Potato Growing in Colorado 
5 
grow those crops that are best adapted to a given section, and not 
endeavor to grow them where the conditions are unfavorable. 
The failure in growing potatoes on the Eastern plains is 
due to several causes: First, the soil is too heavy and puddles 
badly under irrigation. This puddling and subsequent baking of 
the soil prevents proper aeration of the soil and prevents the normal 
development of tubers. Second, the day temperature during the 
summer months is generally too high and imparts a correspondingly 
high temperature to the soil. Third, potato diseases, due to un¬ 
favorable temperature and soil conditions are very prevalent and 
destructive. On the lighter soil, and in long rotation with alfalfa, 
potatoes may be grown. On virgin soil and in rotation with grain 
crops, potato growing should not be attempted. 
POTATOES AS A CROP IN FARM ROTATION 
Many of our farmers have ruined their land by a one crop 
system, and many of the complaints about the failure of potato 
growing on a given area are due, not to unsuitable soil and climatic 
conditions, but rather to the presence of diseases which have been 
introduced thru continuous cropping of potatoes, and also* to the 
burning out of vegetable matter in the soil, which is greatly hastened 
by the continued growing of cultivated crops. It is a safe rule to* go 
by that potatoes should not be planted on the same land more than 
once, or, under extremely favorable conditions, twice in succession. 
In other words, rotation with other crops is necessary. 
The potato requires an open, porous soil, perfectly drained, and 
rich in vegetable matter. For this reason, it fits in well with the 
rotation of other farm crops, and should always follow a crop of 
alfalfa, either immediately or the second year after. The turning 
under of alfalfa adds to the soil the needed fiber and improves the 
condition so that potatoes can develop normally. There is a ten¬ 
dency to grow potatoes on the same land year after year, especially 
if the land was originally well suited for this crop, but such prac¬ 
tice generally brings disastrous results. It is far better to reduce 
the acreage of potatoes than to plant land that is not in the right 
condition for the production of an average crop. 
In Colorado, where alfalfa is easily grown, potatoes should 
follow it in a five to six years rotation. The rotation system 
should be as follows: Potatoes first year, followed with grain and 
seeding alfalfa the second year; third, fourth and fifth years in 
alfalfa, and the sixth year, back to potatoes. On the small farm 
this would mean a reduced acreage, but the grower will find that 
the net returns would be much greater because of increased yield. 
In many of the higher mountain valleys, where alfalfa cannot 
he grown so successfully, clover and timothy should be substituted 
