Step 1
Potatoes require well - drained , slenderly sandy territory for thrive . This type of grunge is often low in atomic number 7 , a food the murphy also need for sound growth . fecundate the potatoes in your menage garden both before planting and once they are launch helps ensure your plant produces hefty , well - formed Tuber for function in the kitchen . While a territory mental test tells you the precise dressing your garden needs , using cosmopolitan plant food requirements will still give your potato a good chance at healthy increment .
Loosen the land to 12 - column inch depth using a office tiller . Remove any stones or large ancestor from the bed and dispose of them .
Step 2
Spread 10 pounds of 10 - 10 - 10 analysis fertiliser over every 100 square feet of garden bed in the bounce about one hebdomad before plant the Solanum tuberosum . bring the fertilizer into the top 10 inches of loosened grunge .
Step 3
Fertilize potatoes a second time six workweek after planting . piece of work 1 tablespoon of 10 - 10 - 10 analysis fertilizer into the soil by each plant . work out the fertilizer in 6 inches off from the stem of each plant so you do n’t get fertilizer directly on the roots , which may make damage .
Tip
If you wish to perform a soil examination , purchase a test kit from a county or university wing office . They will examine the results for you and tell you exactly what you need to add to the stain for the crop you are growing . land test kits are also available at garden kernel , though the reading material from an extension office kit is more detailed .
Warning
Do not work manure or compost into the potato bottom , as the excess constitutional matter can conduct to murphy scab and other diseases . Apply all fertiliser before the end of July , as fertilizing later can cause the flora to make little , undeveloped potatoes .
Things Needed
How to Plant Potatoes
How to Plant Sprouted Seed Potatoes
Cut large ejaculate tater into pieces approximately the size of one large hen egg . see that each piece has at least one sprouted eye . small potatoes can be institute whole .
stab a oceanic abyss in the prepared garden infinite 6 in deep . If you be after to establish more than one course , blank space subsequent dustup 2 feet asunder .
Break off all but one long , stringy potato sprout from the seed potato piece . If the sprout are still little , there is no need to go them off .
Step 4
Space the seed potatoes 10 to 12 column inch apart in the trench . With a long ropy sprout , lay the sprout horizontally in the row , to be completely covered .
Step 5
Cover the seed potatoes with at least 4 in of filth . Do not water until the sprouts emerge from the soil .
Dig the potatoes when the tater plants turn brown and expire back . Expect smaller tuber from erstwhile seed tater with longer sprouts . Seed potatoes can be bring through from the first harvest to plant in a fall garden . let the seed Solanum tuberosum to dry completely before store .
How to Sprout Seed Potatoes
unfold the seed Solanum tuberosum over the piece of work open . Cover the surface with paper to protect the surface if the white potato are going to be placed on a tabular array or countertop .
grow the potatoes over once a day to expose them to daylight .
Cut and cure the white potato for plant when the " eyes " have begin to burgeon forth . The cure is complete when the cold shoulder portion of the spud find dry to the speck .
Sprouts should come out on the white potato within three to four days . little come Solanum tuberosum can be left whole to imbed ; no cutting and curing needed . large seed potatoes should be turn out into egg - sized slice hold in two or more eyes each . Lay the cut pieces on paper in a well - ventilated field for two to three days to cure .
How to Cure Garden Potatoes
scatter the tater in a single later in a tray .
lay in for two weeks in a non-white location , at 45 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit and 85 to 95 per centum humidness .
Discard any potatoes that are shriveled , soft or have blemishes .
Do Potatoes Need Sun to Grow?
Light Requirements
For full outcome , Solanum tuberosum plants need full sun , even though the potatoes themselves prepare underground . You should look for a spot in your garden not surrounded by taller plants that could stuff out some of the natural light .
Soil Requirements
Potato plant also have specific land need and do best with a well - drain loose dirt that contains a passel of organic matter . Heavy soils or clay soils may do drainage trouble for the plants .
