Potatoes!

Angel
Angel Posts: 61 ✭✭✭
edited October 2020 in Vegetables

I have failed for three years at growing potatoes. I tried containers for the first two years. This year, I did a row, but I think the soil I got was not good. Does anyone have tips on how to grow potatoes, either in containers or in the ground?

Comments

  • judsoncarroll4
    judsoncarroll4 Posts: 5,490 admin

    You can grow them in a trash can. You start maybe half full of good soil, then keep adding soil "hilling them up" until the end of the season, when it is full to the top....then dig out all the potatoes. It is crazy how many will grow in there! Some folks use old tires the same way... but some folks say they are toxic.. I don't know.

  • kbmbillups1
    kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,391 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I have not been able to grow them either. @judsoncarroll4 I'll have to try a trash can next spring. My main issue are squirrels. I'm not sure why they dig them up but I find them in the woods in my backyard.

  • marjstratton
    marjstratton Posts: 1,132 ✭✭✭✭

    We just harvested our potatoes today. Very small crop. The year that we had a good crop, we laid the seed potatoes on the ground and covered them with grass clipping. As the plants grew taller, we added more clippings. Mulch would also work. Some people have problems with rodents getting their potatoes using that method. A trash can should help with that problem,

  • SherryA
    SherryA Posts: 314 ✭✭✭

    I grew potatoes for the first time this summer. The potatoes are perfect and very tasty, but they are also very small. I think I didn't water them enough. For potato experts out there - is that a possible cause of small potato crop?

  • greyfurball
    greyfurball Posts: 591 ✭✭✭✭

    Potatoes are not that difficult but they do need a few things to be right or you won't get any or much harvest. So here is a list of what I do and I always seem to get a decent harvest.

    1. Get virus-free seed potatoes, not grocery store potatoes. Virus free means your crop isn't going to end up with one of the three problem diseases common to potatoes. It's worth the extra expense.
    2. When you are ready to plant, prepare the soil. The dirt must be loose and crumbly at least 8-10" down. Potatoes like just neutral soil (somewhere around 5.75 to 7 pH)
    3. Small potatoes can be planted as is as long as there is at least two eyes on the potato (this gives you a better chance for that plant to mature)
    4. Larger potatoes can be cut down, again keeping at least two eyes
    5. The cut potatoes need to be air-cured a couple of days (longer if it is humid). Just cut them up and place them on a table on top of newspaper, paper towels, a towel etc. so the cut side is exposed to the air. This helps the potato to not decompose once it is in the ground from moisture and rain.
    6. Plant the sections about 4" down in your soil (the eyes must face up) and cover with soil. Tamp down to help prevent wildlife "attacks" to your bed. If you are prone to wildlife attacks, just lay something across your bed for now (like insect cover, organic straw, lightweight fabric, some burlap) If you can remove any fabric that does not let the sun shine through during the day)
    7. Now you just wait. Once the plants start coming up and they are about 4" tall, side dress every plant with a mound of dirt about 6" wide around the plant. As your plant grows, the plant will continue to send out new root systems which will give you more potatoes. If you do not side dress, you will get a few potatoes in your initial 8"soil but little else. Potatoes do not continue growing down, they produce as they grow up.
    8. Keep side-dressing with more soil as the plant continues to grow.
    9. Water - plants need at least one inch of water per week. If it's very hot, water twice that week. Potatoes (the actual spud) grows when they get moisture. No moisture=no continued growth until it gets more moisture. So you determine how much harvest you get by how much moisture you give them.
    10. Fertilization - if you use fertilizer follow the package label. If you don't use commercial fertilizer, I just throw a few handfuls of compost in with my mounding soil each time I add side-dressing.
    11. As the plant is reaching maturity you will see the plant is dying back (turning brown). You didn't do anything wrong. The plant is just showing you it has reached its maturity. You can harvest small (new) potatoes now or just leave the plant there and let it continue to die back. The longer the spuds stay underground and they get the right moisture your potatoes will grow bigger.
    12. Just a few things to watch for... potato bugs. Knock them off the plant with a jar lid letting the bug fall into warm soapy water. It will kill them. To prevent the disease which can affect potatoes, never plant them in the same bed next year where you had tomatoes, peppers, eggplant etc.. These are all in the same plant family susceptible to the same diseases. By moving these to different areas all the time you lose the risk of getting a soil-borne disease started in your soil which affects these plants.
    13. That's it!
  • Michelle D
    Michelle D Posts: 1,465 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I grew potatoes for the first time this summer also. And like @SherryA I didn't water them enough. My potatoes were very small. I saved some as seed potatoes for next year. The ones that we ate did taste good. I have an issue here with squirrels trying to take them. I keep them away by sprinkling used coffee grounds around the area that I'm using to plant. They really don't like the smell. I usually put out more grounds every 2 weeks or after a heavy rain. I like the trash can idea. I was testing microclimates this year so I planted potatoes in 3 different places. The ones that I put in grow bags definitely did far better than the other.

