Potatoes
- Botanical Name
- Solanum tuberosum
- Family
- Solanaceae
- Plant Type
- Tuber
- Size (HxW)
- 50-80cm x 50cm
- First things first
- To grow potatoes, begin with ‘chitting’; put your potatoes into a warmish, bright, but shaded dry area – such as a windowsill in cold weather they will take a little longer. The potato will sprout from the eyes, when these reach 1-2cm, they can be planted. While you are doing this, you can prepare the soil. In the case of these purchased ‘seed potatoes’, the eyes may already be formed so they can be planted straight away. You may cut the large potatoes into parts – so long as each part has one or two eyes/sprouts, if you do this pop them in the shade for a week or so to dry out.
- Depth & Spacing
- Plant into a prepared bed (it is best to add compost/well rotted manure a few weeks prior to planting). Dig the soil over to 40cm. Dig holes to 15cm deep, spacing 70cm apart. Add an organic fertiliser and dig soil over to around 5cm. Place the tubers in the furrow with eyes facing upwards, cover with soil and water in. Once the plant has reached 20cm tall, then cover it to 2/3 the height, this is called mounding or hilling. This will need to be done 2-3 times during the growing season. This process increases the number of tubers (potatoes) produced and stops them turning green and toxic in the suns light.
- Soil
- Fertile, well drained soil is best. The better the soil, the better the crop. Do not add lime to the soil, a high lime content may develop scab or fungal problems. Also ensure any manure added is well rotted.
- Aspect
- Full sun to semi shade. 6 hours a day of sun.
- Climate
- Cool to Sub Tropical Frost: Hardy. Severe frost will set growth back, mulch to protect.
- Water
- Water to establish, keep moist during active growth.
- Fertiliser
- Add fertiliser prior to planting (see ‘Soil’ above).
- Flowering Time
- Spring to summer
- Harvest
- Harvest your potatoes around 3-4 weeks after flowering has finished for smaller or ‘New Potatoes’.
For ‘Old Potatoes’ wait until the foliage has died back completely.
- Notes
- If your potatoes are affected by disease the plants should be disposed of in the garbage or burnt. There are lots of ways to grow potatoes.
Here are a couple of options:
Potatoes in a Bag – use a Hessian sack or similar. Add 15cm of compost and slow release fertiliser to the base of the sack (or potting mix). Put around 6 seed potatoes on top of this mix and cover with a further 10-15cm of the mix/potting medium then mulch with around 3cm of straw and water well. Keep the mix moist. Once the stem growth reaches 20cm, roll the bag up, adding more potting mixture until just around 5cm of the leaves are exposed. Continue until the bag is fully unravelled. Then allow the plant to grow and flower as usual before harvesting (see above).
OR you could try the ‘no dig’ approach by tossing your tubers where you want them to grow then mounding the soil on top, as above. The roots will find their own way down, just ensure you mulch well. 1kg seed potatoes will produce on average a 10kg harvest. Harvest all your potatoes each year. Grow potatoes in a different spot each year to ensure your stock remains disease free.
