Introduction
In this video and accompanying article, we introduce you to the fun of growing your own Irish potatoes using our recommended organic methods.
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Growing Potatoes in North Texas
If you had to guess how many potatoes are consumed worldwide every day — that is, individual, medium-sized potatoes. What would you guess? Two hundred million? Half a billion? A billion?
The correct answer is 4.7 billion potatoes. It’s mind-boggling that we eat that many potatoes every single day. And if you multiply it out to a year, that comes out to 1 trillion, 673 billion, 200 million potatoes. Why do we eat so many, and how do we do this? Both answers are pretty straightforward.
Why Grow Potatoes?
The why we grow so many potatoes is because they are one of the most productive crops per square meter, so it is an excellent crop for feeding very large numbers of people.
Nutrition
Potatoes are also highly nutritious. They’re filled with carbs, protein, fiber, antioxidants, iron, potassium, and other kinds of minerals with very little fat or cholesterol. So if you were stuck on a desert island with nothing but potatoes and water, you could survive indefinitely.
Storage
Potatoes also store very well, lasting in the cupboard for six months or more. And they stand up well to some bumping and bruising, which makes them easy to transport.
A Form of Currency
Thanks to these characteristics, potatoes have even been used as money in certain parts of the world. If you happen to have Netflix, you might want to watch a documentary called The Trader, made in 2017. It highlights this aspect of potatoes as it follows a trader around in the Republic of Georgia, showing how he used them as currency.
So why we grow potatoes is because they can provide a nutrient-dense food that can easily be grown in very high volumes and are easy to ship.
Easy to Grow
They are also easy to grow. It takes very little skill, and they thrive in nearly every part of the world. The potato is the only staple crop that is grown on every single continent. It's found even in Antarctica. Although it’s not grown there, it is served every day at the research center there — a testament to its portability and storage capabilities. Also, in 2015, it was successfully grown in space. So no matter where you go, you can't escape potato.
History of Potatoes
Potatoes were first cultivated about 10,000 years ago by the Incas, high up in the Andes mountains in Peru, near the lake of Titicaca.
In its wild state, the potato was essentially inedible. That's because, like all potatoes, even to this day, they contain an ingredient called solanine, which in high amounts will upset your stomach. But the Incas discovered that if you cover a potato in clay and then eat it, you won’t get sick. They probably got the idea from watching llamas or other wildlife eating potatoes covered in clay. In fact, the minerals in the clay bind with that alkaloid and make them safe to eat. Once the Inca people started eating potatoes, they also started growing them. Over what was probably several centuries of selecting them for different characteristics, the Incas were able to reduce the solanine levels in potatoes by 95%, giving us the potato that we have today.
That is how the potato went from being an inedible root to a crop that fed the empire that built the magnificent Machu Picchu.
From Spain to China & Back Again
Then in 1532, Spanish conquistadors arrived. Unfortunately, since the Inca didn't have a written language, the Spaniards didn't recognized the full value of the potato and it lost its importance as a food for people. They used it primarily as a food for livestock, and for poor peasants or soldiers who had nothing else to eat.
It wasn’t until it was brought to China by Dutch traders during the Ming Dynasty, that potatoes once again started to be used as a food source for general consumption. Everybody in China started eating potatoes. From there, it spread across the world.
Another step toward the growth of the potato came in 1856 with the passage of the Guano Islands Act. This act allowed U.S. citizens to take possession of unclaimed islands containing guano deposits in the name of the United States and resulted in the U.S. gaining control of approximately 94 islands. (Most of these islands are no longer under U.S. jurisdiction.) Guano is a type of organic fertilizer made mainly from bats. It was — and still is — an important fertilizer, not only for potatoes, but for just about everything else.
It's because of guano, that I like to recommend Fox Farm’s Happy Frog Potting Soil for growing your potatoes. Happy Frog is the only soil we carry that contains guano. So if you plan to grow your potatoes in containers, Happy Frog is your best choice because of the guano content.
How to Grow Potatoes
Now let's talk about how to grow potatoes.
First, you need to decide what type of potato you want to grow. Like tomatoes, there are two main types: indeterminate and determinate.
Types of Potatoes
If you're familiar with tomatoes, you know that with indeterminate types, as the seed potato grows, it will keep putting out potatoes. As long as there's dirt around that stem, no matter how high it goes, it will produce potatoes on top of potatoes.
Determinate potatoes only put out potatoes in the region where you plant that seed potato. So if you were to plant it near the bottom of your container, then as it grows, put more dirt, and more dirt, you won’t get any potatoes above that region. You're just wasting that space.
