potatoes in seaweed. I think those suckers could grow in anything!

[Curmudgeoness]

4. Are you intending on continuing to use that compost pile

for new/fresh vegetable matter? Or is it cured and you have another pile to discard new matter in? I would not continue to use the same pile after planting the potatoes.

But they should grow. I have a neighbor who had potatoes grow in their pile because of some old potatoes that they had thrown in there----they weren't even properly planted and tended.

[bvar22]

5. Potatoes grow in our compost.

They "volunteer" every year,
undoubtedly from potatoes that go bad before we eat them and wind up in the compost heap.
We are not scientific with our compost.
Everything organic that the chickens don't eat,
along with leaves, weeds, chicken coop clean outs, etc goes on the pile.

The only things we do NOT compost are Tomato Plants that show any signs of fungal or virus disease or blight, or anything else that might be carrying any virus or disease.


(They are usually much fuller than this photo)
We use three 4'X4' bins,
and rotate the active bin every 9 months or so.
We don't check the temp, or turn them.... just give them some water if they look dry,
and let nature do its thing. If the active bin starts to smell bad or attract flies,
we'll shove in some dirt.

We empty out the oldest bin and dress our raised beds every Spring.
This has worked well so far for us.

Invariably, we will have some potatoes sprout every Summer in the active bin,
but we have never eaten them.
I suppose they would be OK.

[hedgehog]

7. What is this organic stuff "that the chickens won't eat" of which you speak?

[bvar22]

8. They DO seem to consume just about anything,

...especially if it is still moving.
After watching these marvelous birds for a few years, I have no doubt that they are the direct descendants of the Velociraptor.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=268x4739


By "organic" I meant non-meat stuff.
Anything meat based, or greasy doesn't go in our compost,
but the chickens do a good job on that stuff.
They absolutely LOVE leftover pasta.

We don't feed our chickens anything made with chicken,
or cooked in a chicken broth. We love Chicken Alfredo with Broccoli,
but there is usually none left over so we don't have to worry about that one.

We won't give the chickens bad potatoes, or anything else that goes bad.
They will usually leave the bigger pieces of lettuce and cabbages, nut shells, onion, Melon rinds,
and don't seem to like Broccoli, Cauliflower, or Asparagus,
and some cereals.
If they won't eat a particular cereal, we question whether WE should be eating it.

[Denninmi]

9. Feeding chicken to chickens.

"We don't feed our chickens anything made with chicken,
or cooked in a chicken broth."

Well, I know it may sound a bit macabre, but I give chicken to my chickens. They love it, and they have no concept whatsoever of what it is.

We just have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy -- they don't ask what it is, and I don' tell them.

[hedgehog]

10. That's true - ours tend to avoid raw potatoes, onions, cabbaga and broccolli.

Everything else vanishes.

[Vanje]

6. I grew spuds in a straw pile one year

They grew well. Harvesting was easy, because the potatoes didnt have soil on them. Ya just reach in and pull out a clean and shiny spud.