Last year I made 2 mistakes. I started too late and I baked my potatoes by using green grass to cover potato growth. Basically the black trash bag and green grass began a compost process that raised the temperature of the cut grass to well over 100 degrees. In the middle of the heat was my potato stalks. Baked potatoes and not in a good way!
This year my old potatoes began sprouting in their pots. I took that as Nature's cue to plant potatoes now.
You basically want to plant potatoes 2-4 inches below the surface in 6-8 inches of soil when using containers. As the growth (stalks) reach 6 to 8 inches, you cover 1/2 the stalks with soil. You raise the soil up 3 to 4 inches every time the stalks get (as stated) 6 to 8 inches high.
The reason you do that is to increase the yield of your potato plant. Potatoes grow out from the stalk. The more you cover the stalk by 1/2 with soil... the more potatoes you will get.
Here is the planting step of potatoes in containers. Ill show the other steps as these grow. I hope.
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| Seed Potatoes from Walmart- The Rusted Garden: Gary Pilarchik |
The seed potatoes have stalk growth on them. The reason they have so much is because they sat in my car trunk for 7 days. Who knew? The container below has about 6-8 inches of fluffed soil in it. It is very loose.
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| 3 Potatoes for this Container: Gary Pilarchik |
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| Potatoes 2-4 Inches Deep - The Rusted Garden: Gary Pilarchik |
Fill a 5 gallon container about 1/3 the way and plant a potato in the middle about 2-4 inches deep. Two potatoes would be fine... just space them out. The potatoes in the 5 gallon bucket probably will be smaller but this fine for baby potatoes. I am not a seasoned potato grower! One day maybe but the great thing about gardening is there is always something to learn. Advice is appreciated.
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| Potatoes in 5 Gallon Containers: Gary Pilarchik |
I bought a potato container at my local WalMart store-going to see how that turns out. I accidently cut one of the potatoes so doubtful it will turn out. Hopefully they will produce and I won't have to dig into the ground!!
ReplyDeleteI wish you luck. If you let the cut potato air dry the cut for a few days, it usually is fine when planting. It sort of scabs in a sense.
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