Planting Potatoes

These are the eyes.

Okay.

So that is where the sprouts are going to come out. So you can cut a potato-

We are here with Joey Lenderman, Enchanted Gardens, and he’s going to talk about planting potatoes in your garden. All right Joey, let’s do this.

Yes we are. So we have, this is what they call a seed potato. It’s basically a potato. These are the eyes.

Okay.

So that is where the sprouts are going to come out. So you can cut a potato if it’s a decent size. Just make sure you have at least one eye in each piece of your potato.

Okay. It’s important to keep some of the potato near the eye because that’s the starchy seed part.

Right. That’s how it basically gets started.

We’ve got some cheater precut ones here.

Yes we do. So see the wet part there? That is just a magnet for rotting, fungus, so you need to do something to prevent that. Here we have some wettable sulfur that’ll dry out and callus that cut.

Now time can callus it, too, but this is a way to do it if you want to get it all done in one day.

That’s right. That’s right. Next comes the planting part, so you’re going to want to plant these two to three inches down with the eyes facing up.

I took his hole. Ha ha.

So we’ll get that done.

Potatoes are heavy users of minerals, so using fertilizers is always a good thing. Got a few good ones here. Cotton seed meal. This, bone meal, and then a muriate of potash, just to make sure you get all the nutrients that are going to need to grow a big plant.

That’s right. Moderate water on them, especially when it’s cool. Once the foliage starts to show up, once you get about eight or 10 inches of foliage, you can actually add some soil around that foliage, maybe three inches, four inches at a time, and that’ll allow the potatoes to produce along the stem of that. You can over time add up to maybe 12 or 16 inches of soil on top of the original potato and have that much more space for your potatoes to grow in.

Okay. And how do I know when to harvest? That’s the last thing.

So it usually takes probably eight to 10 weeks before they start to become ready. So planting them this time of year it’s going to be mid to late April, all the way through mid May, depending on when you plant them. They bloom and then that is the sign that they’re ready. Also the foliage will start turning yellow and kind of flopping over.

Okay, great.

And we know that they’re ready.

Awesome. Thanks, Joey.

You’re welcome.

So get potatoes going. For more great info go to homeshowgardenpros.com.