GROW POTATOES IN A WIRE CAGE

A reader wanted to know what hog wire was and where to find it:

07-12-03

The 6X6 hog wire is the type of wire farmers here use to keep their hogs in. It is also known as 6X6 foundation wire. The openings in the wire is 6 inches by 6 inches. The wire comes if different widths. I use the one that is 5 feet tall. You should be able to purchase it at any hardware or builders supply store. Here we get it at Tractor Supply outlets and Lowe's also carries it. I do not know if you have any of these stores in your area or not.

Make a circle of the wire that is about 6 feet in diameter. I find it is best if you can till the soil before placing the wire around it. Place the potato eyes or whole potatoes on the ground then cover with about 6 inches of hay. Wet it but do not soak the area. Keep the hay moist until the potatoes began to grow through the hay. After the tops are about 6 to 10 inches above the hay, cover the plants with more hay except the top 2 or 3 leaves. The potato plants will grow up taller, cover them again as before.

Keep this up until the plants reach the top of the cage. Stop covering them at this point and wait until the plants bloom and die. You should be able to reach in through the wire and harvest the potatoes. If you have anymore questions, please feel free to email me and I will do my best to answer them. I hope this works in your area. I know that it works really great here where we have lots of sunshine, warm days and cool nights.

Happy Gardening

Byron Tumlinson

02-15-03

My father-in-law uses this method to grow large, clean potatoes. He makes a wire cage with a 4 foot radius of 6x6 hog wire. Inside of the cage, on top of the ground place about 6 inches of straw hay. Water well and put in seed potatoes. You can space them about 6 to 8 inches apart all over the circle. On top of the potatoes place another layer of straw. Keep watered but not soaking. After the plants emerge above the top of the straw about 5 or 6 inches cover them up with straw except for the last 2 or 3 leaves. Continue doing this until the plants reach the top of the wire cage. Let the plants bloom and die back at this stage. When you open the cage, you will find bushels of clean, large potatoes. It seems that potatoes like tomatoes will root all the way up the plant if they are covered. At each place they take root, they will also make tubers. You can harvest these at any time by simply reaching through the wire and feeling for the potatoes. Pull what you want and leave the rest to continue growing. The trick in this is to keep it evenly watered throughout the growing period.