How to Grow Good Potatoes

Grow Better Potatoes This Year

Potatoes are a food crop dating back as far as we know in the Andes Mountain region of South America. Although the latitude is known for its warm climate, the mountainous elevation creates perfect growing conditions, well above the tropical rainforest. Their most traditional range is cool, well-precipitated, and has acidic soil. That is perfect potato conditions. You will struggle to grow potatoes in hot weather.

Potato roots begin growing at about 44 degrees F and slow down significantly when the soil temperature rises above 60 degrees F. If you are planting them in warmer weather, you should consider planting them deeper, up to 9 inches below the soil tilth. Mulching well also greatly lowers the soil temperature, which promotes more root development and tuber bulking.

These potatoes are in perfect planting condition. Well-stored and slightly sprouted.

Planting Potatoes

Planting rows of potatoes fairly close also helps by shading the soil very well in the more crucial times of root development. If you have to pant them in warmer weather, either plant them close (1-2 feet between rows) or mulch, or both. If you mulch heavy enough to suppress weeds, which is usually about 6 inches, you won’t need to worry about needing space to get between rows with a hoe.

Note that closer plant spacing will cause smaller tubers to develop, but sometimes you get more overall yield. For large spuds, plant your potatoes 12 to 18 inches apart with 36 inches between rows. My neighbor Nihil told me that his father used to hand-plant 80 acres of potatoes on a 36-inch grid through his field. That was more so he could run his horse-drawn cultivator rake between them for weed control, but it also made for more even, larger spuds. Still, most farmers today prefer a bit closer spacing.

I plant much closer when I have enough mulch. And they do better for it. Mulch keeps the soil moist and soft. Both of which are crucial for tuber development and help to suppress both disease and pest outbreaks. In other words, the plants get healthier and stronger with a good mulch. I prefer to mulch with hay, straw, untreated woodchips, or aged manure. Whichever is cheaper is what I will choose. Potatoes are heavy feeders, but are sensitive to heavy fertilizer.

I have the best yields when I fertilize with manure and use even mulch. Even an inch or two vastly improves the soil fertility through improving the ecosystemic environment for soil biology. I have two methods for planting and fertilizing potatoes. The first method is to dig a 9-inch deep trench and lay 3-inches of dry manure and some hay or tree leaves in the bottom. Place the spuds in the trench, add some extra may and leaves, and burry. I love this method because it has reliably given some of the best yields.

This jab-planter plants potatoes about 6 times faster than I can with a shovel.

Jab Planting Method for Potatoes

The second method is to use a jab planter to get them as deep as possible in sift soil (4-6 inches) then mulch heavily after with a layer of manure then anything else. It should be 4 to 6 inches mounded above the soil line. If you have a jab-type planter, this method is absolutely incredible and it reduces soil disturbance by about 50 percent. That’s very beneficial to soil fertility and biology.

I have had some of my best harvests aver using an old, antique jab planter that Nihil gave me. When jab-planting, I apply manure, old hay, and such on top of the soil after I finish planting the spuds. It takes a bit more manure when laying it on the ground and not working it into the soil so bear that in mind.

Potatoes Thrive Under Mulch

Potatoes need an even supply of soil moisture to produce large yields of good-sized tubers. The best way to achieve this is with practices of mulching, increasing soil organic mater, and by improving soil aggregation. That means put lots of good, compostable stuff on the dirt and don’t disturb the soil too much. It’s a very important key. Right now I’m growing 1800 square feet of potatoes.

They don’t need irrigation and are almost ready for harvest. Just across town, there are 2,000 acres of commercial potatoes. Those fields need irrigation two times a week. Once again, our yields per square foot are in similar estimates. To fertilize potatoes during the season, I much prefer and have seen the strongest function from an organic and biologically active application. Whichever method you choose, be sure and get it done in time, well before the sprouts emerge.

Compost and solid manure can make a wonderful liquid extract with both chemical and biological elements. I make it in 5-gallon buckets and apply it on and around plants with a watering can. Vegetative macerations and fermentations are cleaner versions with similar effects. That is simply fresh green or starchy vegetation left in water until it’s breaking down and fermented.

The liquid is used as a fertilizer and soil boost. Either of these can be applied with a sprayer or as a soil drench on and around your plants. A bucket or watering can both work for a drench. I quit using “fertilizers” on my potatoes and now just apply manures and mulches early in the season. As a note, the USDA recommends any manure products be applied 90 days before harvesting potatoes for sanitation reasons. Dry or aged manure from known healthy animals can be reduced to 50 days. If I were to apply manure later in the season, I’d just wait longer to harvest them.

Healthy soil produces spuds with significantly longer storage life. Make soil healthy and your plants will be healthy. They’re both part of the same ecosystem and are well connected. The most practical measure of soil health is to count worms. Ten or more worms in a shovel of soil is moderate to high health. Less than three is a bad sign.

The best way to store your potatoes is to leave them in the ground as long as you can. If planted deep or mulched well, they can be left in the soil until spring and will still be fresh. We only harvest a month’s worth at a time. The rest stay in the soil until needed. The final digging in the spring are to be immediately replanted for the next crop and they grow wonderfully and with more vigor than any certified seed potato I’ve ever purchased.

When you harvest spuds to eat, handle them as little as possible. Don’t wash them until you have to because washing breaks the skin and the moisture can induce rotting. Check often for a rotten spud because one will spread the rot to others quickly unless they’re in the soil. Then for some reason, it doesn’t. 

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Jordan

I practice what I preach. Here in rural west Michigan, me, my wife, and 5 young kids work together to grow food, raise animals, and grow aninmal feed on just 1 acre. I teach homesteading classes locally, and help people where I can.

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