How To Grow Potatoes In 4 Square Feet

I like this well enough to give it a try

How to Grow 100 Pounds Of Potatoes In 4 Square Feet

One of the great things about growing potatoes is they are fairly low maintenance and they can be grown in pots or massively in the ground.

Some home gardeners grow their potatoes above ground using chicken wire and some straw to hold in the dirt. Others use a stack of old tires.

According to an article from the Seattle Times all you need is 4 square feet to grow 100 pounds of potatoes. That’s a lot of french fries!

On many occasions, we've been tempted to grow our own potatoes. They're fairly low maintenance, can be grown in a pot or in the ground, last a fairly long time if stored properly, and can be very nutritious (high in potassium and vitamin C).

Here's more incentive: according to this article, you can grow 100 pounds of potatoes in 4 sq. feet. 

According to this article from the Seattle Times, potatoes planted inside a box with this method can grow up to 100 pounds of potatoes in just 4 square feet.
All that is required:

Lumber

Seed potatoes

Soil

Careful attention to watering

The Times' guide for building a potato growing box yields up to a 100 lbs. of potatoes in a mere 4 square feet is shown below:

Plant as early as April or as late as August 1, with an approximated 3 month till harvest turnaround time. Plant anytime here in Mindanao.

Here are some pointers from the article

Cut apart larger seed potatoes, making sure there are at least two eyes in each piece you plant.

Dust the cut pieces with fir dust, which seals the open ends from bacteria.

Fertilize with 10-20-20 fertilizer at planting and a couple of times during the season.

Water so that the plants are kept at an even level of moisture.

Don't plant in the same area in consecutive years or use the same soil to fill your potato box, as potatoes can attract various diseases.

"To save space, the author recommends building a box and planting inside it, adding sides to the box as the plant grows and filling the new space with mulch or soil. When the plant blossoms, it starts setting potatoes in this added soil. Soon after that, you can start removing the bottom boards from your box and "robbing" the plant, reaching in carefully and pulling out new potatoes." sounds cleaver to me.

And if you're unsure of the nutrition content of potatoes, there is  a handy info, compliments of the US Potato Board: http://www.potatoesusa-philippines.com/uspb/index.php

The black "Bean Aphid"

The black bean aphid (Aphis fabae) is a tiny black insect with a broad, soft body, a member of the order Hemiptera. Other common names include blackfly, bean aphid and beet leaf aphid. In the warmer climates like ythe Philippines it is found in large numbers on the undersides of leaves and on the growing tips of host plants, including various agricultural crops and many wild and ornamental plants. 

Both winged and wingless forms exist and  they are all females. They suck sap from stems and leaves and cause distortion of the shoots, stunted plants, reduced yield and spoiled crops. 

This aphid also acts as a vector for viruses that cause plant disease and the honeydew it secretes may encourage the growth of sooty mold.

It breeds profusely by live birth but its numbers are kept in check, especially in the later part of the summer, by various predatory and parasitic insects. Ants feed on the honeydew it produces and take active steps to remove the aphid's enemies. It is a widely distributed pest of agricultural crops and can be controlled by chemical or biological means. Winged forms move to different host plants where both males and females are produced. This can contaminate your entire rapidly..