In the last post I compared potatoes watered by olla vs hand-watering. I found that I got similar yields, but higher efficiency using ollas (pounds/seed).

How does using ollas compare to my control plot in 2010? Check it out:

Olla Bed: 16.75#, 1.4 #/seed
Control Bed: 10.7#, 0.6 #/seed

So. Compared to my other option for growing potatoes out by the street (no water), using ollas increased my yield by 60% and was more than twice as efficient!

Qualitatively, the potatoes from the olla bed (half russetts and half red sangre) were a mix of sizes distributed from large to small. In contrast, the control bed (mostly red sangre, the better producer) produced mostly small potatoes, with only a few medium-sized (photo above).

Conclusion? Ollas rock. Compared to not watering at all, they produced more and larger potatoes more efficiently. Compared to hand-watering, ollas increased potato production efficiency.

Here is the control bed in photos (compare with olla bed).

Planted May 18

June 7

July 12

July 21

August 4

August 14

We dug the potatoes in the control bed on August 30 after the fronds had all died back.