8 Practical Tips for Growing Potatoes

Growing potatoes in your home veggie garden is well worth the effort. Homegrown produce always seems to taste better, and it also has a higher nutritional value than what’s available at the grocery store. This post covers all the essential gardening tips about growing potatoes and what to do once harvest time arrives.

Generally speaking, potatoes are straightforward to grow. Although the exact harvest date depends on growing conditions like temperature and moisture levels, potatoes are usually ready about 60-90 days after planting.

Some gardeners choose to speed up the sprouting process by green-sprouting or chitting seed potatoes, where you sprout them indoors for transplanting. Doing so can speed up your potato harvest by up to three weeks compared to directly planting the seed pieces in the ground.

What to Know About Growing Potatoes

Proper timing is critical for growing potatoes. Planting them too early risks the new growth dying in a late spring frost. However, it’s just as imperative not to plant potatoes too late in the growing season. The plants are considerably less productive when the soil temperature exceeds 90℉, and hotter temperatures may ruin the entire crop.

The advantage of sprouting your seed potatoes ahead of planting in early spring is that they’ll be ready to harvest several weeks sooner. Thus, the risk of crop damage by adverse weather conditions, pests, or plant diseases is much lower.

For the best possible results, purchase certified disease-free seed potatoes from a reliable source. While it is possible to sprout potatoes from the supermarket, there’s a risk of inadvertently introducing plant diseases into your garden soil. Some of the most prevalent fungal and viral pathogens that affect potatoes, like scab and blight, remain in the soil for years. Furthermore, many commercially grown potatoes get sprayed with chemical sprout inhibitors before shipping to prevent their buds or eyes from developing.

How To Prepare Seed Potatoes for Planting

Store your seed potatoes in a dark, dry location where temperatures consistently remain below 40℉. Many potato varieties need a dormancy period of several months before they will sprout.

Seed potatoes must spend several weeks in warmer temperatures with moderate light levels to break dormancy.

The optimal temperature for sprouting potatoes is 70-75℉. Having a light source produces thicker, shorter, sturdier sprouts that are easier to transplant later. For the best results, place them in indirect light. Repurposed egg cartons make excellent potato holders during the sprouting process.

New sprouts begin forming from the potato buds or eyes after about a week. They’ll be ready to transplant after three or four weeks, or once the sprouts grow to at least a half-inch long.

You may notice that seed potatoes turn a bit green when they sprout. This is the result of an increase in solanine, which is a naturally occurring chemical found in all plants of the Solanaceae or nightshade family. Solanine is one of the plant’s natural defenses to protect itself during reproduction. It’s toxic to humans and animals in large quantities.

Potatoes are tubers, which means individual plants can get propagated from pieces of the mother plant’s root system. If your seed potatoes are fairly small, up to the size of a chicken egg, you can plant them whole. Cut larger seed potatoes into two or three-inch pieces that have at least three eyes. Cure them for 24-48 hours to allow a protective callus to form over the cut ends. Doing so reduces the risk of rot and other fungal diseases.

Growing Potatoes With the Hilling Method

One of the most common strategies for growing potatoes involves planting the seed pieces in a shallow trench and hilling more soil up around the plant as it grows. If you sprouted seed potatoes using the chitting technique, plant them with the sprouts facing upwards. Lightly cover them with three inches of garden soil and compost.

Soil temperature is one of the most significant factors for planting seed potatoes. The soil temperature must be over 50℉ for sprouting potatoes. Cover your planting area with a thick layer of organic compost, dark-colored mulch, or a black tarp one week before spring planting to warm the soil.

Once your potato plants reach six to eight inches tall, bury their stems with a blend of compost, peat moss, and garden soil so that only the top few leaves are above the soil level. Repeat this process three or four times throughout the growing season whenever the plants grow six to eight inches above the ground.

For the best results, hill potato plants before their stems grow too long and begin flopping over. Most potato tubers form above the plant’s main root system and along the buried stems.

This method works well for both traditional and raised bed gardens. Some growers reinforce the hills with bricks, wire mesh, or old tires to protect against water and wind erosion.

Growing Potatoes in Containers

If you’re short on garden space or don’t have a garden plot or raised beds at home, don’t worry. Growing potatoes in grow bags or pots is super simple. Use a container that’s a minimum of 16 inches tall and wide and has at least a ten-gallon capacity. That way, the plants will have enough space to develop healthy tubers.

Pour five or six inches of rich potting soil into the bottom of your container and arrange the seed pieces so they’re at least six inches apart. Then, cover them with three more inches of soil. As the plants develop, gradually fill the rest of your container with lightweight, organic material according to the instructions described above.

Growing Potatoes in Straw Bales

Another easy method for growing potatoes utilizes straw bales instead of soil. This approach has several advantages: it’s less messy and more space-efficient. You can also harvest new potatoes without damaging the main root system.

Choose a spot for your straw bales that gets full sun and has adequate drainage for when water runs through the straw. For two or three days before planting, thoroughly saturate your straw bales with a garden hose sprayer once each morning. Next, spread one cup of bone meal over the hay bales’ tops before soaking them with the hose. Repeat for the next two or three days, and allow the bale to dry in the sun all day after saturating it.