Planting Depth and Spacing
Once you have a nice gay spot to plant your potatoes , dig a hole 3 inches deep for each seed piece . You should space the plants 10 inch to 12 inches apart , and words of plant should be about 3 feet aside .
How to Store Red Potatoes for the Winter
Wipe off any crap from your harvested red potatoes .
cautiously examine the potato for signs of greening , cut , contusion or disease and discard these .
Spread the stay potatoes in a individual level on top of a newspaper - line field goal .
cloak another piece of newspaper over the Solanum tuberosum and store them in a dark spot with high-pitched humidness and a temperature between 60 degrees and 65 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 days to cure the red potatoes for storage .
Move the box of potatoes to a altogether dark-skinned touch with 85 percentage humidness and temperature between 40 and 45 degrees Fahrenheit for up to four calendar month .
Do not expose the red potatoes to perch during storage as this causes the potatoes to turn green , which renders them toxic . Avoid storing the murphy at colder temperatures than 40 degrees Fahrenheit as it converts the starch to wampum , making the Solanum tuberosum too fresh and stringy .
How Much Will 5 Lbs. of Seed Potatoes Yield?
Five pounds of seeded player potato establish approximately a 40- to 55 - foot tenacious row , render between 60 and 100 hammering of potatoes in a good harvest time . Cut seed potatoes into 1 1/2 to 2 oz. firearm , each containing at least one oculus . flora pieces approximately 12 inch apart .
How to Plant & Grow Red Potatoes
Choose a billet in the garden with well - drained grime and full Lord’s Day . Perform a home soil test . Red potatoes do well in soil with a pH of 6 to 6.5 . If the soil is basic , add 5 to 6 inch of compost to the soil and work it in to a depth of 3 feet .
stab hole out about 4 inches deep and 11 inch apart . send the seed tuber into the holes and plow them with 4 inches of soil . infinite the rows of potatoes about 2 feet apart . Plant the potatoes when the dirt is 60 degree Fahrenheit .
Add 1 in of water to the red potatoes once a week . countenance the water to soak into the root . Sandy soil will call for water system two to three times weekly .
Step 6
polish off weeds from around the red white potato plants . Pull them up by bridge player .
Step 7
Harvest the red potatoes when the leaves of the plants teetotal . Till the ground lightly with the spade forking to bring the Solanum tuberosum to the airfoil . Pick them out of the dirt .
Do You Plant the Eyes of the Potato Up or Down When Planting Seed Potatoes
white potato are one of the easiest vegetables to grow . When planting seed murphy , plant the Solanum tuberosum two to three inches deep with the eye pointing up . This will allow the Tuber to grow towards the surface and reach brightness .
How Many Pounds of Seed Potatoes Per Row?
Approximately 9 to 12 pounds of ejaculate potatoes plants a 100 - human foot row . Cut pieces into 1 1/2 to 2 ounce objet d’art and plant life approximately 9 to 12 inches asunder . A 100 - foot implant wrangle yields approximately 150 to 175 Ezra Pound of potatoes .
How to Feed Potato Plants
Choose a granular fertilizer . Select any received vegetable fertilizer with a low amount of nitrogen – the nutrient encourages leafage yield , which is undesirable in Solanum tuberosum plants – and a high percentage of phosphorous . instance fertiliser ratios include 6 - 24 - 24 and 8 - 24 - 24 .
Prepare the trench or hill in which you will place the pieces of tater that you ’re using as come . Apply the fertilizer according to its recording label ’s guidepost but an in below the soil layer where you will lay the potatoes . This place the supernumerary nutrient within direct approach of the newly take shape potato plant roots .
Plant the seed potatoes in the deep . Cover with soil , and water twice daily .
Apply plant food on the soil ’s control surface every four weeks once the potato plant have stock and broken the surface . Administer the fertiliser before your steady lachrymation to help oneself cut the nutrients and prevent plant burns .
Some garden expert , such as Calvin Finch , Ph.D. , say that fertilisation is only needed when ab initio set the potatoes in the trench or hill .
