Thanks, Big! I don't know about the potatoes yet as this is the first time I'm trying this fall potato planting experiment. The plants are now up about 4", or were because I pulled soil over them last night to protect from 30F and frost.
It's been warm here the last week or so (low 70's F) but this week will be more seasonal (50's F). Maybe the potatoes will slow down. I can't see them getting big without getting burned back. Neither article I read had anything about this scenario of potatoes actually emerging during winter because, I guess, their soil was cold enough that it wouldn't happen. They were concerned about taking precaution to keep the potato sets from freezing in the ground.
Where the potatoes were grown this spring, there was one that got missed that started growing in late summer. When first frost came it was 6" tall and got burned back. Twice more it poked up and both times got burned back. It never came up again after that.
So we'll see. That's the fun of experimenting! January is usually our coldest month with highs averaging in the 50's F, lows in 30's F with occasional cold snaps in the mid 20's F. In February it starts warming back up a bit and we plant potatoes the second half of the month.
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