Growing potatoes

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Soil moisture can limit potato growth.

The amount of water required is influenced by soil type, temperatures, wind, and cultural practices. A general rule of thumb is to provide 1 to 1.5 inch of water weekly until just before harvest. Several critical periods need special attention.

When the vines are 6 to 8 inches tall, tubers start to develop and watering during periods of dry weather will help ensure adequate numbers of tubers. In dry years, the size and quality of potatoes can be improved by a thorough watering 1 to 2 weeks before harvest.

Regular watering throughout the season is suggested, however, to help prevent problems such as knobbiness, second growths, cracking of potato tubers, and hollow cavities in the centers of tubers.

Overwatering, on the other hand, can cause black or hollow centers in potatoes.

Drip irrigation can be used successfully with potatoes and may even lessen disease pressure by reducing the amount of moisture on plant leaves.

For a top yield you should keep your potato vines well watered during the growing season, and special during the time that the potatoes are blooming, because during blooming the plant start with the developing of the new tubers.

The best time is to water of potatoes in the morning, so that the leaves can dry up, this will prevent diseases.

As soon as the leaves are turning yellow and start to die you should discontinue watering to allow he skin of the tubers to harden off before harvesting.

Traditionally potatoes are grown in rows. Distance between planted potatoes seed is 15 in., with the rows spaced 2 1/2 to 3 ft. apart.

If space in your garden is limited or if you would only like to grow a small crop of potatoes, you may prefer to plant one or two potato mounds.

Each 3-4 foot diameter mound can support 6 to 8 potato plants. With either method, the first step is to cultivate and turn the soil one last time before planting, removing any weeds, rocks or debris.

This will loosen the soil and allow the plants to become established more quickly.

Your potato plants will benefit from the addition of compost.

However, too much organic material can increase the chances of potato scab. Potato scab is a bacterial infection which doesn’t affect the usability of your potatoes, but it makes them look pretty ugly.

To lessen the likelihood of this, mix the organic matter into the soil below the potato seed, where it will feed the roots, but not contact the newly forming potatoes.

How to plant potatoes in row

Dig a shallow trench about 4 inches wide and 6-8 inches deep.

The spacing at which you place potatoes will determine the harvested potato size.

For most household uses, you will want to plant potato 15 inches apart in this trench.

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The potato tuber cut on pieces plants to grow a new potato plant. When the piece of potato tuber is planted it is called a “seed” potato.

Only certified seed potatoes should be planted in the home garden. Certification insures that the seed tubers are free of disease.

Certified seed can be obtained from a number of reputable garden supply stores. Do not purchase potatoes from the grocery store to plant in the home garden.

These may carry harmful potato diseases that will hurt the growth of your crop.

Tubers at the grocery store may also be treated with sprout inhibitors that may also hurt the growth of the plant in the garden.

Potato tubers have buds known as eyes on the skin surface from which new plants grow (or sprout).

Tubers are ready to cut into seed pieces when one or more of the eyes begin to sprout. However, they can be cut before the eyes sprout.

Cutting the potato into seed will cause more eyes on the seed to sprout. After selecting seed potatoes, cut them into seed pieces weighing approximately 1.5 to 2 ounces.

Smaller-sized seed pieces usually result in weaker plants and reduced “recovering” capabilities when a late frost injures emerging potato vines.

If you can buy small seed, no cutting is necessary—just plants each seed.

Each cut potato seed piece should be block-shaped and should contain at least one eye or short sprout.

In cutting seed, it is preferable to make the first cut lengthwise to divide the cluster of eyes that are evident at one end of the potato.

Each pound of seed contains an average of eight to ten potato seed pieces. In estimating how much seed to purchase, remember that it takes about 9 to 10 pounds of seed potatoes to plant 100 feet of row.

An important practice to discourage rotting of potato seed pieces is to “heal” the freshly cut pieces by storing them at room temperature (60–70˚F) with fairly high humidity for 5 to 7 days before planting.

This allows the freshly cut surfaces to develop a protective coating that will help prevent potato seed decay.