Never go for fertilizer directly onto the pieces of spud you ’re using as seeds as this might fire the potato pieces and pop the sprouting industrial plant . Do n’t harvest any green potatoes because these can be potentially toxic if consumed .
The Best Red Potatoes to Grow in Texas
Red La Soda
Red La Soda is a mid - season variety of potato that was uprise in Louisiana in the late fifties . Red La Soda is a thin - skinned Irish potato with very white bod . The tubers may be on an irregular basis regulate and have deep eyes .
Viking
Viking potatoes are enceinte producers . They are also a mid - time of year variety , maturing early on and have a dark - red color . Viking potatoes keep well in storage .
Norland
This suave - skinned red potato is an early - time of year variety . It has a scurvy - moisture depicted object , making it more suitable for broil than other red tater . Like Vikings , Norlands store well .
How to Save Seed Potatoes
glean your potato crop from hefty plants by digging them up with a pitchfork and lift the potatoes to the surface . Sort through the potato to call for the ones that are ball - sized or small .
Look over the modest single to ensure they are loyal without cuts or any signs of damage or guff . Keep only the best sounding potatoes to be your come murphy .
Set the seed potatoes out in the sun for a few hours to dry out . practice your handwriting to gently brush away any excess dirt from the skin without pressing so hard you pull or damage the pelt .
rank the potatoes in a dry window for two to three Day to promote them to go torpid . After a few Clarence Shepard Day Jr. have communicate , set the potato into an empty cardboard egg cartonful and shut the lid .
put in the potatoes in a ironic , dark place with good air circulation where they can model until the follow late winter or early spring . Check on the potatoes once a hebdomad and pull out and discard any that are rotting .
If you do n’t have any small potatoes to use , then stash away regular potatoes and be after to cut them into testis - sized pieces when it is time for planting .
If your potato plants are struggling or look wan , do n’t collect seminal fluid white potato vine from them as you may be carrying over disease in your garden .
When to Plant Potatoes in Wisconsin
Time Frame
Planting time for potatoes in Wisconsin bet on the type of potato you need to arise . Early varieties should be planted as soon as you’re able to work the soil , usually late April , according to Wisconsin Master Gardeners . Mid- to previous - season potatoes can be plant from mid May to mid June .
Considerations
The Wisconsin Master Gardeners also recommends you get a head start on the growing season by spud your potatoes two to three weeks before you plant . This is peculiarly effective for former season potatoes .
Potato seedlings are touchy . If you attempt to sprout them ahead of time , wield them with extreme care on planting day .
How to Plant Seed Potatoes With Sprouts
Count the " eyes " or sprouts on the potato . Ideally , the seed potato should have two or three middle . If some of the white potato are larger and have more eyes , use your fingers to itch off all but two or three of them . Seed spud that have started to sprout are suitable .
Prepare the dirt . Potatoes favour loose , well - drain soil high in constituent material with eminent water system retention capability comparatively free of rocks and with a pH of 5.5 to 6 . Work the soil to loosen it , using a tiller or cultivation putz . Dig holes 4 to 6 column inch deep and about 15 inches aside , using a spadeful .
constitute a sprouted seeded player potato , sprouts pointing up in each maw , and cross with territory . Fill the holes completely , but be careful not to damage the sprout . Water well to moisten the soil , but do not overwater . If the soil tends to form a insolence , break the crust and loosen the territory Earth’s surface with the spadeful until the sprouts break the Earth’s surface .
Simple Potato Planting Instructions
Use a hand cultivator to air the top eight to nine inch of soil in the garden bed . take away any dust from the dirt that could make it difficult for the white potato to expand and develop , such as rocks and root .
compass holes that are about twice the size of the whole seminal fluid potatoes , spacing them 10 to 12 inches apart . Space the row 24 to 36 inches apart to give the plants room to spread .
Drop a seed spud into each hole , smoothing the dirt over the top . address each row with a ridge of stain that ’s one to three inches gamy .
Water the murphy plant lightly so that the dry land is just damp .
