How To Grow Potatoes
2011-02-20 at 12:17 pm pshipley
How To Grow Potatoes
Welcome to our guide on How To Grow Potatoes. Growing potatoes is relatively easy and they are probably the most popular home grown vegetable. Potatoes are classed as tender perennials that grow to a height of around 60cm and are grown for their edible underground tubers. There are very many different varieties with varying shapes and sizes of tuber. They are a cool season crop and grow best at temperatures of 16-18C.
Potatoes are basically divided into three groups, first earlies, second earlies and maincrop. Sometimes a fourth division is made between early and late maincrops. First and second earlies are varieties that form tubers early and are usually harvested while the leaves are green but can be left a little later. Most earlies do not usually crop as heavily as later maincrop.
Soil For growing Potatoes
Potatoes can be grown on most soils, but prefer deep ,well drained, moisture retentive medium loam soil. Heavy soils and light soils are less suitable but can be improved by adding organic matter. It is better to add the organic matter in the previous year before sowing, but if added just prior to sowing you should use well rotted compost / manure.
How To Plant Potatoes
Potatoes are grown from small tubers or seed potatoes. (See Our Seed Potatoes Guide). You should use specially raised seed potatoes from a reputable supplier that are certified disease free. Before planting, `seed` potatoes are left to start sprouting (chitting up) so they produce healthy shoots, or chits, ideally 2-4cm before planting. To chit potatoes put them in a cool, bright frost free window.
Planting times vary according to the variety, as do planting distance between plants and rows so please check with your `seed` provider for this information. When learning how to grow potatoes it is worth remembering that there are 5 ways to plant potatoes, trench method, holes, lazy bed, polythene sheets and under cover. Choose whichever system suits you and your vegetable garden the best.
The Trench Method – Dig a 15cm deep, flat-bottomed trench, line it with straw or dried grass, or compost. Place tubers, correctly spaced along trench, and then fill the trench.
Holes - Using a trowel, dig a 15cm deep hole for each `seed` and carefully place it in the hole and re-fill the hole.
Lazy Bed – Place the `seed` upright, just below the soil level and then use a hoe to draw soil from either side to form a ridge over them. This is a good method for poorly drained soils.
Polythene Sheets – Plant the `seed` just below the soil level and cover with a sheet of black polythene about 60cm wide, it may be beneficial to add slug pellets under the sheet. Make slits in the polythene just above the `seed` for the foliage to break through. Weight the sheet down. The tubers form just below or at the surface and the sheet is lifted when it is time to harvest. This method removes the need to hoe or earth up.
Under Cover – Potatoes can be grown in cold-frames, greenhouses or in pots or even sacks. A 20cm pot will be large enough to take a `seed`. Half fill a pot then plant the `seed` add soil as the plant grows. When there is a good root ball and tubers forming harvest some replace the plant and more will form.
Cultivation Of Potatoes
As plants start to grow and form rosettes of leaves, hoe between them, take care not to damage the underground shoots. The tubers form just under or at the surface, where they can be affected by light, which makes them turn green and become inedible, so to protect them we use a method called earthing up. When the plants reach a height of around 15-20cm, draw up soil from either side of the plant to form a ridge. This helps to keep the foliage upright and protect the tubers from the light.
Keep well watered and with larger, taller growing varieties it may be worth supporting the foliage so that it doesn`t break under it`s own weight or in heavy winds.
Keep an eye out for:-
Potato Blight – Dark brown patches / blotches on leaves and drooping foliage.
Common Scab – Scabs on skins and foliage.
Eel Worms – Stunted plants with thin weak stems.
Harvesting and Storing Potatoes
Knowing how to grow potatoes and growing potatoes is one thing but you also need to know when and how to harvest your potatoes.
With earlies, lift when the flowers begin to wilt.
Lift maincrops when the leaves turn yellow. Check a few tubers first to check they are ready before lifting lots! Leave healthy maincrops in the ground as long as possible. In autumn, trim off the foliage around 5cm above ground then lift tubers a fortnight later.
Where possible dry tubers in the sun for 2 hours then place them in dry sacks and store in a dark, cool, frost-free location, where they should last for up to 6 months.
Suggested Potato Varieties
First Early – `Accent`, `Maris Bard`, `Concorde`, or `Aaron Pilot`.
Second Early – `Estima`, `Craig Alliance`,`Marfona`, or `Kondor`.
Maincrop – `Maris Piper`, King Edward`, `Nicola`, or `Desiree`.
Click here to buy TOP QUALITY SEED POTATOES now!
Thank you for reading our simple How To Grow Potatoes guide, why not check out our other vegetable growing guides and articles from the menu on the right side of the page. Good luck growing potatoes!
[...] To learn How To Grow Potatoes visit our How To Grow Potatoes Guide. [...]
are patoes that come to the top of ground poision
Hi Billy, potatoes that come to the surface will turn green in the light, I certainly wouldn`t be tempted to eat one of these…this is why we earth potatoes up (raise the soil up against the plant). This keeps any forming potatoes covered so they grow properly, unaffected by light, it also gives some stability to the plant itself.