In Today’s episode, we will look into step
by step, easy methods and tricks to grow potato
plant from store bought potatoes or even seed
potatoes.
That’s Coming up!
Potatoes can be grown in ground or in containers.
It’s better to grow in containers, mainly
because harvesting is a lot easier and it
can be grown throughout the year, especially
in the tropical zones.
You can grow potatoes from store bought potatoes,
but try to choose organically grown potatoes
if possible.
Potatoes are actually grown from Certified
Seed Potatoes which are usually disease free.
But you can easily grow a healthy potato plant
with a good harvest from store bought potatoes.
Let’s start this step by step.
Step 1: Chitting Potatoes: Chitting simply
means pre-sprouting potatoes, before planting
them.
Chitting potatoes is not a compulsory step
to growing potatoes, but it can give the crop
a head start so that it matures quicker.
So, How to Chit potatoes?
First of all make sure you have good “eyes”
in your potatoes.
This is where your potatoes will grow sprouts.
Place the potatoes in a paper carton box,
of course with some holes in the box for ventilation.
Leave it undisturbed for at least 2 to 3 weeks
to get your seed potatoes.
Step 2: Cutting: This is optional.
If you want more plants and have less seed
potatoes, you can cut them into pieces, but
each piece should have a sprout in it.
But you have to leave the cut ends to heal
for about 2 days so that they form a callous
at the wound.
Otherwise, there is a risk of rot.
Step 3: Soil Preparation: Potatoes need a
loose well draining potting mix to grow.
You can use 30% garden soil + 30% cocopeat
or peatmoss + 30% compost like decomposed
cowdung or vermicompost + some 10% other stuff
like neem powder, perlite and so on.
I also add one or two spoons of trichoderma
viride powder which is a biofungicide, but
this is optional.
Step 4: Choosing Containers: You need a large
deep container, like at least 15 inch container
for best results.
You can use fabric grow bags, some plastic
tubs or pots or whisky barrel container or
any large container.
Make sure you have lot of drainage holes at
the bottom.
Generally you can harvest upto 10 potatoes
per container per plant.
Step 5: Planting: Potatoes have to be planted
deeper into the soil.
If you are using cut pieces, you plant with
the sprout facing upwards.
Otherwise it doesn’t matter.
Just plant them deep and cover with the soil.
Best time to plant potatoes is about 2 weeks
before the onset of spring for most zones,
but in few zones in the tropics, you can grow
anytime.
Step 6: HILLING: Once the shoots start to
grow, you can keep adding potting soil on
top to get more space for the potatoes.
This is called Hilling of Potatoes.
Then at this early stage, that is, once the
shoots start to appear, you can add one tablespoon
of Organic rock phosphate powder to supply
phosphorous to make the root system stronger
which in turn can yield a better harvest.
Alternately, you can also use fine steamed
bone meal powder.
Also try to spray neem oil to keep away potato
pests like once in a week or 10 days.
5 to 10 ml neem oil + few drops of liquid
soap + half a teaspoon of baking soda to combat
any fungal spots on the leaves which is quite
common in moist conditions.
Step 7: Watering: Once you plant the potatoes,
you can water the container once and leave
it alone for atleast 3 to 4 days without watering
to prevent the risk of rot.
Once the shooting starts, you can water them
once every other day depending on the climate
or by using the finger dip method to check
the soil moisture.
Step 8: Sunlight: Potatoes need at least 6
to 8 hours of direct sunlight.
So, depending on this you choose the growing
location.
Step 9: Potato Flowering: The potato plant
start to flower anytime after 40 to 50 days.
But one trick you have to perform at this
stage is just snip off the flowering stalk.
You can just pinch it or snip them off with
shears.
We want all the energy diverted towards the
roots and potato formation and not on seed
formation.
Potato flowering indicates the plant is just
matured and small tubers have started to form.
Step 10: Harvesting: For most certified seed
potatoes, you can harvest after 70 to 80 days.
But for some varieties it can be as long as
120 days.
This is difficult to determine for store bought
potatoes.
This is the one of the drawbacks of growing
store bought potatoes.
To harvest your potatoes, stop watering at
least a week before harvest date.
One important sign that can indicate your
potatoes are ready to harvest is the potato
plant begins to wilt and starts to become
yellow and is about to die.
This sign indicates your potatoes are ready
to harvest.
One important point relating to harvest is
whether you want New Potatoes or Storage Potatoes.
New potatoes are small and thin skinned potatoes
usually harvested before 70 days.
You can carefully harvest a few new potatoes
and then cover the plant with soil and leave
it for another 2 to 3 weeks to harvest the
Storage potatoes which are the main-crop potatoes.
The one sign that indicates this maturity
is the potato plant completely becomes yellow,
starts wilting and begins to dry.
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and queries.
Happy Gardening!
