Planting, Growing, Harvesting, and Storing Potatoes
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You’ll need a location with at least 6 hours of direct sunlight and fertile, loose, well-drained soil; hard or compacted soil leads to misshapen tubers. Ideally, the soil is slightly acidic (pH 5.8 to 6.5), and the soil temperature is at least 45º to 55ºF (7° to 13°C). In the fall, mix compost or organic matter into the soil. Learn more about compost, soil amendments, and preparing the soil for planting.)
When to Plant Potatoes
Garden potatoes can be planted 2 to 4 weeks before the average last frost date. The soil temperature should be at least 55°F during the day and 45°F at night. But pay more attention to the soil than the calendar to determine planting time. The soil should not be so wet that it sticks together and is hard to work. Let it dry out a bit first. If you have a late and wet spring, you can plant later—through April (depending on location) or even June, especially in containers.
In cooler regions, the early-maturing potatoes are usually planted early to mid-April. In warmer regions, planting times range from September to February; in central Florida, gardeners plant potatoes in January, and in Georgia, they plant in February.
See our Planting Guide for the best dates to plant by zip code or postal code.
How to Plant Potatoes
Potatoes for planting are called ‘seed potatoes’ and are usually sold in bags or netting. Use certified (disease-resistant) seed potatoes from which eyes (buds) protrude. (Do not confuse seed potatoes with potato seeds or grocery produce.
The moment you get them, break them free, lay them out in a tray (such as an old egg carton), and pop them somewhere bright and frost-free to sprout – such as an indoor windowsill. This is a process called ‘chitting’. It’s not essential, but chitting helps speed things along a bit so that by the time they’re planted, they’ll be primed and itching to send out roots.
As the video below shows, after a month of chitting, the potatoes produced stout, stocky, green sprouts, which is exactly what we’re after; we don’t want the long, pale sprouts you get when potatoes are left in the dark. If you haven’t had a chance to chit your potatoes and it’s already time to plant, don’t worry – just get them in the ground.
A great way to get more seed potatoes for free, is to cut them in half. But only do this if they’ve got plenty of “eyes” which appear as small dimples and are where the sprouts emerge from. You want to put the end of the potatoes with the most eyes facing upwards for this reason.
At least 2 days ahead of planting, use a clean, sharp paring knife to cut large potatoes into golf ball-size pieces, with 1 to 2 eyes each. This time allows the pieces to heal, or form a protective layer over the cut surface, improving both moisture retention and rot resistance. Do not cut up seed potatoes that are smaller than a hen’s egg; plant them whole.
Photo by tanyss/Getty Images.
- Outside, prepare the planting area by simply spreading out compost across the surface to a depth of around an inch or 3 cm. Potatoes are fairly hungry plants, so this extra nourishment will help to support good soil fertility and a strong harvest.
4 Methods of Plant Potatoes
There are different approaches to planting potatoes. (See demonstration in above video, if needed.)
- Dig Holes: For each seed potato, dig a hole about 6 inches deep (or 16 cm). Add in a little slow-release organic fertilizer (eg., chicken manure pellets) and then pop in the potato with sprouts pointing up and cover with soil. Space potatoes about 16 inches (or 40 cm) apart in both directions for early types. Maincrop potatoes need a bit more space to stretch their legs, so space them at 18 inches (or 45 cm) apart.
- Dig V-Shaped Trenches: Dig 2- to 2.5-foot trenches (60 to 75 inches). Lay a nourishing cushion of garden compost along the bottom and a few of those chicken manure pellets, then set your tubers into position about one foot or 30 cm apart. Then just fill back in. I don’t think it makes a huge difference which way you plant, so do whatever’s easiest in the space you have.
- Plant in Straw: Nestle seed potatoes down into the soil surface then cover them with straw. See our article on planting potatoes in straw.
- Plant Potatoes in Pots: If you don’t have the garden space, plant in large containers, old compost sacks, or purpose-sold potato sacks. Fill the bottom of your pot or sack with about 4 inches (10 cm) of potting mix, then lay one or two potatoes on top and cover. Once the foliage is growing, add in more potting mix, a bit at a time, to hill or earth them up until the soil level reaches the top at which point the foliage almost seems to explode in size.
