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Have you ever considered growing potatoes in your own backyard? My uncle happens to know a thing or two about planting potatoes because he grows them commercially, and he’s shared all the pro grow secrets with me so I can pass them along to you!
For beginner and experienced gardeners alike, this guide shows how to plant potatoes to get consistently great yields! Plus, I’ll debunk the common myths with the truth about choosing the right seed potatoes, whether you need to cut or chit potatoes, how deep to plant them, how long until harvest, and much more.
(If you’re looking for information on sweet potatoes, you’ll want to read How to Grow Sweet Potatoes in Containers instead.)
Rich in fiber and potassium and cooked in a myriad of mouth-watering ways, you really can't go wrong with potatoes! The way people consume them in such mass quantities makes it seem funny that everyone isn't growing potatoes.
Growing potatoes doesn’t have to involve trial and error. My goal is to help you grow amazing potatoes this year, right at home. Then, check out some of my other free growing guides:
There are so many potato varieties with different tastes and textures. Here are some of my favorites:
Choosing the right seed potatoes is the first step for a good potato harvest! Pick unsprayed seed potatoes that are firm and look healthy. Make sure you get actual seed potatoes, as they have not been sprayed with a sprout inhibitor and will develop eyes much faster.
Many people ask whether you can just use regular store-bought potatoes. The problem with that is they are likely to have been sprayed with a sprout inhibitor to help them last longer and prevent sprouting on the grocery store shelf, and you DO want your seed potatoes to sprout.
Spring is the traditional time for planting potatoes. You can plant potatoes as early as one to three weeks before the last frost.
But did you know that potatoes do not need to be planted exclusively in the spring? I’ve planted potatoes as late as July! And commercial growers may plant up to mid-July, too.
There is still time to plant potatoes and get a good harvest as long as the potato variety has a maturity period that fits in the number of days left in the growing season. So, if you are planting later in the season, it is best to choose fast maturing varieties.
Don’t underestimate the importance of well-prepared soil! While you can throw potatoes in almost any soil and grow them, if you want really nice potatoes, focus on the right soil conditions and pH.
Potatoes like acidic soil that few other plants enjoy. For this reason, I plant potatoes together in an area of the garden without other plants. It is tempting to diversify your bed, but it is not worth having the other plants struggle along just for the sake of diversification.
The best pH for growing potatoes is 5.0 to 5.5. There are a couple of ways that I get the soil pH down that low:
Sulfur - Most soils require between 17 and 28 lbs of sulfur per 500 sq feet to reduce the pH by .5 units. If your soil pH needs to be reduced by 0.5 units, one-half pound of sulfur granules should be applied every 4 feet and incorporated to a depth of 6 to 8 inches.
Peat Moss - Sphagnum peat moss has a naturally low pH of around 4.5. I only need to use peat moss in my potato raised bed as an amendment every 2 to 3 years because it takes a long time to break down. Add two or three inches of peat moss and gently incorporate it into the soil.
Pro-Tip: A common mistake gardeners make is not doing a soil pH test before amending the soil. Make sure to adjust the soil pH based on what your soil really needs, not what someone else recommends. Unnecessarily altering soil pH can throw the whole garden out of whack. Take the guesswork out by testing your soil pH with the Rapitest Soil Tester.
Whatever you remove from the garden as plant matter, you need to put it back in as compost and amendments. I like to use a process called double digging to incorporate compost into the original soil before planting potatoes.
It is also okay to simply layer the compost on top, but that creates defined layers instead of loose, well-amended soil. Double digging improves soil aeration, allows better root development and water penetration, and makes the soil easier to plant in.
Double digging is easy: simply spread your compost evenly across the top of the original soil, push your shovel or broadfork into the soil about 4” deep, wiggle it around to loosen the soil and then pull it out. Don’t work the soil aggressively, and don’t flip the soil. Repeat this process across your garden bed.
Potatoes are heavy feeders, meaning they pull a lot of nutrients from the soil. They will benefit from a good, all-purpose fertilizer like Trifecta+.
And there's another surprising secret weapon I use to grow great potatoes: alfalfa pellets. They are an inexpensive, high-nitrogen product that contains a lot of organic matter to help fertilize, break down, and loosen soil.
Chitting Potatoes - Sprouting and cutting your seed potatoes is essential to achieving the best end product. I highly recommend chitting potatoes before planting! (Click on the link to learn how)
Location - Choose a location that receives at least 6 hours of full sun per day.
Amend Soil - Before you plant, make sure you have properly amended the soil with compost and corrected the pH if necessary.
Planting Depth - Potatoes should be planted 6 to 8 inches deep. If you are growing in raised beds or an in-ground garden, dig trenches 6 to 8 inches deep and space rows approximately every 2 feet. 
