Wondering how to grow potatoes? We’re here to help! The taste and the texture of homegrown potatoes are far superior to those of store-bought spuds, especially the early varieties. Here’s how to plant, grow, and harvest potatoes in your garden.
About Potatoes
“What I say is that if a man really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow.”
–A. A. Milne, English writer (1882–1956)
Potatoes like cool weather and well-drained, loose soil that is about 45 to 55°F (7 to 13°C). In warmer climates, potatoes can be grown as a winter crop.
Folklore offers many “best days” for planting potatoes:
- Old-timers in New England planted their potato crops when they saw dandelions blooming in the open fields.
- The Pennsylvania Dutch considered St. Gertrude’s Day (March 17, aka St. Patrick’s Day) to be their official potato-planting day.
- Many Christians believed that Good Friday is the best day to plant potatoes because the devil holds no power over them at this time.
All of these “best days” suggest an early spring planting! (See more about planting below.)
Reader Comments
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If the buds (eyes) are
If the buds (eyes) are dormant, this is normal. If they have started sprouting, that's a puzzle. Is the parent plant still healthy and green? If it is dying back, then perhaps the potatoes are much further along than expected and they are somehow acting as seed potatoes. Or, could it be that the potatoes got inadvertently cut off from the mother plant? In which case, it might be that they are now acting as seed potatoes and sprouting into individual plants. If they had been exposed to light, they would turn green.
I'm not sure if this is the case here, since it is early in the season, but there is a condition called heat sprouting in which high soil temperatures (above 75F) cause the natural dormancy of the potato to break early. For more information, see:
http://cropwatch.unl.edu/potat...
http://www.cals.uidaho.edu/pot...
This site also discusses a few other physiological conditions that might cause sprouting:
http://cropwatch.unl.edu/potat...
Hope this helps!
Hi, this is first time I've
Hi, this is first time I've found potatoes in my compost. I threw out some potatoes in the compost back in the winter and since spring they sprouted leaves on top. Today I pulled the leaves up and found baby gold potatoes bout the size of small golfballs and some are even smaller.. None of them are green and they look like the small variety at the store. Can I eat these? Are they poisonous? They look and smell great. I'm just not sure if it's a good idea to cook and eat them.
Please help. Thanks!
Hi, Mom: Perhaps you
Hi, Mom: Perhaps you misspoke. Do you mean to say that you have found some compost in your new potato patch? Cook 'em up! We'll be right over!
Is there any sugestion to
Is there any sugestion to plant potatos in soil ph level 7.5 to 7.9? May i proceed r not on my 4ha
The 1st year I planted
The 1st year I planted potatoes I had an awful infestation of potato beetles. In a conversation with a friend who also grew potatoes she mentioned she had bird houses by her garden and they would eat the beetles. I now have six houses in my garden and have not used pesticides in 4 years. We sit in our porch and watch the birds swoop down into the garden then back up to the houses. They are feeding their babies! We have sparrows and wrens living in the houses. They are occupied every year. They pretty much eat anything that moves in the garden.
What kind of bird houses?
What kind of bird houses?
My first attempt at growing
My first attempt at growing potatoes!
They are really growing but there are 2 shoots at each place I planted them. Do I pull one out so there is only "one plant"? I planted them at the end of May.
No. Just let them be and grow
No. Just let them be and grow like crazy! :)
Help, Planted red pontiac and
Help,
Planted red pontiac and yukon gold potatoes in the garden this year. They are growing great. They are about 2-3ft tall and have just finished flowering. Where the flowers were, we now have what looks like small green tomaotes. We have always grown potatoes in our garden and have never seen this before. They are planted next to cabbage with tomatoes on the other side of the cabbage. We are soooo confused. Do you have any idea???
Thank you.
What look like small tomatoes
What look like small tomatoes are actually the botanical fruits (berries) of the potato plant--these are poisonous, though, so don't eat them. Usually, potato flowers will drop off before setting fruit, so gardeners aren't used to seeing these green berries. 'Yukon Gold' is one cultivar that is more prone to setting fruit. Cool temperatures can also promote fruiting. For more information, see:
http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm...
https://www.ppdl.purdue.edu/PP...
Hi there. My daughter and I
Hi there. My daughter and I shoved about 6 sprouting potatoes in a tote bag filled with dirt, about a month ago. They are growing like crazy buti think there are too many in one bag. I want to split them off into two or three bags. Will this hurt the plant, if I do it really carefully? I haven't checked for spuds but when you look down the inside of te bag there are loads of good roots. What should I do? Let them grow too close together, or splitter off into separate containers?
Out of pure curiosity, I
Out of pure curiosity, I stuck a dozen Russet potato eyes in some potting soil in peat pots. I was amazed, every one of them grew into strong, leafy plants.
Now, behind my trailer at a campground, they are growing incredibly well, for the work of a non-farmer. I feed campground leaves into my "Leaf Eater" mulcher every fall, for my flower beds. I separate the mostly maple leaves from the pine needles before grinding, as I was told by the campground owner the pine needles are quite acid, too much so for flower gardens. Not wanting to waste anything, the pine needles are accumulating (well dried,in heavy sealed plastic bags) Would this pine needle mulch be of benefit to my potatoes, with them liking acid?
They should be fine with pine
They should be fine with pine needle mulch. See:
http://www.clemson.edu/extensi...
