Potatoes grown during the
rainy season in places where there is liable to be too much water, can
often be hilled to advantage, but dry-season cultivation of practically
everything should be as flat as possible to retain moisture near the
surface for the development of shallow-rooting plants.
Bad Conditions for Potatoes.
Our potatoes were planted early and were frosted several times while
young. As we come to harvest them we find them with very large green
tops but the potatoes are about the size of a hen's egg and from that
they run down to the size of a pea. The larger ones are beginning to
send out roots, four or five to a potato. The potatoes have not been
irrigated lately and the ground they are in is dry.
The ugly behavior of your potatoes is doubtless due to irregularities in
temperature and moisture which have forced the plants into abnormal or
undesirable activity. Potatoes should have regular conditions of
moisture so that they shall proceed from start to finish and not stop
and start again, for this will usually make the crop unsatisfactory and
worthless. Excessive moisture is not desirable, but the requisite amount
in continuous supply is indispensable.
Potatoes on Heavy Land.
Will potatoes grow well in adobe land, or partly adobe, that has not
been used for seven years except for pasturing?
Although potatoes enjoy best of all a light loam in which they can
readily expand, it is possible to get very good results on heavy land
which has been used for pasturage for some years, providing the land is
broken up early and deeply and harrowed well in advance of planting and
thorough cultivation maintained while the crop is growing.
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