  • VermontCathy
    VermontCathy Posts: 1,987 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Also, potatoes grow very well under mulch. I use leaf mulch, but other mulches would probably work.

    And on greyfurball's (2) above, yes -- don't lime your potatoes! I made this mistake once and was rewearded with scab. :-( Potatoes really don't do well in alkaline soil.

  • dipat2005
    dipat2005 Posts: 1,290 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I too had no luck 3 years running. One year I got the smallest marble sized potatoes and we enjoyed those. One year I got 3 average sized potatoes and I have had a larger potato but that is all. I would love to be able to grow potatoes but I don't know where I would put a garbage can since I don't have much space in ground around my apartment. Anything that is loose is stolen-even a light bulb from my back porch. I decided a light bulb wasn't important. @Judson Carroll what can you suggest that I might be able to sink into an 11" wide space for a potato container?

    @greyfurball thank you for all of your great tips.

  • SherryA
    SherryA Posts: 314 ✭✭✭

    @greyfurball That's very helpful. Thank you!

  • kbmbillups1
    kbmbillups1 Posts: 1,391 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Thanks @greyfurball I saved your directions on my computer so I have them for next spring.

  • greyfurball
    greyfurball Posts: 591 ✭✭✭✭

    @dipat2005 you ask about what is available for an 11" space... If you wish to purchase something the new potato bags many companies are now carrying come in all different sizes. Those work well.

    But remember, the more soil you can give your plants thru side-dressing means the bigger your harvest will be. So an 11" diameter bag is not going to be very tall either which means you are eliminating your chances for a bigger harvest. Do you have any space where you can eliminate another pot so you can use both spaces? It would be easy to place radishes (a fast grower) and spinach (a slow grower) in the same pot so if you grow both of those combine two pots and make just one. That would give you more space for a bigger potato patch. There is lots of other veges you can combine in one pot also which could eliminate that second pot for you.

    Also, remember, there is other containers you can use for your potato patch also. A tall kitchen trash can (preferably not plastic because it holds in too much heat), a paper bag which is doubled up could be used, a bushel or half bushel basket... just look around and see what you can come up with.

    Any enclosed container though, make sure you put in one small drainage hole in the bottom because you don't want to get the container too wet or all your potatoes will rot as they grow.

  • frogvalley
    frogvalley Posts: 675 ✭✭✭✭

    On the "really out there" spectrum: I couldn't grow potatoes, tomatoes or any nightshades for years. Then I found out I was allergic to them. Once I knew that and didn't grow them for my consumption, they will now grow for me. Odd - I know! There are those who say what you need will grow near you. It is certainly nice and easy for me to believe that the Universe is taking care of me by not letting things grow either.

  • dipat2005
    dipat2005 Posts: 1,290 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @greyfurball thank you for the great ideas. I will think about this during the winter while I am planning. I appreciate the information. It is 11 inches wide and then a long space close to the building with dirt. Next year the rose bush will be out and I want to take out the old soil and add more soil. Is it better for potatoes to have a northern exposure or an eastern exposure?

  • greyfurball
    greyfurball Posts: 591 ✭✭✭✭

    @dipat2005 potatoes like sun so planting them on a northern side will give them more than the eastern side.

    East gets morning sun only and then is usually done for the day as the sun rises. The north side will get it longer. But to be sure, before you plant, just spend one or two days and pick a day and walk outside and check where the shadows are in the two spots you are thinking of. I mapped out my whole yard about five years ago ( I checked once every 3 hours starting at 9AM) so I know where my sun parts/shade parts. and partial shade spots are.

  • ltwickey
    ltwickey Posts: 369 ✭✭✭

    Thank you all for the information. I will definitely try the trash can plan.

  • Angel
    Angel Posts: 61 ✭✭✭

    Thanks, everyone, for all of the useful tips! I may try again next spring. (Well, who am I kidding? When I see seed potatoes at our local Feed and Seed, I will end up buying them!)

  • dipat2005
    dipat2005 Posts: 1,290 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @greyfurball thank you for the answer to my question. Mapping sounds like a great idea.

  • MelissaLynne
    MelissaLynne Posts: 205 ✭✭✭

    We planted a section of potatoes further from the house this year and then completely neglected them. Despite having very little water and quite a bit of deer grazing on them we have lots of little potatoes. If we had given them some attention I bet we would’ve had great production. Thanks for the info on side dressing!