- Watering Potatoes: Firstly, water! This is really important because potatoes are lush and leafy plants, and those tubers take a lot of effort to swell. So if it’s dry, water thoroughly. Maintain even moisture, especially from the time after the flowers bloom. Potatoes need 1 to 2 inches of water a week. Too much water right after planting and not enough as the potatoes begin to form can cause them to become misshapen. Stop watering when the foliage begins to turn yellow and die off.
If you’re growing in containers, take extra care to keep your plants really well watered, especially in warmer weather, as this really will make all the difference in achieving a good crop.
- Hilling Potatoes: Potato flavor is improved by depth and darkness. As the potato plants grow above the soil surface, you’ll need to periodically “hill up” or mound up soil and compost around the plant so that only the top leaves stick out of the ground. It’s vital not to allow potato spuds to be exposed to sunlight, as this also causes them to turn green and produce a chemical called solanine, which gives off a bitter taste and is toxic. Do the hilling in the morning, when plants are at their tallest. (During the heat of the day, plants start drooping.) Just draw up the soil with a hoe every time the stems get to around 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) tall so that just the very tops are left poking out. Continue doing this in stages until you can no longer draw up any more soil, or the foliage closes over in between the rows.
If you’re growing your potatoes in a smaller raised bed, it may be easier to simply top up with organic matter around the whole area.
Credit: Avalon Studio/Getty.
- Protect From Frost: Late frosts can damage the young foliage – something to watch out for with early starts. Frost-bitten plants usually have enough energy to shake off any damage, but it can set plants back nonetheless. So if a frost is forecast and potatoes stand to get clobbered, do whatever you can to protect them. Cover the area in a few layers of warming fleece or row cover fabric, cover clusters of shoots with pots, or draw up the soil to bury the young shoots.
Note: In cool growing seasons, potato vines may sport berries. The berries are the fruit. Cut one open and see how it resembles its cousin, the tomato. Potato berries are poisonous and inedible. Plus, their seeds will not produce potato plants that resemble the parent. Discard them.
Practice yearly crop rotation with potatoes in order to avoid pests and diseases.
Harvesting potatoes is fun! It’s like unearthing nature’s treasures. Harvest potatoes on dry days. Dig up gently, being careful not to puncture the tubers. Avoid cutting or bruising potato skin. The soil should not be compacted, so digging should be easy. Potatoes can tolerate light frost, but when the first hard frost is expected, it’s time to get out the shovels and start digging potatoes.
Harvesting at the right stage keeps tubers from sitting about for too long and upping the chances of a slug or disease attack, particularly for maincrop spuds.
Earlies are the first to be lifted, usually while the plants are still in flower. Your tubers should be about the size of a hen’s egg or a touch bigger, but really it’s up to you how big you want them. Use a fork and work your way in from the edge of the plant, taking care to avoid stabbing into the potatoes themselves. Once you’ve loosened the plants, you can also lift them up to expose most of the spuds, but be sure to dig around in the soil for any you’ve missed!
Dig up maincrop spuds once the foliage is dying back towards the end of the growing season. I find it easier to cut back the foliage before digging up the potatoes on a dry day. Leave the potatoes on the soil surface for a few hours so the skin can dry off a bit. Don’t leave them there any longer, or they may start to turn green.
Extra tips for knowing when and how to dig up potatoes:
- Toughen up potatoes for storage before harvest by not watering them much after mid-August.
- Dig up a test hill to see how mature the potatoes are. The skins of mature potatoes are thick and firmly attached to the flesh. If the skins are thin and rub off easily, your potatoes are still too new and should be left in the ground for a few more days.
- If the soil is very wet, let the potatoes air-dry as much as possible before putting them in bags or baskets.
- Small green spots can be trimmed off, but if there is significant greening, throw the potato out.
- Only store potatoes that are free of bruises, disease, or damage, as you don’t want problems in storage, and check on stored potatoes every few weeks and remove any that are starting to spoil.
How to Cure Potatoes
- Once they’ve dried off, pack them up into breathable sacks or just sturdy cardboard boxes to store somewhere dark, cool but frost-free (45° to 60°F / 7° to 15°C) for up to 2 weeks. This allows the potato skin to cure and thus keep longer.
- Brush off any clinging soil; do not wash the potatoes until ready to eat; washing will shorten their life.
How to Store Potatoes
If you are harvesting potatoes to eat within a few days, storage is not an issue. You can store anywhere.
