The oyster mushroom gets its name from its cap which, some say, resembles an oyster. The stem of the oyster mushrooms is perhaps more distinct; it unfurls something like one of those old-time paper lady's fans. The oyster mushroom has...

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Potato Growing Problems: Troubleshooting

Potato growing success can be had with well-drained, deep, sandy loam containing plenty of humus paired with cool, moist conditions. Plant potatoes in early spring after the danger of frost has passed. Use disease-free seed potatoes; cut each potato so that two eyes are on each piece.

Even under these ideal growing conditions, potatoes are not always problem free. (See How to Grow Potatoes.) Potatoes are susceptible to a host of setbacks.

Here is a list of possible potato growing problems matched with cures and controls:

Plants do not emerge after planting seed pieces. Most store-bought potatoes are treated to prevent sprouting. Plant only certified seed potatoes. Cut seed potatoes when sprouts form, two eyes on each piece, and plant immediately. Plant when the soil has warmed to 45°F or greater.

Plants are eaten or cut off near soil level. Cutworms are gray grubs ½- to ¾-inch long that can be found curled under the soil. They chew stems, roots, and leaves. Place a 3-inch paper collar around the stem of the plant. Keep the garden free of weeds; sprinkle wood ash around the base of plants. Use oakleaf mulch. Companion plant tansy between rows.

Large holes in leaves, leaves and shoots are stripped. Colorado potato beetle is a humpbacked yellow beetle ⅓ inch long with black stripes and an orange head. Handpick off beetles. Keep the garden free of debris. Spray with a mixture of basil leaves and water. Companion plant with eggplant, flax, or green beans.

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How to Grow Potatoes

Plant potatoes from late winter to late spring--as early as 4 to 6 weeks before the last average frost date in spring--depending upon the number of days the variety you are planting requires to mature to harvest. So-called "early" potatoes will come to harvest in summer; "midseason" and "late" potatoes will mature and come to harvest in fall.

Which potato is right for you: click here.

Learn how to cook a potato: click here.

Description. The potato is a perennial vegetable grown as an annual. It is a weak-stemmed plant that produces swollen, underground tubers that are usually oval or round but sometimes finger-like or clustered. Potatoes can be brown, tan, yellow, red, and purple. Potatoes grow best where nights are cool. Potato varieties are often classified according to the number of days they require to come to harvest: "early" season (75-90 days), "midseason" (90-135 days), and "late-season" (135-160 days).

Yield. Each plant will produce about 5 to 10 potatoes.

Site. Plant potatoes in full sun. Potatoes require a cool but frost-free growing season of 75 to 135 or more days. The ideal potato growing temperature is 45° to 80°F. Hot weather will reduce the number of tubers per plant. Potatoes prefer well-drained fertile soil high in organic matter with pH of 5.0 to 5.5. As the soil becomes more alkaline the size of the crop will grow but the incidence of scab--a condition that affects the skin of the potato but not the eating quality--also will increase.

Planting time. Plant "early" potatoes in spring 4 to 6 weeks before the last average frost date for a summer harvest or when the soil temperature has risen to 50°F. Where the soil temperature does not rise above 85°F during the summer plant "early" potatoes in late spring. Plant "midseason" harvest potatoes 4 to 6 weeks before the last frost in spring for fall harvest. Plant "late" harvest potatoes in spring for fall harvest. Allow 120 frost-free days from planting to harvest for "late-season" varieties. Potatoes are grown through the summer in cool northern regions; they are grown in fall, winter, and spring in warm-winter southern regions.

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Yellow Potato Side Dish and Soup

Yellow potatoes like 'Yukon Gold' and 'Yellow Finn' are ideal for boiling and using in salads and gratins or adding raw to stews. They are moist with a dense flesh and low in starch which means they will hold their shape cooked.

You can boil yellow potatoes whole and unpeeled or cut and unpeeled or peeled and cut. Place them in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Add a pinch or two of salt and bring to a boil, then simmer, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes until tender. Drain boiled potatoes as soon as they are cooked just tender so they don't become soggy and unappetizing.

Here's an easy and tasty Boiled Yellow Potato Side Dish with blue cheese and fresh parsley (or you can substitute fresh chopped chives): Boil the potatoes until they are just tender, drain and cool or refrigerate. When ready to serve, cut the potatoes into halves or quarters and mix with mayonnaise, adding fresh crumbled blue cheese and fresh chopped parsley or chives to taste and salt and pepper to taste.

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'Yukon Gold' Yellow Potato

Yellow potatoes are well suited for boiling, steaming, mashing, roasting, grilling, and au gratin dishes. 'Yukon Gold' is a stand-out yellow potato with a buttery-tasting flesh that you will want to try mashed, steamed, in soups and chowders, or made into potato pancakes.

Because the 'Yukon Gold' brings its own buttery flavor to the table, you won't need to add butter or margarine to 'Yukon Gold' dishes. Yellow potatoes like 'Yukon Gold' also require less seasoning than white potatoes.

The 'Yukon Gold' is slightly flat and oval with a thin, golden yellow skin. It has shallow eyes and golden-yellow flesh. You know you have a 'Yukon Gold' in your hand if the shallow eyes are a rosy pink color.

The 'Yukon Gold' has a lower starch content than the Idaho or russet which makes it a good all-purpose potato. Feel free to use the 'Yukon Gold' or other yellow potatoes in recipes that call for white potatoes.

To steam the 'Yukon Gold' or other thin-skinned potatoes, arrange whole thin-skinned potatoes or ½-inch-thick slices on a steamer rack. Steam over 1 to 2 inches of boiling water until tender throughout when pierced (30 to 35 minutes for whole potatoes, 8 to 10 minutes for slices).

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How to Cook a Potato

Potatoes are versatile in the kitchen. You can cook potaoes in so many ways--boil, bake, roast, fry, steam, mash, and stuff. You can serve a different potato dish every day of the week.

Here's a few potato cooking basics:

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Potato Harvest Calendar

The length of a potato’s growing season varies according to climate and variety.

You can choose cultivars for each of three harvest periods.

First early potatoes—grow rapidly, take little space, and are harvested early to midsummer when they are about the size of an egg.

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Potatoes for Cooking

Potatoes can be round, oval, and smooth. They can have rough skins or smooth skins, white skins, brown skins, red skins or blue skins.

There are more than 3,000 varieties of potatoes.

But when it comes to cooking, there are only three kinds of potatoes: high starch, medium starch, and low starch.

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Potato Types and Varieties

Which potato?

When it comes to cooking potatoes, choose your potato for the style of cooking you have in mind.

Use high starch potatoes for baking, frying, and mashing.

Use medium starch potatoes for steaming, baking, roasting, grilling, and au gratin dishes.

Use low starch potatoes for boiling, roasting, grilling, sautés, stews, salads, and au gratin dishes.

When you are standing in front of bins of potatoes, which variety or type of potato will cook up the way you want it to?

Here’s a guide by varieties and types:

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Potatoes

Potatoes are not fattening.

Potatoes are high in fiber content and contain quality complex carbohydrates that will fill you up but not fill you out. A medium-sized baked potato contains around 90 calories, about the same as an apple.

However, potatoes drenched in butter or smothered in gravy or the fat in the steak you eat with a potato will thicken your waist.

Potatoes can be cooked in almost every way: boiled unpeeled, boiled peeled, parboiled, steamed, mashed, smashed, baked, stuffed and baked, oven-roasted, pan-roasted, fried, deep-fried, grilled, sautéed, and puréed.

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