Growing Hamen potatoes from
Growing Hamen potatoes from the Eastern Shore of Virginia. After about 3 weeks, the plants are about 12 inches tall. Any suggestions on when to harvest? Also, if there are several eyes can I cut the potato into quarters for more plants? I was told that you couldn't.
You can harvest new potatoes
You can harvest new potatoes around the time when the plants have just finished flowering. Harvest mature potatoes after the vines start to die back--a few weeks after potato plants start to blossom.
This video shows a good overview of harvesting mature potatoes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
If there are several eyes on a seed potato, you can divide it so that each section has 1 or 2 eyes. Small potatoes can be planted whole.
I was wondering what the
I was wondering what the plants looks like when they are ready to be harvested? And for future reference when I should plant? In western Colorado? Thank you!
Hello Like most questions
Hello
Like most questions being asked, I am growing potatoes for the first time. I am using a garbage container and drilled holes at the bottom and side. Anyway, I was wondering, can I use coffee grinds and eggshells in the growing medium for potatoes? As well, if they like acidic soil, would it hurt to give them a very watered down vinegar and water mixture?
Thank you!
Hi, Nos: Congratulations on
Hi, Nos: Congratulations on taking the potato plunge! The main thing you should do is remain calm and simply make sure that your potatoes are growing in rich soil that has a pH of about 5.2 to 5.5. Do a soil test, and slightly amend if necessary. But just sort of randomly adding things to the soil is a recipe for disaster, as they can make the plants susceptible to disease and/or pests, if not downright kill the plants. Coffee grounds are acidic and eggshells very basic, but that doesn't mean that they would necessarily balance each other. Do test and then research what action -- if any -- to take. Remember that potatoes have been doing fine on their own since long before you came on the scene, and just sometimes need careful massaging, not major manipulation. Thanks for asking, and good luck!
Compost mixed with soil works
Compost mixed with soil works well for spuds. Use vinegar on plants you want to kill. Most soils are slightly acid and compost wll safely make your soil more acidic. Tryng too hard can sometimes do more harm than good. Potatoes are not hard to grow and your large container should work great.
Hi! In early march of this
Hi! In early march of this year i just randomly planted some potatoes. I have been watering them regularly and i have also been hilling them. They've grown quite a bit. Today when i went to check on them some of them have fallen and started to wilt and they haven't even have blossoms. I live in the central valley of california, what does this mean and what should i do?
Not all potato plants flower;
Not all potato plants flower; you still might get potatoes under the ground. Check carefully in the soil to see if you feel any potatoes developing.
I'm new to this. Second time
I'm new to this. Second time I've tried to grow potatoes. My first time ( last year ) ended up with a nice green stem and I continued to add soil whenever the leaves were about 6" above the soil. ( growing in a garbage can ) come harvest time ( I thought ) I dumped the entire thing and went looking for 'taters. I found two --- about the size of a Brazil nut, each. Don't know what happened but, whatever... I got some seed potatoes from a nursery this time and they are growing really well. What I don't know is; do I continue to water even after the leaves etc. die back or what. When should I stop watering?
Hi Bob, Potatoes grow best in
Hi Bob,
Potatoes grow best in rich soil. Make sure to add compost or aged manure to the soil. Keep watering as long as the plants are growing. After the potatoes flower and the plants start to die back it's time to stop watering and dig them up.
Hi! I have some potatoes that
Hi! I have some potatoes that we grew last year that have sprouted. Due to the cold wet weather we have been having here (it was 22 degrees with snow on Mothers Day and snow/rain since then), we have not yet planted. Most of the sprouts are now a good 12-15 inches tall. Can we still plant these? Do we just plant them deep? Thanks for your advice!
Leave the sprouts on but
Leave the sprouts on but "wind them up" when you plant the spuds, instead of leaving them at full length.
In late FEB I planted seed
In late FEB I planted seed potatoes in a wood box which I added boards to as the crops grew. I used garden soil from Lowes when it came time for hilling. They were about 4-5 feet tall the last time I hilled them and absolutely beautiful. Only a couple days later, a few of the plants started falling over at dirt level, rotten. The tops were still green, although somewhat wilted. I live in east Texas and we have been getting a good amount of rain these past few weeks. So I don't know if that has contributed to the problem or not. While some of the plants in the box are alive and healthy, I'd like to know what happened to the ones that died? The healthy plants haven't bloomed yet so I'm wondering if there is any chance that the dead ones will bounce back.
Hi, I'm growing potatoes for
Hi, I'm growing potatoes for the first time this season. I was wondering, when it comes time for hilling, could I hill the potatoes with wood ash? My family pulls out the firepit a lot this time of year, and we always end up just dumping out the ash. Could I instead put it to use as a hilling material?
Thanks,
Diego
Wood ash can be very useful,
Wood ash can be very useful, but you want to avoid it in areas where potatoes are to be grown because the alkaline conditions can encourage potato scab. However, you can use your wood ash for many other purposes. Mix into your compost heap and it provides a natural source of potassium and trace elements which is great mulch for most vegetables. It also has a liming effect, so wood ash can remedy excessively acidic soils.
My seed potatoes got a little
My seed potatoes got a little soft while waiting to plant them. Are they still good for planting?
Hi Renola, As long as the
Hi Renola,
As long as the potatoes have eyes or show some sptouts they should be OK to plant. Discard potatoes that show rot.
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