Plant potatoes from late winter to late spring–as early as 4 to 6 weeks before the last average frost date in spring–depending upon the number of days the variety you are planting requires to mature to harvest. So-called “early” potatoes will come to harvest in summer; “midseason” and “late” potatoes will mature and come to harvest in fall.
Description. The potato is a perennial vegetable grown as an annual. It is a weak-stemmed plant that produces swollen, underground tubers that are usually oval or round but sometimes finger-like or clustered. Potatoes can be brown, tan, yellow, red, and purple. Potatoes grow best where nights are cool. Potato varieties are often classified according to the number of days they require to come to harvest: “early” season (75-90 days), “midseason” (90-135 days), and “late-season” (135-160 days).
Yield. Each plant will produce about 5 to 10 potatoes.
Site. Plant potatoes in full sun. Potatoes require a cool but frost-free growing season of 75 to 135 or more days. The ideal potato growing temperature is 45° to 80°F. Hot weather will reduce the number of tubers per plant. Potatoes prefer well-drained fertile soil high in organic matter with pH of 5.0 to 5.5. As the soil becomes more alkaline the size of the crop will grow but the incidence of scab–a condition that affects the skin of the potato but not the eating quality–also will increase.
Planting time. Plant “early” potatoes in spring 4 to 6 weeks before the last average frost date for a summer harvest or when the soil temperature has risen to 50°F. Where the soil temperature does not rise above 85°F during the summer plant “early” potatoes in late spring. Plant “midseason” harvest potatoes 4 to 6 weeks before the last frost in spring for fall harvest. Plant “late” harvest potatoes in spring for fall harvest. Allow 120 frost-free days from planting to harvest for “late-season” varieties. Potatoes are grown through the summer in cool northern regions; they are grown in fall, winter, and spring in warm-winter southern regions.
How to plant and spacing. Grow potatoes from whole potatoes or pieces of potatoes called “seed potatoes.” A seed potato must have at least one eye to sprout. Plant certified disease-free seed potatoes. Supermarket potatoes have been chemically treated to prevent sprouting.
Plant potatoes in a hole or trench 4 inches deep and cover with 2 inches of soil. When sprouts emerge, add the remaining 2 inches of soil to the hole or trench. Sow seed potatoes 12 to 18 inches apart; space rows 24 to 36 inches apart. Potatoes also can be planted on top of the ground if covered with a 12-inch thick mulch of straw or hay.
Potatoes also can be grown in special potato growing barrels or stacked old tires. As the plant grows, layers of soil are added to cover the leaves and stems encouraging the plant to produce new tubers.
Water and feeding. Keep potatoes evenly moist but not wet; water before the soil dries out. Mulch to conserve soil moisture, prevent the soil from becoming too warm, and to keep the weeds down. Feed potatoes with a 5-10-10 fertilizer before planting and as a side dressing at midseason. Avoid giving potatoes too much nitrogen, that will encourage foliage growth over tuber growth.
Companion plants. Beans, cabbage, corn, eggplant. Avoid planting potatoes near cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, sunflowers, tomatoes, or raspberries.
Container growing. Potatoes can be grown in special potato barrels or using several car tires. Plant seed potatoes in the first level of a barrel or tire. When vines grow from 8 to 10 inches tall, place a second tire or level over the first and add enough soil to cover all but 2 or 3 inches of the vines. Continue this process until the end of the growing season. Then harvest potatoes from each layer.
Care. Protect maturing tubers from sunburn and greening by mounding soil up around exposed tubers. Carefully cultivate around plants until they flower.
Pests. Potatoes can be attacked by Colorado potato bugs, leafhoppers, flea beetles, and aphids.
Diseases. Potatoes are susceptible to blight and scab. Scab can cause potatoes to have a rough skin but does not affect the eating quality of the potato. Plant disease-resistant varieties and keep the garden clean to help prevent disease. Remove and destroy diseased plants.
Harvest. A potato plant will produce 3 to 6 regular-size potatoes and a number of small ones. Use a spading fork to dig up new potatoes when flowers fade; harvest mature potatoes after the leaves start to yellow. Lift potatoes gently to avoid bruising or damaging the skins.
Varieties. There are more than 100 varieties of potatoes. There are four basic potato categories: long whites, round whites, russets, and round reds. Check your cooperative extension service for specific recommendations for your area.
Storing and preserving. Store potatoes in a dark, well-ventilated place at about 40°F. Potatoes will keep for about 6 months. Do not refrigerate potatoes. Prepared or new potatoes freeze well and potatoes can also be dried.
