Home gardeners are often searching for new things to grow at home. If they have no garden, they turn to indoor gardening and end up growing herbs or smaller veggies they can grow in jars or window boxes.
One often overlooked thing is, can you grow potatoes indoors? Quite surprisingly, this is easier to do than it sounds. if you start growing potatoes indoors, the plants may not last as long as houseplants, yet you will have a healthy supply of potatoes around the year if you do it right.
Here, in our guide, you can learn all your need for growing potatoes indoors.
Can I Grow Potatoes All Year Round?
Potatoes are easy root vegetables to grow in your garden. Add varieties you won’t see in the grocery, and you can benefit from bumper crops. You have four steps for growing potatoes to get the best yields. (Find the Best Vertical Garden Tower)
Last Freeze Date
It’s best to start knowing the last expected freeze date. Potatoes are best grown in cooler weather. Make sure on your area as it mainly means spring planting.
The earliest to plant is 3-4 weeks before that date. Potatoes for home growing won’t be from seed; rather seed potato will be used.
One week before planting, move your seed potato to warmer light-filled areas like a window.
Plant Potatoes
- Select a garden site that offers full sun of 6-8 hours per day. You will need well-drained soil. One to two days before planting. Take your larger potatoes and cut into a smaller seed potato size about 1½ to 2 in. that has one or two eyes.
- You can plant smaller seed potatoes whole. Dig a trench 4 in. wide and 6 to 8 in. deep.
- Space seed potatoes cut side down, every 15 inches.
- Cover with 3 to 4 in. of soil, then add another 3 inches of soil when sprouts show after two weeks.
You can harvest any size of potato once your plant flowers. When you harvest later in the season to store potatoes over cooler months, wait until the soil and temperatures cool off.
Ten weeks before harvest, cut or pull vines, then dig up the tubers. Let dry for an hour or two on top of the soil. Store in dark and humid areas and make sure to discard potatoes that are damaged or rotten.
Can You Grow Potatoes from a Store-bought Potato?
It can be hard to find a seed potato when you want one. However, what about all the ones you get from the store that begin to sprout. Can you grow more potatoes from ones you bought along with your grocery?
Experts on whether store-bought potatoes ought to be planted and others go the other way. If you are growing at home, you want lots of potatoes, no matter which potato they came from.
Seed potatoes are grown to be replanted and the tubers supplied to grow more from them, and deliver high yields. If you have seed potatoes, it’s important to get disease-free ones and have a stamp of approval to say so. (Read Why Are My Cucumbers Bitter)
Store-bought potatoes can be used yet they have been treated with sprout-inhibitors. Organic potatoes won’t have had that treatment and will sprout quickly.
There is no advantage to growing potatoes from store-bought, as seed potatoes are no more expensive. However, if your grocery potatoes start to sprout, then it’s time to grow potatoes indoors.
How Many Potatoes Can You Grow From 1 Potato?
With ideal conditions, you may harvest five to 10 potatoes for each potato plant. Yields are based on care for your potato plants in their growing season and variety of potatoes.
With the right growing conditions, you can get around 50 pounds of potatoes per every 2 pounds of potato planting. (Read Cucumber Cages)
Weeds compete with potatoes for nutrients and moisture, also diseases like blight and scab, and pests such as leafhoppers, beetles, and aphids can show a reduced yield.
Plants with a disease, like lesions on plant leaves and stems, need removing. Lastly, too much rain and hot weather will lead to reductions in tubers.
Can Potatoes Be Grown Indoors?
Here is how to grow potatoes indoors.
- Select a 2.5-gallon container as a minimum.
- Chit your potatoes by sitting them in natural light to sprout.
- Face the eyes up and place them on top of a few inches of soil.
- Add some more soil and water lightly.
- Check soil moistness regularly. As your plants grow, add more soil and hill them.
- Harvest potatoes when plants turn yellow.
Here’s the longer version of how to grow potatoes indoors.
Prepare Potatoes
The quickest way to plant potatoes indoors is use sprouted potatoes with one eye minimum.
- To chit, find the eye that looks most promising, and has a small sprout. Turn faced up and place each potato in a container. Keep them in a window with natural light so they grow.
- Once potatoes have sprouted, make them small enough to plant.
- Cut each potato with at least one or two eyes with sprouts. Let cut pieces sit at room temperature for two or three days to heal.
- Your container needs to drain well as potatoes won’t grow well in wet conditions. Make drainage holes in the bottom if your container doesn’t have any.
Plant Potatoes
Planting is the last stage of how to grow potatoes indoors.
- Place 3 to 4 inches of loose potting soil in the bottom of your container. If you are using a wide container, you can place two or three potatoes on top of the soil.
- Each potato needs the most productive sprout facing up. Mound the soil so you have about two inches on top of your potatoes. Water soil until it’s moist. You can do this as they keep growing.
Indoor Potatoes Care
Indoor potato planting is simple, but potatoes need maintenance through their growth cycle. First, find a natural light source for planting potatoes that offers up to 6 hours of sunlight per day.
Feeding Indoor Potatoes
Potatoes won’t need frequent watering, yet keep in mind the soil needs to be moist in the pot, so it offers a regular water supply. In most cases, after first watering your pot, you won’t need to water your potato pot again until you see signs of the plant sprouting up through the soil.
Check soil every two or three days, and stop watering as plants die off It is the sign you are close to harvest. (Learn How To Fertilize Blueberries)
You can add your organic potatoes some organic fertilizer sparingly.
Hilling
As potatoes grow, it’s necessary to hill them or build a mound of soil around the stalk. The hilling process helps keep all the potatoes beneath the soil and avoid light exposure.
Time to Harvest
When growing potatoes indoors, potatoes are ready when they turn yellow and are ready to harvest. Harvest your potatoes indoors by pulling the plant from the container or pot and remove each potato. (Learn Can You Eat Potatoes With Sprouts)
Brush off stuck and let them dry in the sun for a few hours.
