# Potatoes the Ultimate survival food



## rickkyw1720pf (Nov 17, 2012)

If the SHTF the first plant you want to make sure you plant is the Potato, a human can live almost entirely off of potatoes and unlike many plants you can eat them during there entire growth cycle. The Irish did just about live off them and they can be easily stored with out refrigeration. Now I may be one of the worst gardeners but the one thing that I was able to grow without hardly any work was Potatoes. In fact someone told me to just cut a potato up with an eye in each piece and bury them. I thought each eye would be one potato I had more potatoes the I knew what to do with. Every one need to have at least a little garden just to learn about planting.

Potatoes ? The Ultimate Survival Prepper?s Food | Survival 5×5 ? Five Dimensions of Survival Preparations


----------



## yzingerr (Dec 9, 2012)

Intersting read, thanks


----------



## AsteroidX (Dec 11, 2012)

yeah Im working on planting potatoes. Its almost time in my area.


----------



## Fuzzee (Nov 20, 2012)

I just moved and am working on new plantings myself. I love potatoes too, but I'm not going to kid myself that if it was all I had to eat over a period of time with everything else lean I'd probably not want to look at another potato after things fatted up in choices. Thanks for the link.


----------



## inceptor (Nov 19, 2012)

oswegoscott said:


> Sometimes part of a potato will be above ground and green. That part can be poisonous--do not eat.


Didn't know that.


----------



## kevincali (Nov 15, 2012)

This is one thing I've been looking into. I'm going to try to grow potatoes in a barrel


----------



## LunaticFringeInc (Nov 20, 2012)

Yeah Potatoes should figure heavily in ones survival garden for sure. Easy to grow, pretty prolific, filling and high in calories. You got to love their long term storage and the way they can be dehydrated and used later even more so. Now if I can just get some graded cheese and sour cream along with some bacon after TEOTWAWKI...Im in there like flint!


----------



## JDE101 (Nov 9, 2012)

Interesting read. My neighbor always grows potatos, and I recall as a kid that my grandparents did as well, but I've never grown them myself. I guess this year I will! I've always had the attitude that they are so inexpensive at the store that I'd devote my garden space to other vegetables. After reading this, I've decided to add potatoes to this years "crops".:mrgreen:


----------



## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

All you need is a root cellar and you can store a lot of food like potato's. Not to long ago every home here had one.
They are easy to grow ,easy to keep growing and can be eaten raw or cooked so many ways.


----------



## alterego (Jan 27, 2013)

Please rember that you can easily plant three plantings during the year, as long as you have some way to water them through the summer. In my area the growing season is actually very short, but you can start early, plant another couple of mounds mid seasona nd plant another couple of mounds in mid August and get some out of it in late September and or Early October.

I was getting a half bushell per mound in my little space where the soil is sandy.


----------



## bennettvm (Jan 5, 2013)

I grow potatoes in 5 gallon buckets. I have 15 buckets going at any given time. 1 potato eye can produce 3-5lbs of potatoes, if done right. Problem is that it takes 4-6 months to grow them. So you need to stagger planting them, so you get a bucket or two worth every month. It is just one of about 35 different fruits/veggies I grow.


----------



## prepgirl (Jan 7, 2013)

Just watch. Potatoes are susceptible to blight, which destroys the plants. You'll want to keep potatoes, tomatoes and peppers away from each other as they are all susceptible to blight, but keeping them apart is not insurance against it either. Blight is a higher risk during humid weather, which we have no shortage of here in PA. The Irish potato famine was caused by blight. If your plants get it, you may be able to control it somewhat, at least for a small harvest, with Neem oil, but it may not be effective enough. If your plants get it, do not plant any of the three plants I mentioned in that area for three years.


----------



## LunaticFringeInc (Nov 20, 2012)

Yeah I havent grown potatoes in years either becuase they have always been so cheap to buy in bulk bags it just didnt make sense to use what little gardening space I had available. With the rising cost of food though thats slowly starting to change. Its something I definitely need to start playing around with more. But right now I am still sticking to the more expensive to buy and heavy producing and small space taking type crops. I might play around with a few and see what I can do with them though. It will be more for the growing experience than actual production though.


----------



## AvengersAssembled (Dec 13, 2012)

Huh, never tried potatoes. Grew up growing tomatoes, melons, peppers, even tried carrots.


----------



## IngaLisa (Jan 31, 2013)

I have clay soil. I haven't had much luck with potatoes, but I grow beans for drying. I grew kidney, Jacob's Cattle, and Hidatsa. We had plenty of beans for the winter, and enough to plant this Spring. I will try the potato growing trick, 5 gallon buckets. Maybe that will work for me. I also grow dent corn, and that can be ground up for cornmeal. Winter squash doesn't take any prep either, just toss in the basement.


----------



## AvengersAssembled (Dec 13, 2012)

I'm going to try to grow some potatoes in a 5 gallon bucket, I have a tiny residential yard, but at least wanna give potatoes a try!


----------



## Adan699 (Feb 27, 2013)

Interesting read.My grandfather always grows potatoes in home garden.The humble potato can be very finicky to grow, because of pest and disease problems.There are actually over 1,000 different varieties of potatoes available for growing.


----------



## HVU (Dec 23, 2012)

Yeah, weve been growing tomatoes on one of our eight fields for over ten years now and it realy requires a lott of time to plant and harvest them, but trust me, some boiled soft potatoes with a good bird or animal of pretty much any kind with some sause made from the bones from the animal is worth it, its basicly what we Norwegians have lived of for a long time, during the second world war when we were occupied and food was scarce because the germans took it all, everyone who had any land, a garden, even a small flower pott, would plant tomatoes, carrots and souch.. Its survival food at its best if you ask me!


----------



## DPayne (Jan 21, 2013)

We live where the soil is nothing but hard clay, we tried the garbage can method for potato growing, worked like a charm no major investment, good tip is to buy the potting soil in fall, great discounts


----------



## JPARIZ (Feb 25, 2013)

oswegoscott said:


> Potatoes (like tomatoes) contain poison in the stems and leaves - and even in the potato itself if left to turn green (the green is due to a high concentration of the glycoalkaloid poison). Potato poisoning is rare, but it does happen from time to time. Death normally comes after a period of weakness and confusion, followed by a coma. The majority of cases of death by potato in the last fifty years in the USA have been the result of eating green potatoes or drinking potato leaf tea.


True but you forgot the part that follows weakness & confusion... you turn into a Democrat! Oh wait... you covered that with the coma part. Sorry - nothing to see here - everyone go home.


----------



## JPARIZ (Feb 25, 2013)

Honey is also good. It never goes bad either.


----------



## rickkyw1720pf (Nov 17, 2012)

JPARIZ said:


> True but you forgot the part that follows weakness & confusion... you turn into a Democrat! Oh wait... you covered that with the coma part. Sorry - nothing to see here - everyone go home.


----------



## JPARIZ (Feb 25, 2013)

drt4lfe said:


> An easy way is to use old tires......lay the tires out and plant the potato's in middle of tire with your dirt.....at harvest time just lift and roll tire over and potato's are easy to pick up....no digging....you can also build planters similiar to what you would for flowers except bigger...makes harvesting them a lot easier....


Now if there was only a way to make the tire taste good...


----------

