Planting time potatoes
Growing Potatoes: Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Potatoes
The taste and texture of homegrown potatoes are far superior to those of store-bought spuds! Garden “taters” also provide a bounty of nutrients. Here’s how to grow and harvest potatoes in your home garden.
About Potatoes
The potato (Solanum tuberosum) is a member of the nightshade family, which includes tomato, pepper, and eggplant. This cool-weather vegetable typically yields bigger crops in the northern portion of the U.S., however, they can be grown as a winter crop in warmer climates.
The edible part of the potato is the underground “tuber” which is an enlarged underground storage portion of the potato plant. The tuber develops from underground stems called stolons once the plants are 6 to 8 inches tall, or around 5 to 7 weeks after planting.
Potatoes are an ancient vegetable that was first documented by the Incas in Peru. According to the Maine Potato Board, this vegetable arrived in the American Colonies in 1621 when the Governor of Bermuda sent potatoes to the Governor of Virginia at Jamestown.
Now America’s #1 vegetable, potatoes are a fat-free, cholesterol-free source of carbohydrates (energy). But it’s the skin that you should not discard; the skin provides 45% of your daily vitamin C and 18% of potassium, as well as thiamin, riboflavin, folate, niacin, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, and zinc.
Learn more about planting potatoes below.
Planting
Plant potatoes in a sunny place with at least 6 hours of directly sunlight each day. The tubers need to grow in fertile, loose, well-drained soil; hard or compacted soil leads to misshapen tubers. Ideally, soil is slightly acid (pH 5.8 to 6.5) and the soil temperature is at least 45º to 55ºF (7° to 13°C). Before planting (preferably in the fall), mix compost or organic matter into the soil. Learn more about compost, soil amendments, and preparing soil for planting.)
When to Plant Potatoes
Garden potatoes can be planted as soon as the soil can be worked. For many gardeners, this is about 2 weeks after the last spring frost.
But aware that early crops may be ruined by soil that’s too wet as the potato seeds will rot. 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, some gardeners will plant the first crop of “early-maturing” potatoes in early to mid-April, 6 to 8 weeks before the average last frost date. These varieties can withstand frost.
In warmer regions, potatoes can be grown as a winter crop and planting times range from September to February. Where winters are relatively mild, you can plant a fall crop in September. For example, 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
Note: Potatoes are usually planted in the ground, but they also can be grown in large containers or baskets.
The same planting information applies.
Use certified (disease-resistant) seed potatoes from which eyes (buds) protrude. (Do not confuse seed potatoes with potato seeds or grocery produce.
- One to 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.
Preparing seed potatoes for planting. Photo by tanyss/Getty Images.
- Potatoes grow best in rows about 3 feet apart. With a hoe or round-point shovel, dig a trench row about 6 inches wide and 8 inches deep. Taper the bottom to about 3 inches wide. Spread and mix in aged manure, compost, and/or leaves.
- In each trench, place a seed potato piece cut side down every 12 to 14 inches and cover with 3 to 4 inches of soil.
- In 12 to 16 days after planting, when sprouts appear, use a hoe to gently fill in the trench with another 3 to 4 inches of soil, leaving a few inches of the plants exposed. Repeat as they grow (in several weeks), until the trench is at ground level.
- Mulch between rows to conserve moisture, control weeds, and cool the soil.
for a bumper crop |
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Knowing when to plant potatoes is important to ensure a good harvest. A cook's staple, potatoes can be grown in most soil types provided they have a sunny spot. Potatoes can also be grown in bags or in pots on a patio if you do not have an area of open ground. They’re also relatively easy to care for, which makes them a perfect vegetable for beginners to grow.
There's a huge variety of potatoes you can grow from fast-growing early varieties such as 'Swift' that provide small new potatoes in summer, to maincrops like the popular 'King Edward' that can be stored for the winter months.
With some planning and successive planting you can be harvesting and enjoying potatoes from June right through to Christmas.
If you're learning how to grow potatoes knowing when to plant them is key, and this is the lowdown.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
When to plant potatoes
As with knowing when to plant vegetables in general, when you plant potatoes will depend on your climate, soil conditions and the estimated date of the last frosts in your area. Potatoes are not hardy plants, so in general they are planted in spring from mid March to late April and can be harvested anywhere between June and October. In milder regions potatoes may be planted earlier than in colder regions.
'In general, potato plants are usually planted two to three weeks before the last frost date,’ says gardening expert Mary Jane Duford , known for her step-by-step guides. ‘The plants take about two to three weeks to sprout up above the soil, meaning that the timing works out so that potato plants sprout outdoors around the time of the local last frost date.
