SURVIVAL MEDICINE

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How to grow Potatoes in Grow Bags!

Sometimes things do workout in the world of gardening. In the summer I planted “seed” potatoes in some large plastic containers, only to find out what potato rot looks like! Yuk-a-doodle, what a stinky mess. Lesson learned, know your growing zone. Mine is 10b, very hot and humid. Not exactly potato growing weather. However, after some research, I learned that fall is a great time to get them started. These growbags are made of a porous black fabric. I ordered more seed potatoes and sprayed them daily with water until eyes were formed. I only cut the biggest ones into smaller sizes, the others I planted whole. I put about 6 inches of organic soil mixed with some coconut coir. I made 3-4 inch holes with I sprinkled with some organic potato fertilizer and dried comfrey crushed leaves. The potatoes were put into the holes and covered with the soil. I sprinkled mycoboost and kelp meal on the surface and mixed that into the top 1 inch of soil. I then covered the surface with about 3 inches of pine straw. The edges of the growbags were then folded down so the top of the pine straw was the highest point. After the potato plants grew 8 inches I added a mix of 50/50 potting soil and pine straw, with more potato fertilizer mixed in. They were covered until only the top 2 inches of the plant remained. As I filled the bags I unfolded the edges of the growbags to hold all the new soil. I continue to sprinkle some comfrey leaves over the new soil to prevent fungus. So far so good. They have been growing since December 1st, and should be ready for harvest in March. If you know your growing zone you should be more successful!

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About Dr Bones

Joseph Alton, M.D. is a medical doctor and Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He writes about medical preparedness for times of trouble, and is, along with his wife Amy Alton, a nurse-midwife, the co-author of The Doom and Bloom(tm) Survival Medicine Handbook, and well as a contributor to Survivalist, Backwoods Home, and other magazines related to survival and homesteading. Together they host the Doom and Bloom(tm) Hour radio show on the Preparedness Radio Network, as Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy. Dr. and Ms. Alton use pseudonyms so that they can be free to give medical strategies for collapse situations that sometimes are contrary to the conventional medical wisdom.

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