Did someone say potatoes & onions... ?
OERTHERS carries both!
During the spring, OERTHERS brings in a variety of seed potatoes and onion sets:
Potatoes
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Red Norland • Very popular garden variety • Excellent for boiling and mashing • Produces lots of small, silver dollar sized potatoes • Dark red skin, white flesh • Early season potato Red Pontiac • Very popular red variety • Excellent for boiling and mashing • Large round potato with deep eyes • Dark red skin, white flesh • Mid-season potato Kennebec • Very popular for home gardens and markets • Excellent for baking, boiling and mashing • Late blight resistant • Oblong shape, shallow eyes • Stores well • Mid-season potato Yukon Gold • A favorite with gardeners and chefs • Excellent for baking, boiling and mashing • Beautiful yellow flesh, thin skin and distinctive pinkish eyes • Keeps well • Mid-season potato Russet Burbank • The “Michigan Idaho Potato” • Oblong shape • Excellent for banking • Keeps soil moisture consistent to prevent knobs from forming • Keeps well, high yields • Late season potato |
HELPFUL INFORMATION FOR GROWING AND HARVESTING POTATOES:
New potatoes lifted fresh from the garden in the summer are a real delicacy, and make them well worth the effort. Remember potatoes are a vine, so be sure to give them enough room.
SOIL PREPARATION:
Potatoes can be grown on almost any type of soil, but good drainage is essential. The heaviest yields will come from soils high in organic matter. Potatoes like a soil that is well balanced in nutrients. Garden fertilizer, such as 10-10-10, can be added at the time of planting to get the plants off to a good start. Too much nitrogen (the first number on a fertilizer bag) will result in too much green growth, not enough tuber formation. The soil pH should be between 4.8 to 5.4. Alkaline soils tend to make scabby tubers. Seed potatoes are grouped according to their speed of maturity as early, midseason and late.
PLANTING:
Seed potatoes are not seed, but tubers from the previous years crop. Ideally they should be about 3 oz. in weight, and the size of an egg. If you save seed potatoes from your own crop, there is a good chance of virus diseases rapidly building up in the stock. Therefore it is a good idea to purchase certified seed potatoes fresh each year. Potatoes can be cut before planting, making sure that each piece has at least 2 eyes. The pieces then have to be dusted with a fungicide and allow drying to form a scab before planting. Or just plant the B-size seed potato whole, avoiding the extra work. Plant the potatoes 4" to 5" deep, 12" to 15" apart, with 24" between the rows. You can start planting 5 to 6 weeks before the last frost is likely to occur. When the young shoots start to appear above ground, draw up soil from between the rows around the stems. This is called "earthing up". If the young shoots have come out of the ground and frosts are still likely, pull the soil right over them. Repeat the "earthing up' process several times as the crops grow. This increases the roots made by the potato stems and so gives a greater yield, as well as controlling weeds. Potatoes benefit from fertilizing, spreading 2 cups of a complete fertilizer such as 5-10-5, over every 25' of row, and work in well. Potatoes require a steady source of water throughout the growing season. Lack of water can cause hollow heart and other diseases. Also, during periods of drought, there is little growth, and if water is applied later, the tubers may crack or form knobs. Mulch can be used for water retention and weed control.
HARVESTING:
New potatoes (young potatoes not fully grown) can be dug when the vines begin to flower. Harvest potatoes by digging underneath the tubers with a spading fork, being careful not to injure the tubers or vines. The remainder of the potatoes can be harvested when the vines are killed by frost, but before the ground begins to freeze. Store only the unbruised, undamaged potatoes, as injured potatoes may rot in storage.
INSECTS & DISEASES:
The secret to avoiding problems with insects is to have healthy plants before the insects appear. Rapidly growing plants can avoid yield reductions from minor insect infestations. The major pests are the Colorado Potato Beetle and the Flea Beetle. Both the adults and larvae of these feed on the leaves and can defoliate the plants quickly. Control with insecticides labeled for use on potatoes. Soil insect, wireworms, cutworms, can be controlled with a soil insecticide applied at planting time. Prevent foliage diseases, such as late and early blight by applying recommended fungicides every 7 to 10 days. Soil borne diseases such as scab and verticillium wilt may be reduced by growing resistant varieties and crops every year.