'
Before planting potatoes you can give them a head start by 'chitting' them. This is a process which encourages seed potatoes to develop shoots before they are planted. To do this lay the seed potatoes in trays (you could use egg boxes) with their eyes pointing upwards and place the trays in a cool, light, frost-free place. In northern latitudes chitting is generally done six weeks before planting.
Potato seeds are ready to plant when the shoots are about three-quarters of an inch (2cm) long but they can be planted at any length, and they’re ideal as potato companion plants alongside flowers for beneficial effects.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
What is the best month to plant potatoes?
When you plant potatoes will depend on your climate and growing zone, but it will also depend on what type you are looking to grow.
Potatoes are split into three types depending on how long they take to mature: first early, second early and maincrops.
First early potatoes: plant in mid-to late March ready for harvesting in June or July
Second earlies: plant early to mid April for lifting in July or August
Maincrop varieties: plant in mid to late April and harvest in August for immediate use or lift in September/October for storing.
'Gardeners in the south usually plant potatoes in mid to late February. March to April are the most common planting months for potatoes in temperate regions. Gardeners in particularly cold climates may have to wait until May to plant potatoes,' explains Mary Jane Duford.
(Image credit: Miracle-gro)
Tips on when to plant potatoes
While looking at calendars can be a useful guide for planning when to plant potatoes, it is important to pay attention to the weather, in particular the temperature of your soil. 'Early (or 'new') potatoes are best planted as soon as the ground is ready in March or April. “Ready” means workable and not cold to touch,' explains gardening expert Monty Don, author of The Complete Gardener .
To help you determine when the soil is ready consider buying a soil thermometer, suggest the gardening experts at glasshouse makers Hartley Botanic . 'Even potatoes have a temperature requirement of 43°F (6°C) at a 4 inch depth at least three days before planting,' they explain.
Early potatoes are likely to sprout above the surface of the soil before the frosts have passed; in this case they will need to be 'earthed up' to help protect the plants from frost damage. This is where soil is mounded up around the plants leaving all but the tips exposed. Earthing up also stops the growing tubers from turning green and encourages a larger crop.
(Image credit: RHS/Paul Debois)
How late can you plant potatoes?
If you’re wondering when to plant potatoes later on in the year, be aware that they are best planted in spring, but can be planted as late as mid-summer for a small crop of early or 'new' potatoes. Generally early potatoes will be ready to lift 10 to 13 weeks after planting while maincrop varieties mature in around 22 weeks. Potatoes planted in summer will not need chitting.
'While the overall production will be diminished, you could certainly plant potatoes as late as July for a small harvest of new potatoes in September-October,' says Mary Jane Duford.
Similarly, Monty Don, writing in The Complete Gardener , has said of his early potatoes that he has, 'planted as late as the second week in June and still got a decent crop’.
(Image credit: Andrew Shaylor / Getty Images)
Can you grow potatoes all year round?
Potatoes can be grown outdoors all year round in warm climates such as in their native region of South America, but in northern latitudes with shorter growing seasons they are best planted in spring and harvested from June to October.
'Even in their native growing environment, potatoes follow an annual lifecycle of growth-harvest in which growth is aligned with the longest days of the year in terms of sunshine,' says Mary Jane Duford.
Pippa is Content Editor on Homes & Gardens online contributing to Period Living and Country Homes & Interiors print issues. A graduate of Art History and formerly Style Editor at Period Living, she is passionate about architecture, creating decorating content, interior styling and writing about craft and historic homes.
She enjoys searching out beautiful images and the latest trends to share with the Homes & Gardens audience. A keen gardener, when she’s not writing you’ll find her growing flowers on her village allotment for styling projects.
Favorable days of landing on the lunar calendar
Useful information on potatoes
| Planting periods | 1 - 10 (in some cases - from April 25 to June 10) |
| Scheme of landing | 50x50 cm, 60x30 cm, 60x30 cm |
| Tuber depth | 10 - 15 cm |
| Predecessors | • good - peas, beans, cucumbers, onions, carrots; • bad - potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants |
| Place | Well-lit area |
How to determine the timing of planting in your region
landing for it is standard throughout Central Russia - from May 1 to May 10.
Tuber sprouts appear from the ground on about the 20th day, at the very end of May - at this time frosts are unlikely. But even if the temperature drops below 0 ° C, potatoes are easy to save - just spud them up with their heads. And when it warms up - unwind.
Potatoes can be planted in the southern regions after 25 April. And the latest date for planting potatoes is June 10. But in this case, only early varieties can be planted - mid-ripening and late ones will not have time to ripen.
How to prepare tubers for planting
Many summer residents do not bother with preliminary preparation of tubers - they take them out of the cellar and immediately plant them. But the result is always sad - the harvest is small, the tubers are small, and the potatoes get sick during the summer.