After seven to ten days, the straw bale will start to compost itself from inside, creating an ideal space for planting seed potatoes. To check whether your bales are ready, pull apart some of the layers of straw and feel the center. The bale heats up during the composting process, but it should cool down after about a week. If the inside is still hot to the touch, wait several more days for it to cool more.

Plant seed potatoes four to six inches deep inside the hay bale spaced six to ten inches apart. Four potato plants typically fill one hay bale. After placing all the seed pieces, replace the straw over the bale’s top.

Keep your straw bale planters consistently watered, and avoid allowing the center to dry out completely. The plants also require more frequent fertilization, since they cannot absorb nutrients from the earth. Feed your potato plants with an organic, water-soluble fertilizer weekly.

Optimal Growing Conditions for Potato Plants

Potatoes are an excellent cool-season crop. They grow best with full sun and consistent soil moisture. Potato plants need an average of one to two inches of water per week. When you notice the leaves start turning yellow, stop watering to cure your potatoes before harvesting.

Potato plants grow best between 60-70℉. In hot weather over 80℉, the tubers may turn woody or discolored. During especially dry or hot periods, give the plants extra water to reduce heat damage.

Choosing the Right Soil and Fertilizer for Growing Potatoes

For the best possible results, grow potatoes in loose, well-draining soil that’s free from large rocks and other obstacles. Since the plants are heavy feeders, add several inches of organic compost or well-rotted manure to your garden soil in late winter or early spring.

Potato plants favor mildly acidic soil with a pH level between 5.0 and 6.5. Adding alfalfa or cottonseed meal, coffee grounds, greensand, sphagnum peat moss, or pine sawdust to your garden soil gradually lowers the pH level and provides essential micronutrients. Other beneficial soil amendments for growing potatoes include bone meal, Epsom salts, and kelp meal.

If you’re growing potatoes in containers or large grow bags, use a potting soil mixture that’s rich in organic matter. Look for a slow-release organic fertilizer with a higher level of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) than nitrogen.

Harvesting and Storing Homegrown Potatoes

New potatoes, also called baby potatoes, get harvested before they’re fully mature. They have a higher moisture content, more tender skin, and taste sweeter. Harvest new potatoes seven to ten days after the first flowers bloom. Be careful when digging around the plants’ roots and harvest the larger potatoes with clean, sharp pruning shears. Leave the smaller ones to continue growing.

Harvest mature potatoes about two weeks after the leaves start to die back. Check the variety-specific planting recommendations to determine whether you’re growing early, mid, or late-season potatoes.

Gently dig up the potato tubers with a trowel or garden fork. If you have dry weather, cure them outdoors for two to three days. In wet weather, cure your potato harvest in a sheltered area like a covered porch or garage.

Leave most of the dirt on the outside of your potatoes for storage. Keep them in a location that’s dark, dry, and consistently below 40℉. For more helpful tips on keeping your homegrown potatoes fresh, check out this article from Oregon State University.

Certain varieties store better than others. For example, French fingerling and russet potatoes will keep for several months when stored properly. However, you should use heirloom Yukon Gold and other thin-skinned potato varieties within a few weeks of harvesting.

Solutions for Common Pest and Disease Problems

Potatoes are generally easy to grow. However, there are several pest and disease issues to watch out for. Prevention is always the best remedy. Make sure to plant potatoes in nutrient-rich soil and give them adequate amounts of water and sunlight. Stressed plants are more vulnerable to attacks from pests and pathogens.

Colorado potato beetles frequently attack potato plants, and they’re found throughout North America. The adult insects are yellow with black stripes, and their larvae are orange with black spots. They eat potato flowers and foliage and lay large clusters of bright orange eggs on the leaves’ undersides. Other potato pests include aphids, cutworms, and flea beetles, which also feed on flowers, foliage, and stems. Protect the young plants from cutworms and other soil-borne pests with foil collars throughout the spring and early summer. For severe insect infestations, spray all plant parts with an organic insecticide like insecticidal soap or neem oil.

Regular crop rotation helps to prevent plant diseases. Soil-borne pathogens often persist for several years. Therefore, planting different types of crops that aren’t susceptible to the same types of diseases in each garden area every few years is beneficial. Doing so also helps keep nutrient levels more balanced.

Early and late blight are some of the most commonplace plant diseases that affect potatoes. These fungal diseases kill off the plants’ foliage. If you catch it early enough, spray with copper fungicide. Mosaic virus, which commonly gets spread by aphids, results in the plants’ leaves curling and discoloration, and often a diminished harvest. However, it doesn’t usually kill the plant. Unfortunately, there are no known treatments, so it’s best to plant disease-resistant varieties.

Get a head start on growing spuds this year, and chit your seed potatoes four to six weeks before you’re ready to plant them outdoors. Planting sprouted potatoes allows you to harvest them up to two weeks earlier and reduces the risk of pest and disease problems. This technique also works well for growing sweet potatoes. When considering how to plant sprouted potatoes, take care not to break the delicate sprouts when transplanting.

Do you have any recommendations or questions about growing potatoes? If you enjoyed learning how to grow potatoes, please share these gardening tips with your fellow green thumbs.