Last year we carried out a potato study with market gardeners. We found that growing potatoes on the surface was a significant savings in labor with only a small sacrifice in yield by area (read more complete results here). One of our participants, the Parisi Family Farm, decided to scale this planting method up. We … More Potato Study Update — Parisi Family Farm
We’re only a day away from our trip to La Crosse, WI, to attend the annual Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service (almost always known as MOSES) Conference this Friday and Saturday. We’ll be presenting our poster at the research forum and are excited to see what other studies have been going on. We’ll be … More Come Visit Us at the Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) Conference
Institute staff will be taking part in the poster contest at the MOSES organic agriculture conference this February. The Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) is a nonprofit with a mission to educate farmers and growers about organic practices. As you likely know, we concluded a study on potato-growing method in 2018 and we … More MOSES Organic Ag. Conference Potato Poster
As part of our potato study, we’re writing two articles — one for general audiences and another for professionals — presenting at conferences, and creating an infographic. This graphic summarizes in a visual way the bare minimum of the study’s information, but it is sharable and quick to absorb. Please feel free to share it … More Potato Study Infographic
Potatoes are an underappreciated garden crop. People can survive on this tuber alone because it contains everything for complete nutrition. Spuds thrive in diverse soils and climates. They store well and are easy to plant and care for. Because potatoes are cheap in the grocery store, many gardeners opt not to cultivate them, but for … More Potatoes Five Ways: A Trial Looking at Different Potato-Growing Methods
We just finished the last harvest for our potato plant study. We are comparing the growth, labor, and yield of five different potato-growing ideas: trench and hill, straw mulch, newspaper-and-straw mulch, containers, and towers. In order to help others reproduce our study or grow potatoes using these techniques, we are providing detailed instructions on our … More Input Data for the Potato Harvest — Lab Note 2.03
We just finished the last harvest for our potato plant study. We are comparing the growth, labor, and yield of five different potato-growing ideas: trench and hill, straw mulch, newspaper-and-straw mulch, containers, and towers. In order to help others reproduce our study or grow potatoes using these techniques, we are providing detailed instructions on our … More Initial Potato Harvest Data — Lab Note 2.03
Recently we helped plant out ten plots for our potato plant study. We are comparing the growth, labor, and yield of five different potato-growing ideas: trench and hill, straw mulch, newspaper-and-straw mulch, containers, and towers. In order to help others reproduce our study or grow potatoes using these techniques, we are providing detailed instructions on … More Care for Potato Plots — Lab Note 2.02
These last three weeks have been busy here as we’ve been planting out ten research plots for our potato plant study. We are comparing the growth, labor, and yield of five different potato-growing ideas: trench and hill, straw mulch, newspaper-and-straw mulch, containers, and towers. In order to help others reproduce our study or grow potatoes … More Potato Plant Out — Lab Note 2.01
As readers of the blog will know, the institute is supporting a USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education–funded potato study. In short, we’re comparing the growing methods commonly used in gardens: potato towers, containers, sheet-and-straw mulch, straw mulch, and trench and hill (as a control). Last week we had a Jim Dayton, a reporter from … More In the News: Institute-Supported Potato Study