Therefore, preliminary preparation should not be neglected.
What does it include?
Rejection. Rotting, scab-ridden, too long or pear-shaped, cracked, discolored tubers are all unsuitable for planting. Ideal tubers should be even, weighing 50 - 80 g (the size of a chicken egg).
Germination. It is necessary for the seedlings to be friendly and strong. There are several ways to germinate tubers, but the easiest is to take potatoes out of the cellar 40 to 50 days (1) before planting and put them in a warm, bright room. At the same time, the tubers turn green, solanine accumulates in them, and it protects them from diseases.
Disease treatment.
It is useful to treat germinated potato tubers before planting with a solution of boric acid and copper sulfate (1 g per 10 liters of water). Consumption: 1.5 - 1.8 liters of solution per 100 kg of tubers. Then the tubers are dusted with ash at the rate of 0.5 kg per 100 kg of planting material.
How to grow potatoes from seedlings
This method is used to propagate valuable and expensive varieties whose seed tubers are sold by the piece.
Sprouted tubers in late April - early May are tightly laid out in boxes in one row and covered with a layer of wet peat or humus 3 - 4 cm thick. The boxes are placed in a bright place with a temperature of 18 - 20 °C.
At the end of May, the tubers are removed from the boxes, the sprouts with roots are separated, they are immediately planted on the beds and well watered. Single sprouts will eventually produce fewer tubers from the bush, but in general there will be more from the seed potato plot.
Auspicious days for planting potatoes for seedlings according to the lunar calendar: April 21 - 22, 25 - 26, May 2 - 4, 7 - 10.
How to plant potatoes
Photo: pixabay.comPotato planting scheme - 50 x 50 cm or 60 x 30 - 35 cm (2). Holes are dug on a spade bayonet. 1 tuber is placed in each, being careful not to break the sprouts. The holes are then covered with soil. After all the potatoes are planted, the plot is harrowed with a rake.
A little trick: if you put 1 tbsp. a spoonful of double superphosphate, there will be no wireworm.
The best precursors for potatoes are cabbage and table root crops. But after tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and other plants of the Solanaceae family, potatoes cannot be planted - they have common diseases (3).
Favorable days for planting potatoes according to the lunar calendar: April 25-26, May 2-4, May 7-10.
Tips for caring for potatoes
Potato care is not difficult, all it needs is watering and hilling.
Watering Potatoes are watered only 2 times during the summer: immediately after germination and during flowering.
This is more than enough to form a good harvest even in arid regions. Additional watering will not bring benefits, on the contrary, they can cause the tubers to start to hurt and be poorly stored. If they don't rot at all.
Hilling. It is necessary because in many varieties the tubers come out as they grow. And they turn green, accumulating toxic solanine in themselves.
The first hilling is done when the plants reach a height of 15 - 20 cm - the earth is poured to the shoots up to the first leaves. Then over the summer they make another 2 - 3 hilling. As a result, the ridge should be 15 - 20 cm.
Popular questions and answers
We talked about planting potatoes with agronomist-breeder Svetlana Mikhailova - she answered the most frequent questions of summer residents.
Is it possible to plant cut potato tubers?
Usually large tubers are cut in half - this is quite acceptable, however, increases the risk of fungal infections.
Therefore, it is necessary to cut the tubers not before planting, but in advance - 2 to 3 days in advance, so that the pulp is ventilated. And before planting, it is useful to powder the sections with ash - it will additionally protect against diseases.
But it is still better to plant whole tubers the size of a chicken egg.
Should potatoes be greened before planting?
This is not a mandatory procedure, but it is very useful. In the light, solanine is formed in the tubers - this is a toxic substance, not only for people, but also for soil pests. And solanine reduces the risk of contracting fungal diseases.
Is it possible to grow potatoes from seeds?
After flowering, the potatoes form green berries from which seeds ripen. It is quite possible to grow potatoes from them, however, very small nodules are formed in the first year. A normal harvest can be obtained only in the second year.
The taco method is good because it will allow you to get clean, uninfected planting material.
Sources
- Fisenko A.N., Serpukhovitina K.A., Stolyarov A.I. Garden. Handbook // Rostov-on-Don, Rostov University Press, 1994 - 416 p.
- Yakubovskaya L.D., Yakubovsky V.N., Rozhkova L.N. ABC of a summer resident // Minsk, OOO "Orakul", OOO Lazurak, IPKA "Publicity", 1994 - 415 p.
- Group of authors, ed. Polyanskoy A.M. and Chulkova E.I. Tips for gardeners // Minsk, Harvest, 1970 - 208 p.