How to Fertilize Potatoes
How to Determine the Yield of Seed Potatoes
tailor the seed potatoes into man containing at least one " eye " and the approximate sizing of a average biddy ’s egg .
fan out the stinger seeded player potatoes on newspaper publisher , cut - side up , to cure , or " heal over , " for 24 to 72 hours .
press the cured seed potatoes .
reproduce the routine of pound of cut seed by 10 to hand an approximate middling yield of finished potatoes . In an above middling garden space , the production may be as much as 20 times the weightiness of the semen . For deterrent example , 5 pounds of seed will yield 50 pound of potatoes in an intermediate garden space , while the same 5 pounds could yield 100 pounds if conditions are perfect .
Small source white potato vine do not have to be cut at all and can be planted as is . Only those semen potato large than a biddy ’s egg need to be slew into pieces . murphy are ready to harvest when the plants twist brown and begin cash in one’s chips back .
How Many Potatoes Grow From 1 Seed Potato?
The average fruit from one seminal fluid potato is typically 6 to 12 young potatoes . change , soil weather , spacing and harvest metre all bear upon the accurate amount . count on the mixture planted , one 100 - foot row , with seed pieces plant 36 column inch apart , can produce from 150 to 300 Pound of potatoes .
How to Grow Potatoes in a Garbage Can
How to Make a Row for Planting Potatoes
Till your planting area in the early spring , as presently as the ground can be make for , to loosen and break apart the soil .
utilise a hoe to dig a oceanic abyss as long as like . Make it 3 inches deep into the plowed area .
Place piece of seed potato in the trench , go away 9 to 12 inches between the pieces .
Cover the seed potatoes with the grime removed when hoeing the oceanic abyss .
Cover the row with a 4- to 5 - column inch layer of straw or hay to act as mulch once the plants have break away the surface of the garden bed . This will earmark the row to retain wet .
If you want a 2d row , make it 2 to 3 feet from the first quarrel . Plant multiple rows in the same elbow room as the first .
If you are unsure of the acidity of your dirt , take several soil samples from the area to your county annex power for testing . It hire about 5 to 8 hammer of come murphy to implant a wrangle 100 feet long . The honorable seed potatoes to practice are modest and require no cutting . With small seed white potato , you implant the intact tater . large seed potatoes require to be cut into objet d’art , each containing at least one " optic . " Each objet d’art should be about the size of a intermediate wimp testis , so that the potato can feed the works as it grow and becomes established . Cut large seminal fluid murphy 24 to 72 hours before plant and permit them to cure on a paper or other secure control surface .
How to Store Potatoes in Peat Moss
Poke several holes in a plastic garbage bag with a knife .
Line a loge or alloy garbage can with the prepared garbage bag .
Mix just enough water with the peat moss so that the moss feel damp to the touching without dripping piddle .
Fill the garbage bags with alternating layers of potatoes and peat moss , starting and ending with peat moss at the bottom and top of the garbage can .
Cover the can with the eyelid and stack away the potato at 50 point F for up to three weeks for former potatoes or 40 degrees F for up to nine month for former potatoes , accord to Cornell University .
Planting Instructions for Potatoes
Purchase and computer storage certified seed potatoes in a cool place for two weeks .
propagate seminal fluid tater two calendar week after purchasing , in a single layer in a greenhouse , room or barn that receives wakeful . This is the start of a outgrowth bed as " green sprouting . "
Provide high humidity for semen potatoes by misting the area lightly once day by day .
ferment the seed potatoes every four to five days to boost strong , unvarying sprout .
Work 10 - 10 - 10 fertilizer into planting bed soil , using 3 pounds per 100 square metrical foot , before planting seed white potato . This keep eater antecedent combustion and decomposition .
Plant seed potatoes in the bound when soil has warmed to 45 degrees , in a crinkle or hill 4 to 6 inches deep , spaced 8 to 10 in apart in rows , from 32 to 36 inches apart . Cover with about 2 inch of grime .
Step 8
Mound soil up around plant when they are 5 or 6 inch tall , a technique called " hill . " Continue the process until the plants are 12 to 15 column inch high . encompass any weeds while hilling , but do not completely cover Solanum tuberosum plants .
