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I've had volunteer potatoes to come up, but it's been pretty rare. I'd think that if the winter was on the mild side, and not too wet, it'd be possible for them to lay there without rotting.

Not to hijack the thread but others have mentioned watermelon and cantaloupe. Before seedless watermelons, the market peaked on fourth of July so you had to have ripe melons after June 20 and in the market by July 1. We planted here in mid February. We would be planting right now. Ran the rows east and west. They were 80" wide and planted on the south side of the bed. Irrigated the field and held water in the furrows until it subbed up above the seed line. When the plants had one or two true leaves we would knock off the top of the bed to make a wide flat surface for the vines and keep the melons out of the water. Had to irrigate almost weekly when the melons were almost ripe. Very depressing to stand in the field and hear the watermelons bursting open.

A good friend of mine and I worked for the same seed company. He was a plant breeder. We left about the same time and he went to work with his dad. They were trying to develop a watermelon without seeds. They were successful but he died from Parkinson's disease.

Now back to the taters.

fuzzy, what varieties do you grow? we always grew kennebec for the most part, and also a bit of red pontiacs for grappling fresh. the kennebec was the majority.

we've planted them in mid-february. sometimes they got bit back, but not every year, but their roots were already getting established. lately, the deer eats them down, so no need to plant at all.

Potatoes are believed to have originated in Peru and Ecuador. They were probably marble sized 1000 years ago until breeders went to work on them. Maybe the originals were able to survive the winters better. I don't know.

Kennebecs and Pontiacs is what I planted this year. Have done some Yukon Gold in past.

we always planted "cut" potato seeds. not just eyes.

we never coated them with anything. i've heard powdered sulfur works.

planting potatoes early gives them a head start ahead of the hot dry summer.

we planted them the old-fashioned way by hand. then dug them with a fork, hoe & shovel.

Maybe get some planted in the garden around April Fools. Put seeds on top of ground and cover with old loose hay about a foot high. No weeding necessary.

Get you some used tars...

Plant them halfsies in nar...cover em up
As they grow, throw some more dirt and add a'nutha tar

Till u get bout 6-7 tars high

Then nem vines die, just knock dem tars over and ..there ya go

I dip them in diluted clorox and water before planting. Never had a rot problem.

Think it's to late to start putting an ark together?

Chattanooga sidesupposed to get 5-8" rainfall next few days

makes sense. we never did. we tried to cut them one day, and allow them to heal for a day, then plant the next day.

the cut wounds dipped in powdered sulfur is suppose to allay any disease. we never did any of that.

the best taters were the fresh dug baby pontiacs. eat them with early sweet english peas in early june.

later, the kennebecs were dug and put away for fall & winter tater's.

when we'd seen the tops from the kennebecs all dead & dying around june 30 - july 4 we knew it was time to dig.

Gentlemen,

before I retired I lived in E. WA, sorta close to where Field Grade is in ID. I had a relatively large garden and always had taters in it. Nice sandy loam. When I harvested I'd always leave some of the smaller ones in the ground and also some of the ones that got cut or stabbed by the fork. I usually covered the bed with about 4" of straw before leaving for the winter in mid November. I left one fall and talked to a buddy still there, he told me I was lucky I got out when I did as it dropped to -5F the next day. The taters survived and I had an early start on them the next season. Golds, purples, reds, and some finger taters along with a standard like Kennebeck or such.

Give it a try in your area. Leave them a bit deep and cover the bed with some straw. You might be surprised at the early volunteers.

Oh, the folks who had this place must have had some taters in the beds as I had volunteers the spring after we bought this place. Got down to -25.9F that winter and I didn't cover the beds as I had no idea what was in there. Them taters did come from the Andean countries, so I imagine they can stand a bit of cold.

Good luck,

Geno

We never did it, but some of the neighbors would put slaked lime on the cut parts of the potatoes when planting. miles

I sometimes let mine dry for a week or so after I cut them up. Never dipped them in anything. The weather and the soil plays a big part on having them rot in the ground before they sprout and come up. I get the best results from planting the shriveled up taters from the year before. I always save some to plant.

No tators this year.

Our soil pH is about 8 and the canal water is about the same. Lime will make it worse. All the garden books say to put lime on a garden and unfortunately, some people around here do it without asking what it's for.

Ditto here...

Where I live, if you have not limed recently, your ground needs lime. It is just a matter of how much. I think the old timers used slaked lime on the cut parts because they had it around for putting in the outhouse to keep flies and such down. miles