When and how to plant potatoes: expert advice
How to harvest a high yield of potatoes? The cultivation of this culture has its own characteristics, the knowledge of which is indispensable. How to plant potatoes correctly, the editors of the site tvtomsk.ru learned in the Agrarian Center of the Tomsk Region.
Variety selection
Getting high yields of potatoes largely depends on the right variety. Well-known varieties, for example, "blue-eye", of course, are very tasty, but are unstable to almost all types of potato diseases.
Experts note that late varieties have higher yields, but even a very good variety should not be planted for more than 8 or 10 years. It must be replaced by a new one.
The most common varieties of potatoes among the population of the Tomsk region: Nevsky, Zhukovsky early, In memory of Rogachev, Nakra, Rosara, Lina, Fresco, Antonina, Lyubava, Solnechny, Ketsky, Safo, Anniversary, Charm, Tomich, Sante, Ideal, Karatop, Feloks , Adretta, Lugovskoy, Tuleevsky, Udalets, Rozhdestvensky, Zekura.
Preparing the soil and potatoes for planting
The soil for potatoes for next year is already being prepared at the end of this summer. For digging, you can add urea, ammonium nitrate, double granular superphosphate or potassium salt.
Pure tubers should weigh between 55 and 100 grams. It is recommended to warm the tubers to room temperature for 3 days, then spread them out on the windowsill, in low boxes or on the floor near the window, so that the tubers get a little daylight.
Potatoes can be treated with copper sulphate, Energen, Buton or Agricola Vegeta biostimulants.
If the tubers are thick, strong and short shoots, they can be planted. Large potatoes should be cut with a knife so that at least 2 sprouts are located on the cut parts. Dry them for 2 days, then proceed to planting.
Planting potatoes
Potatoes are best planted after cucumbers, radishes, radishes, beans, green peas and green manure. It should not be placed after tomato and eggplant.
Potatoes should only be planted when the soil is warm to 8°C. Stick to a planting depth of 9-10 cm. Early varieties should be planted in early May. Plant mid-season potatoes in the 10th of May.
Planting methods
1. Smooth method. Plant the vegetable by spreading the potatoes in the furrow. The best potato growth is seen when the distance between the bushes is 65-70 cm and the aisles are wide. Row spacing and hilling should be loosened a week after planting.
2. Comb method. Cut the ridges with a tractor cultivator or walk-behind tractor. Plant potatoes 8 cm on loamy soils and 11 cm on sandy soils. It should be moderately moist, loose and free of weeds. Potato hilling is carried out when the plant is 15-17 cm in height.
When plants develop slowly, remember to feed them and water them regularly. Weak development can be recognized by the state of the tops. For example, if there is not enough nitrogen, then there will be thin stems and small leaves, and the tops of a light green color.
End each watering by loosening the soil. When watering, keep the watering can close to the ground. The water temperature must be greater than the soil temperature.
Potato fertilizers
Organic fertilizers are the most valuable for potatoes. Not completely rotted manure is valid for 2-4 years. Manure that has decomposed to humus is 4 times more saturated with nitrogen than fresh manure. Therefore, it is better to choose rotten manure for fertilizer.
It is also recommended to use slurry with water or humus. Use wood ash for digging, add to top dressing and to holes.
How to properly store potatoes
Store potatoes in a cool, dry and well ventilated area. During storage, the main thing is not to let the tubers germinate or rot. Potatoes go bad especially in the spring.
Protection against pests and diseases
Diseases and pests of potatoes reduce its yield and quality of tubers. The main fungal diseases of this crop are early rot and late blight. Of the insects, the Colorado potato beetle and wireworms cause the greatest harm.
Late blight
The most common fungal disease of potatoes. It affects leaves, stems and tubers. On the surface of the tuber, brownish-grayish depressed spots are formed, inside it is painted in a rusty-brown color. The fungus enters the tubers during the harvesting period. The disease spreads in damp, moderately warm weather. To prevent the development of the disease, after harvesting, all affected plant residues are removed from the site and destroyed.
When the first signs of disease appear, the plants are sprayed 90% solution of copper oxychloride.
Colorado potato beetle control
One of the methods of pest control in private farms is the cultivation of resistant potato varieties. The Colorado potato beetle affects the following varieties less: Pomegranate, Crystal, Lasunok, Spark, Loshitsky, Temp. Chemical control remains the most effective method of dealing with the beetle. Plants are usually treated when there are more than 15 larvae per plant in the plantings. For the first treatments, it is better to use insecticides such as Commander and Iskra Zolotaya - they provide protection for 20 days.
Wireworm control
Wireworm lives in the ground and damages stolons, roots, stem bases and especially tubers. Helps in the fight against wireworm early autumn digging of the soil. Deep loosening in the spring and summer contributes to the destruction of the larvae. Liming of acidic soils has an effective effect.