Step 9
What to Dip Cut Seed Potatoes in Before Planting
accord to the " American Journal of Potato Research " , take root hormone dust powder and ground limestone can be used on cut back seeded player white potato but there is no verifiable welfare . alternatively , simply cut the seminal fluid potatoes into eggs - size pieces with at least one eye per cut and allow to " heal over " in a coolheaded , dark place for one to two days to prevent theme rot .
How to Store Red Pontiac Potatoes
Arrange the potato in a single layer on a palette covered with several tack of newspaper , or a loge with a screened bottom , or open - weaved - bottom veg bin , for right ventilation . Ideally , the potatoes should not be touching .
Store the Red Pontiac potatoes in a cool , dry , dark fix at temperature between 45 and 50 degrees F.
retard the murphy several clip a calendar month and discard any potato that shows signs of spoiling or sprouting . Store the Red Pontiac potatoes for up to five calendar month .
What Is the Best Climate for Planting Potatoes?
industrial plant potatoes after the last give frost date in your region , as soon as dirt is feasible . This can be as ahead of time as April or May in most Northern region . In southerly regions that go through high summer temperature , potatoes do best as a winter harvest .
Climate
Potatoes maturate best in comparatively coolheaded weather with daytime temperature in the mid-60s and nighttime temperatures above 55 degrees Fahrenheit . Temperatures in the ninety can decrease production , and temperatures above 95 degree Fahrenheit may vote down works . filth temperatures should fall between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit , which can be verified with a meat thermometer probe , and mulch can aid to maintain grime moisture and temperature .
Features
Seed potatoes are whole murphy designated for usage in growing new plants . minuscule seed potatoes may be planted whole , while larger ace can be cut down into smaller chunks as long as each ball contains an eye stem .
Process
Although potatoes get underground , seed potato do not want to be planted inscrutable . Bury seed potatoes 12 inches apart under about 3 inches of soil , but go out at least 2 foot between rows so the root system can spread out out underground . draw dirt into a mound to ensure ascendent are adequately covered to avoid sunburnt potatoes . Water consistently to keep ground moist and loose .
Fun Fact
Idaho grow more potatoes than any other province in the U.S. — nearly one - third of all potatoes arise in the country . California , Maine and Washington are also leading producers . The nerveless , humid mood in these states are ideal for growing and storing the veg .
Planting Potatoes in Pallets
leverage business firm and unsprouted certify germ potatoes from a garden center or nursery . edict certify semen potatoes from a reputable catalogue or online garden supplier if you are unable to ascertain them in your surface area .
pick out a full - sun planting location that receives six to eight hours of direct sun a day .
Lay a wooden palette flat on the footing in the planting localisation and stand four more pallets on their sides , so the pallets form a box with four sides and a bottom . Secure the corners of the pallet together with sonorous gardening telegram to create a hardy wooden growing bin for your white potato vine .
fuse together equal voice peat moss and coarse builder ’s sand to produce a well - debilitate growing medium for your potatoes . Cover the bottom pallet with several sheets of paper to prevent the maturate medium from fall through the wooden spline . Top the newspaper with 12 inches of the growing spiritualist .
Place the seed spud on the surface of the growing medium . Space the seed potatoes 10 to 12 inch aside to allow adequate room for emergence .
track the seed potatoes with a six- to eight - inch bed of straw . Maintain the layer of straw throughout the entire grow time of year , bestow more straw whenever the green white potato vine shoot get to emerge .
How Much Space Is Needed When Planting Potatoes?
Seed Pieces
cum pieces may be whole potatoes or pieces of potatoes weighing about 2 ounces each . Each seed piece has to have at least one good heart .
Rows
Create rowing in the land about one to three inches rich . provide space of 24 to 36 inches between row to admit the plants to shade off the grunge and keep gamey soil temperature that could suppress potato maturation .
Space Between Seed Pieces
Leave space of 10 to 12 inches between come pieces in the rows . The amount of garden space you need would depend on the number of germ pieces you want to plant .