Common name. Potato, white potato, Irish potato
Botanical name. Solanum tuberosum
Origin. Chile, Peru, Mexico
Grow 80 vegetables: THE KITCHEN GARDEN GROWERS’ GUIDE
I don’t understand how to grow potatoes in tires–how to stack them. I would love to try this. Do you have some specific directions? I am an avid veggie grower and would like to give this a try. Thanks. PS: I love this site. I am here every day looking around and have leared a lot. Thank you so very much. Sincerely, Katrina
Hi Katrina: You can grow poatotoes in tires or garbage cans. Basically this is a way to contain the potato plant–to grow potatoes in limited space. This method of growing is very similar to growing potatoes in hills. To plant in a hill, you mound soil to about 3 feet across and a half foot high and then plant your seed potatoes in the hill about 6 inches apart from the center of the hill. Bury the seed potatoes under 4 to 5 inches of soil; soon the leafy vine will appear. When the vine gains some height, hill up to the top most leaves keeping the developing tubers covered; continue hilling and growing more and more tubers. You can grow potatoes in a “hill” of straw (dirtless) the very same way or in an old garbage can or in old tires. Using tires, turn the soil where you intend to plant to about 6 inches deep; add compost to the soil. Set the tire on that spot and fill it with soil and compost. Add 3 seed potatoes and cover them with soil as above. As the plants grow, add another tire and add more soil so that only the leafy tops of the growing potato vine remains visible and the growing tubers remain covered and “hilled up.” Continue until you are ready to harvest.
How do I tell if my potatoes are an early, mid or late variety? I’ve moved into a new home and there are potatoes growing everywhere, only I didn’t plant them so I don’t know if they are early, mid season or late variety…and so I don’t know when to harvest them…is there any way I can find out?
Early-season, mid-season, and late-season when it comes to potatoes refers to the number of days from planting to harvest at maturity. Early potatoes take 90 to 110 days; mid-season take 100 to 120 days, and late-season take 110 to 140 days. To know for certain if a potato is early, mid, or late, you would need to know the variety. There are many, many varieties of potatoes–some are easily identified by their size and look. You could take one of each type growing in your yard to a nearby farmers market and get a potato growers identification, or to the county extension office. You may have several varieties growing in your yard. If you live in a warm region where potatoes do not die back and live on as perennials, you could next season, count the days from flowering to harvest and know relatively certain if you are growing earlies, mids or lates. But here is the good news, you can harvest and eat any potato before maturity–these are called “new potatoes”–and at the farmers market you pay a premium for these. So enjoy the new potatoes in your garden even if you don’t know if they are earlies, mids or lates. You will know your potatoes are mature and ready for harvest when the vines yellow and die. Aim to complete your harvest before the rainy and cold season.
Early, mid or late matters not. Usually for storage potatoes are dug when the top foliage die off. But one can dig any time after the flowers have appeared. Leaving longer in the ground only allows the tubers to get larger. If you have plenty dig when you feel the spuds are large enough for your purpose. Here are a series of pictures on growing potatoes in a box. http://www.durgan.org/URL/?ZELNG 21 August 2009 How a Potato Plant Grows The pictures speak for themselves. Clearly there is no advantage in carrying out excessive hilling when growing potatoes. The purpose of hlling is to insure the tubers are covered. For comparison one Pontiac Red was dug in the same row, which was almost identical to the test box potato in appearance.
I have read over and over NOT to use super market potatoes as seed. My husband’s grandfather planted eyes ir sprouted spuds, so we thought we would try it.
This past fall, I bought bags of taters very cheaply at an outlet store. What we had not used up by early spring began to sprout in the box where they were stored in our cellar. They quickly grew into plants! I took the taters and cut each “plant” out keeping some of the original potato on it, and planted them as if they were seed potatoes. I just harvested about 50 lbs from my garden of varying sizes of beautiful red spuds.
It goes to show you, it ain’t all science, some of it is dumb luck and blessings!
Truly you have a bountiful harvest! The advice not to plant potatoes you buy from the grocery store comes from the practice of some growers and grocery chains to chemically spray potatoes to prevent the eyes from sprouting. This allows the potatoes to stay longer in storage or in the produce bin. But if the produce person is buying fresh and turning his potato inventory quickly, there is no need to chemically treat potatoes. A good place to get seed potatoes is to buy them fresh from the grower at the farmers’ market. Seed potatoes can be planted whole or cut into pieces with 2 to 3 eyes.
When is the best season to plant potatoes?
When to Plant Poatoes: Potatoes are native to the tropical highlands of South America. They are very tender and cannot tolerate frost. It’s best to plant potatoes 1 to 4 weeks before the last expected frost–this will give them plenty of time (80 to 140 frost-free days) to mature. Potatoes can tolerate cool soil but can rot in excessively cold or wet conditions. About 50 to 60 days after planting you can begin to reach down into the soil to check for new potatoes.