Add Fertilizer - Fertilize the soil within each trench with Trifecta+ or another all-purpose fertilizer. Then, sprinkle alfalfa pellets in each trench.
Spacing - Place seed potatoes in the trenches at 10-inch intervals. Pro-Tip: While you can grow potatoes fairly crowded, adequate spacing allows the root system to move more freely through the soil, resulting in bigger yields. The 10-inch plant spacing will give you the best results while maximizing your space's productivity.
Plant Seed Potatoes - Make sure the eyes of each seed potato are facing up when you plant. Facing the eyes upwards causes the roots to spread laterally rather than downward. Pro-Tip: If you don’t have eyes forming on your seed potatoes yet, wait to plant. Place the seed potatoes inside a paper bag and place the bag in a dark, humid location to speed up the formation of eyes.
Cover With Soil - Cover the potatoes by backfilling the trenches to the original soil level. Pro-Tip: You may have heard misinformation that you will get more potatoes from burying seed potatoes even deeper or hilling them up. That is simply not true! You can hill them slightly to a depth of 8 to 10 inches to protect new tubers from the sunlight, but it won't boost production and any deeper than that is just not necessary.
Water - Water the potatoes. Start by giving your potatoes one to two inches of water each week. Make adjustments based on the weather and your soil.
It is that simple! You should start to see the potato plants popping up out of the soil in 2 to 3 weeks.
Potatoes can contract diseases like blight and potato scab. If you find signs of blight in your garden, this article dedicated to understanding and controlling blight is a must-read.
Potato scab (pictured above) is directly correlated with an improper soil pH and can be easily avoided by properly amending your soil pH before planting. While scab doesn’t make the potato inedible, it does affect the aesthetic of the potato and dramatically decreases its shelf life.
Some common potato pests you may encounter include potato beetles, flea beetles, aphids, thrips, and leafhoppers. If you’ve identified pesky bugs on your spuds, our blog posts on DIY pest prevention and using organic pesticides can help you choose the best control method!
On average, potatoes mature for 90-100 days before they’re ready to harvest. Potatoes are ready to harvest after flowering when the foliage yellows and begins to die back.
If your goal is long-term storage, wait until the tubers are fully mature before harvesting and storing. Or, leave your potatoes in the ground to store them!
I’m not sure why, as a gardening culture, we started to think that potatoes had to come out of the ground in the fall. You can simply cover your potatoes with a dense layer of leaf mulch (12 to 18 inches), then cover that with a tarp and weigh it down with rocks around the edges.
When you want some potatoes during the winter months, pull up the tarp, move aside some leaves, and harvest the amount you want to use. Replace the leaves and tarp to protect the rest of your potato crop.
Your garden makes an awesome winter storage for potatoes. Any potatoes that are forgotten or left in the ground until spring, will grow into new plants! (I wouldn't plan on eating those once they start to sprout.)
For more information, watch these videos on harvesting potatoes and curing potatoes for storage.
You can choose small seed potatoes that can be planted whole without cutting, or you can chit potatoes. Follow this link for potato chitting to learn how!
Cure potatoes in a cool, dark place for two weeks. Then, store them in a cool, dark location with good airflow.
Choose healthy potatoes from your harvest. Store them in a cool, dark place over winter. Check them occasionally for signs of rot or sprouting.
Common problems include green potatoes, diseases like blight, and pests like potato beetles. To avoid green potatoes, plant seed potatoes at the proper depth. Use resistant varieties, proper growing methods, and organic pesticide or fungicide to reduce diseases and pests.
Luke Marion
Luke Marion created MIgardener in 2011 with a passion for inspiring others to grow a garden, live healthier lives, and have fun doing it. With the help of social media, that was all made possible! Today, MIgardener can be found on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. We believe gardening should be made fun and accessible to anyone of any skill level. Our slogan, “Grow Big or Go Home,” was created to help drive home our mission. We believe that when you put 100% effort into something, you will get 110% back.
Comments
Hello I watched your videos on potatoes. My family eats a lot of potatoes and we would like to grow our own. However there aren’t really any farmers markets in my area and idk if they spray them or not so idk if they’d be good for planting. Do u sell seed potatoes or do u know where I can get some?
There are determinate and indeterminate potato varieties. They are planted differently. Just learned this a year ago. It has made all the difference for us knowing the right varieties to grow for our high mountain, short season garden and planting them as you showed in a six inch deep trench. Game changer for us.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/laidbackgardener.blog/2020/04/05/determinate-and-indeterminate-potatoes/%3famp=1
Your important tip contradicts itself:
Important Tip: Remember to plant seed potatoes with spikes pointing up! These are sprouts, not roots. If you plant with the spikes pointing up, you will be wasting space and energy.
I believe it’s supposed to say “if you plant with spikes pointing DOWN it wastes time and energy.
What types of potatoes do you recommend for southeast Michigan?