But with an indeterminate potato, then you would get more potatoes growing vertically into that space.
All the potatoes that we offer are determinate varieties. We typically offer four varieties: Red LaSoda, Yukon Gold, Kennebec and Purple Majesty.
The Red La Soda is one of the best potatoes for southern gardeners. It's a great potato for soup. It does well during our heat and drought, and it matures in about 80 to 100 days from the time of planting.
The Yukon Gold is an early potato. They're great just about any way you want to cook them and they are ready in 60 to 80 days. So there is quite a bit difference from the 80 to 100 day range.
The Kennebec matures in about 80 to 100 days.
Purple Majesties are ready in 85 to 100 days.
When to Plant
Potatoes can be planted in North Texas beginning in early January and continuing into March. But generally, the best time is in the month of February.
I start seeding potatoes in a one-gallon-sized container very, very early in the year. Sometimes as soon as we get them in early January. I grow them inside for a while, and then in about March I will very gently take them out of that container and plant them in the ground or in another pot.
Sprouting Your Seed Potatoes
You might have heard the term "sprouting a potato." What that means is just getting the eye holes to actually start sprouting. So how do you go from a potato that doesn't have any little eye holes to one that starts to have sprouts coming out? It's very simple.
The way I do it is to put the potatoes in a paper bag and keep them in a dark, cool place for a few days. I check them about every three days. Once they've sprouted, if I'm not ready to plant them yet, I'll pull them out of that bag and put them on a sunny window sill.
The darkness is what triggers them to start sprouting. But once they start to go, you don't want to keep them in the dark. Put them in a sunny area. That will keep them nice and healthy. But don't wait too long. There is a limit as to how long you can leave them before you've got to plant them. You can probably wait about a month, maybe even a bit longer. It will shrivel up, but you can still plant it and it will still grow.
When you plant them, you want to make sure the eyes are facing up. Having the eyes facing up is the very important. If a piece has eyes on both sides, I just pick the side that has the most or healthiest looking eyes.
Dividing Seed Potatoes
How big of a piece should you plant? Not all the seed potatoes are the same size. Some are going to be very large. Some are going to be very small. Ideally, you should select pieces that are about two to three ounces. If the piece is small, you don't have to cut it. You can plant the whole potato. If you have something bigger, you would probably cut in half or cut it according to where the eyes are grouped. The main thing is you want to try to get two or three pieces out of a large potato and each piece should have at least two eyes.
Apply Dusting Sulfur
If you have dusting sulfur, you should apply it right after you cut them. The reason is to help heal that cut and help it scab over, but it's also going to stop any kind of rot and fungal issues from spreading as well.
After you cut them and dust them, let the pieces dry out for about three to four days before you plant them. You want to make sure that the cut has a very nice hard scab on it.
Planting Potatoes
Potatoes are called a "pioneer crop" because they are easy to grow. Although you may not get the best possible results, you can literally just plop them down somewhere, and you will get something out of them. For example, with the "roost-out method," you can simply cover it with some leaves, hay, or other similar material and they'll grow. However, if you want the most for your efforts, they are best grown in containers or in the ground in soil that is well-composted.
Growing in Containers
I like to use a 15-gallon bucket. This is my preferred size for growing in containers. It does not have to be that big. I've grown them in other sizes as small as a 5-gallon bucket. The key is you want something that's at least 8 inches to 12 inches tall. The other key is to have good drainage. No matter what you plant them in, just make sure it has plenty of holes in the bottom, so that you have really good drainage.
Soil
For soil, I like to use Fox Farm's Happy Frog, mainly because, as I mentioned, it has guano in it. That's a proven, time- tested fertilizer for potatoes.
Fill your container with enough soil so that the potatoes have room to grow and expand. Then add fertilizer to the mix. What I normally like is a combination of blood meal, bone meal. But it doesn't have to be that. You can use something as simple as Espoma Plant-tone plant tone or Rose Glow. I start with those, and mix them into the soil. I also like to add
Azomite, which provides trace minerals, and plenty of perlite. Even if the mix already has perlite in it, I like to mix about four parts potting mix to one part perlite.
One of the key things to remember about growing potatoes is that they're heavy feeders. If you don't fertilize, you're not going to get good results. It really comes down to fertilizing a lot. After I have my soil all mixed up, I'll add a little bit more soil to give a barrier between the fertilizer and the potato.
Plant the potato about three or four inches deep. then cover the potato with mulch or leaves to keep that dirt covered. Then water it and mulch it, and then sit back and wait for those first few sprouts to appear.
Proper Watering & Fertilization
Be careful not to over water. Wait until you start to see some growth and some activity before you start to regularly water. Too much water before it starts growing, can cause your potatoes to rot.
