When to plant red potatoes.
Red potatoes should be planted in the spring as soon as the soil begins to warm. This gives the plants time to grow and die naturally. When the plant is brown, it's time to dig. Having said that, if your fall is fairly mild, you probably still have time to get them in the ground.
I have planted my red and yellow potatoes in baskets and some of the leaves of the plants are turning yellow. One of the plants has almost all yellow leaves. Can you advise?
I would provide more water for them, if they are in containers. As we move into hot weather, and they form the potatoes, they will need more water. Watering once a day would not be too much. In weather where temps are over 85 F, water twice a day.
This year we planted red potatoes. We have discovered that something appears to be eating them while they are in the ground. What could this be and how do I control it?
Wireworms, grubs, tuber worms, corn borers and weevils are all bugs that can tunnel into the potato tubers. It may also be a root maggot problem. There are many species of root maggots so their color may vary from one to another. However, their taste for root crops, like potatoes, is the same. Here is an article that you may find helpful: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/pests/root-eating-insects-identifying-vegetable-root-maggots-and-root-maggot-control.htm
When weeding the garden yesterday, I accidently exposed a potato, so I decided to go ahead and dig it up. To my surprise, it was a regular white potato, not the red variety that I planted this spring. The plants are not even beginning to die off yet, so not sure if that was the reason it was a regular light brown or not. This is the first time I've planted potatoes, so not sure if they turn red later or it's a fluke. There was another small potato poking its head out of the dirt on another plant and it too was not red skinned. Any ideas?
I've never heard of a potato morphing from red skinned to white skinned. Sometimes it's difficult to tell red seed potatoes from the whites. The potato skin will remain the color it is as soon as it starts forming, it might get a little more intensely colored, but it won't change.
My potatoes (Red Pontiacs) from this past year are marbled red throughout the whole potato. I have been planting Pontiacs for years and have never had this happen before in this number. I believe about 6o percent of my crop is like this. Most of the rest have hollow heart. Thank you for your help.
I can't be 100% sure without seeing the damage, but it sounds like the red veining is nematode damage. With the hollow hearts, I am going to guess that sometime during the last growing season, your potatoes went through a rough bit with not enough water. This would have stressed the plants and made them more susceptible to nematodes and caused the hollow heart condition. I would recommend taking a sample of the potatoes into your local extension office to confirm nematodes. Regardless, I would start with clean seed potatoes this year. Do not reuse the potatoes from last year as seed. Move the location of where you grow your potatoes. This will ensure that this year's crop is not affected by the issues of last year.
Planted early, both Yukon gold and reds, in a laundry cart lined with window screening. I have mulched stems as they have grown, in order to have possibility of potatoes up stems to best advantage. My question is, what signs should I look for to know when potatoes [as new] are ready for picking? Flowering? Withering of plant?
This article should help: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/potato/how-and-when-to-harvest-potatoes.htm
I have just harvested my red potatoes and now have a great deal of roots. Do I need to remove these roots before I begin to prepare the soil for next year's planting, or just leave them all and move on? There is an amazing amount of roots in the soil, much more than with my white potatoes, and this is the first year I have grown the reds. Great success in the potatoes, but what to do with all those roots?
Yes, you can remove these roots to refresh your soil for next season.