Source: De Bruyn Seed Reference Guide
New potatoes lifted fresh from the garden in the summer are a real delicacy, and make them well worth the effort. Remember potatoes are a vine, so be sure to give them enough room.
SOIL PREPARATION:
Potatoes can be grown on almost any type of soil, but good drainage is essential. The heaviest yields will come from soils high in organic matter. Potatoes like a soil that is well balanced in nutrients. Garden fertilizer, such as 10-10-10, can be added at the time of planting to get the plants off to a good start. Too much nitrogen (the first number on a fertilizer bag) will result in too much green growth, not enough tuber formation. The soil pH should be between 4.8 to 5.4. Alkaline soils tend to make scabby tubers. Seed potatoes are grouped according to their speed of maturity as early, midseason and late.
PLANTING:
Seed potatoes are not seed, but tubers from the previous years crop. Ideally they should be about 3 oz. in weight, and the size of an egg. If you save seed potatoes from your own crop, there is a good chance of virus diseases rapidly building up in the stock. Therefore it is a good idea to purchase certified seed potatoes fresh each year. Potatoes can be cut before planting, making sure that each piece has at least 2 eyes. The pieces then have to be dusted with a fungicide and allow drying to form a scab before planting. Or just plant the B-size seed potato whole, avoiding the extra work. Plant the potatoes 4" to 5" deep, 12" to 15" apart, with 24" between the rows. You can start planting 5 to 6 weeks before the last frost is likely to occur. When the young shoots start to appear above ground, draw up soil from between the rows around the stems. This is called "earthing up". If the young shoots have come out of the ground and frosts are still likely, pull the soil right over them. Repeat the "earthing up' process several times as the crops grow. This increases the roots made by the potato stems and so gives a greater yield, as well as controlling weeds. Potatoes benefit from fertilizing, spreading 2 cups of a complete fertilizer such as 5-10-5, over every 25' of row, and work in well. Potatoes require a steady source of water throughout the growing season. Lack of water can cause hollow heart and other diseases. Also, during periods of drought, there is little growth, and if water is applied later, the tubers may crack or form knobs. Mulch can be used for water retention and weed control.
HARVESTING:
New potatoes (young potatoes not fully grown) can be dug when the vines begin to flower. Harvest potatoes by digging underneath the tubers with a spading fork, being careful not to injure the tubers or vines. The remainder of the potatoes can be harvested when the vines are killed by frost, but before the ground begins to freeze. Store only the unbruised, undamaged potatoes, as injured potatoes may rot in storage.
INSECTS & DISEASES:
The secret to avoiding problems with insects is to have healthy plants before the insects appear. Rapidly growing plants can avoid yield reductions from minor insect infestations. The major pests are the Colorado Potato Beetle and the Flea Beetle. Both the adults and larvae of these feed on the leaves and can defoliate the plants quickly. Control with insecticides labeled for use on potatoes. Soil insect, wireworms, cutworms, can be controlled with a soil insecticide applied at planting time. Prevent foliage diseases, such as late and early blight by applying recommended fungicides every 7 to 10 days. Soil borne diseases such as scab and verticillium wilt may be reduced by growing resistant varieties and crops every year.
Source: De Bruyn Seed Reference Guide
Onion Sets
OERTHERS brings in yellow, red, and white onion sets and bunching onions.
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Onion sets are versatile. Plant them deep and close together and you can harvest them for the green table onions.
Plant them deeper and further apart, and you have good sized onions that will store well.
1 lb. is needed for a 100 foot row, 192 lb. per acre.
Source: De Bruyn Seed Reference Guide
Plant them deeper and further apart, and you have good sized onions that will store well.
1 lb. is needed for a 100 foot row, 192 lb. per acre.
Source: De Bruyn Seed Reference Guide