Fertilize every two to four weeks. I like to fertilize every two weeks with a liquid fertilizer such as liquid fish or dairy juice.
Sometimes I'll start with a liquid fertilizer and then, in a couple of weeks, I'll apply a granular and then go back to a liquid.
Now, if you're growing in the ground, it can be a little bit more difficult, especially if you have clay soil. If you do decide to grow in the ground, it is recommended to use soil amendments like expanded shale. This is going to help with drainage.
Other things that would help are worm castings and regular compost ― anything to improve drainage.
Spacing
In a 15-gallon container, you should plant your seeds about three to four inches deep and anywhere from about eight to 12 inches apart. In a 15-gallon container, I would probably plant two or three potatoes.
When you plant them in the ground, you should space them about the same way ― about eight to 12 inches apart. If you are planting in rows, the rows should be about two feet apart.
With in-ground planting and raised bed planting, you'll probably have to do something called hilling. Hilling, which is the process of adding dirt on top of your potatoes, ensures that, as they grow, they don't become exposed to the sun; otherwise, they will turn green, which indicates that they have become toxic and are no longer edible.
Pests & Diseases
The most common pests you'll find on your potatoes are the Colorado potato beetle, which is a small striped beetle. You may also get leafhoppers, which look similar to a grasshopper. Both of these like to eat the leaves of the plant. Other potato pests are flea beetles and aphids. You can treat all of those with Captain Jack's Dead Bug Brew, which contains spinósad or spínosad — a naturally-occurring bacteria that controls a range of bugs.
The main diseases that I see when I'm growing my potatoes are things like powdery mildew and blight.
For powdery mildew, you can use a fungicide, such as Neem Oil.
Potato/Tomato Blight
The other one you'll may run into is potato blight. If you're familiar with the Irish potato famine, this was the blight that caused that. It is the same type of blight that attacks tomatoes, which are in the same family, It is very hard to fight once it's established. On potatoes, it starts out as tiny brown or black dots on the leaves. Those grow into large masses on the leaves. The browning can spread to the stem of the plant, and even at time of harvesting, you might see a blacking or browning on the potato itself.
I normally get it towards the end of the growing period. At that point, I don't try to fight it because I'm about to harvest the potatoes anyway. But you don't want it to go down to the tubers and ruin the tubers, so you should go ahead and harvest.
If it starts out early in the life of the plant, you probably won't be able to save your crop. Also, blight fungus stays in the soil, so it's important that, once you get it, you should not plant in that spot again the next year. That's why it's recommended that, for in-ground growing, you should always rotate your crops. It can really help prevent these kinds of problems.
One of the benefits of growing in a container is that, if you get blight in your container, you can dispose of the soil and clean out your container with bleach before growing potatoes or tomatoes in it again.
Harvesting & Storage
Now let's go to harvesting and storage. How do we know when the potatoes are ready? The easiest way is to keep track of the number of days since it was planted. Usually, it's about 100 days. Some people also like to do a test dig. They unearth one or two potatoes to see how big they are and then decide whether to leave them longer or go ahead and harvest.
The other way to tell is to go by how the plant looks. When the foliage begins to look like it's dead or dying, it should be near harvest time. Some people will think the plant needs more water, but this is the last thing you want to do, as that will cause your potatoes to rot. So keep track of how long it's been planted. And then once you start to see some dieback, cut back on the watering and cut back the foliage.
Some people recommend leaving them in the container or the ground for a few days to harden up the skin. I don't recommend that because I've ended up with rotten potatoes.
I've killed them.
Curing Your Potatoes
Curing is a process that allows you to store your potatoes. You'll want to cure any potatoes that you don't plan to eat within a few days. Curing causes the skin to thicken and harden up, and when done properly, your potatoes can be stored for up to six months, depending on the variety. The Yukon Gold has a shorter storage life than the others we've discussed. It's an early potato that is meant to be grown and consumed quickly.
To start the curing process, first, cut off any of the foliage that's attached to the tuber, but don't remove the dirt. Leave the dirt on them. Don't clean them. Let them sit for a few days in a cool, dry, dark or shady place with good airflow.
Conclusion
I encourage you to experiment with different growing methods to find out what works best for you. There are lots of different ways to grow them. For example, there is a new way where they start the seed potatoes in a shallow tray and allow the shoots to grow out, then harvest the shoots and plant those. The theory behind this method is you will get more potatoes, although, they will be smaller. On the other hand, one seed potato will produce plant, 20 or more plants.
By experimenting, you'll gain confidence in your gardening skills and have more fun!