To store potatoes for keeping, however, you need a dark, cool (38° to 40°F) place; if it’s too warm, potatoes will sprout and be susceptible to disease. Also, it needs to be somewhat humid; potatoes are 80% water, so if it’s too dry, potatoes wither and dry out.
If you happen to have a damp cellar, you’ll all set! Otherwise, consider an extra refrigerator set a few degrees higher than normal with tubers in dark-colored plastic bags that are perforated (with many holes cut in the side) for air movement. Avoid all light to prevent greening. Or, consider an unheated entrance, spare room, closet, attic, cabinet, or insulated garage. To elevate humidity, you could place large pans of water in front of air source.
Even after harvest, potatoes still use oxygen and give off carbon dioxide, so they must have fresh air and ventilation. Never put potatoes in airtight containers. Use perforated bags, as mentioned above. Do not store potatoes with apples; the fruit’s ethylene gas causes spoilage.
Find more tips on getting potatoes ready for the root cellar.
Potatoes can be prepared in many ways: boiled, mashed, cut into pieces and roasted, french-fried, scalloped, made into dumplings or pancakes, grated into hash browns, and even brewed as alcoholic beverages.
Most potato dishes are served hot, but some are first cooked, then served cold, notably potato salad and potato chips.
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I've always been told to plant potatoes on dark nights so there is less chance of potato bus. Is this true? I know my husband always did this. He planted according to the moon. Always had a beautiful garden and plenty of produce.
Hi, Ellen, There is a lot of lore around planting potatoes. For example, planting by the Moon proposes that flowering vegetables that bear crops below ground should be planted in the dark, or waning, of the Moon—from the day it is full on any day until it is new again. Other lore proposes planting potatoes as well as other crops on Good Friday or St Patrick’s Day, or when the first dandelion blooms. Potatoes can take a bit of chill unlike a lot of vegetables that thrive in warm soil. Finally, these times are considered propitious, or favorable, days. Some gardeners swear by these times, but many gardeners also know that the best time is when you have time. Good luck! We hope this brings you bushels of spuds!
This was the most thorough education on potatoes I have ever received. Is your book this thorough?
Hi, Stacia, If you are referring to The Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook, it is close to the same, but being a book it has different qualities. The book has no hot links, the book’s pests/diseases are several pages away. the book has space limitations where the web site does not. Word for word, there are subtle differences between the two but either one should bring you success.
Thanks for sharing such a piece of detailed knowledge about potatoes. I learned a lot that I didn't know before.
We planted last season and got about 10 pounds. Some of the smaller ones have developed eyes and seem to be growing stems (this was s in our pantry). Is there anyway or anything we can do to use them to plant this next spring? We live in yorktown, va. We started with seed potatoes (yukon gold).
Yes! If your potatoes have sprouted, you can certainly plant them in the garden. Slice them into chunks so that each chunk has at least one eye/stem, then plant them as described above.
Thank you for your thorough explanation of the potato growing process. I had some small red potatoes from the store that had started to sprout. I found conflicting information & decided to try different ways of handling the potato for planting. From one small potato, I took broke 2 growths off & rooted them in water. Others were cut in two & rooted in water (4 plants). And a couple were just planted whole. They were planted in a no dig plot of good 2 yr old mulch about 5 inches deep in mid-May. After they grew some, I added more mulch. They all grew, though the ones without a potato were smaller plants. I kept them watered (hot summer). After about a month & a half, they were lush green plants. They didn't flower. Then the leaves started turning yellow & dying, but new leave grew from the stems. They all grew again, but one of the potato-less plants died after growing new leaves. I dug around around & found 1 potato. That was about 3 wks ago. Now I've found a couple new potato plants popping up between the existing ones. Would potatoes that grew from these plants sprout & grow a plant this year? Should I did them up or wait for the plants to die again? (Still no flowers.) Sorry for the long prose & thank you for any advice you can give.
Interesting experiment, Ellee! Congratulations! We can not say for certain whether your plants would grow (again). The most significant question we would have is, was the “mother” potato organic? You did not indicate. Grocery store potatoes are often treated and so are not suitable to grow as plants. That said, many will sprout eyes and may even take root. We would advise that you start again with “seed” potatoes (they cost only pennies—ok, maybe dimes) or some potatoes that you can confirm are untreated (organic) such as you might buy at a farmer’s market (be sure to ask, of course). That way, you can be assured that the plants and spuds can continue to be planted year after year.
can I use oak leaves as a mulch?
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